When I train, I frequently visualize different race-specific scenarios. For example, one of my favorite sequences is to imagine myself in the final miles of the marathon of the Ironman World Championships. I see myself as a quick and sure-footed athlete, as the announcers call out the blow-by-blow of my race.
“Simone is looking good with less than 10k to go in this marathon; she is making her competition work for it. She is running down the first place athlete in her age group, and she’s got the time to catch her.”
Ah, yes, I say visualization, but really its more like a fantasy, right?
Well, I have similar fantasy visualization when it comes to my swim stroke. I have images of the strong, lithe bodies churning and burning in the opening yards of an Ironman swim start. In my mind, I’m right there with the best of them, and I have perfect form, kind of like Mr. Swim Smooth here:
I’m smooth, fluid, perfect. I’m Ms. Swim Smooth–in my mind.
Well, two weeks ago, my fantasy visualization had to grapple with an actual visual of my swim stroke, after my coach Vince suggested I send him some video of me swimming.
Harumph. That was quite the rude awakening.
Ms. Swim Smooth, meet Ms. Swim Sloppy:
The evidence was there: I was clearly not the Ms. Swim Smooth of my dreams–or should I say delusions?
I sent the videos to Vince, who immediately picked up on a crossover at the catch. In other words, when I’m placing my arm in the water at the beginning of the stroke, I cross over the center line of my body. When we played the video in slow motion, I could tell that this cross over is especially pronounced on my left side.
Vince explained that my forearms were slowing me down every stroke. It made sense – I was swimming into myself. I needed to get out of my own way.
“This is TERRIBLE,” I whined. I had been working so hard, yet this inefficiency in my stroke was diminishing the value of those efforts.
Vince, in typical support way, replied, “This is very MINOR. It won’t be hard to fix this at all.”
He gave me some tips for fixing the crossover, and I went to work. I practiced with the new technique for a week before taking another video. This time, we got an underwater view. Here’s the result:
No more crossover! He was right – it wasn’t that hard to fix at all.
But, the underwater video revealed two new issues: I need to keep my elbows bent and high, and I need to point my fingertips down at the catch so I pull the water, rather than push it down.
So, this week, I’ve continued to work on eliminating the crossover, while thinking about keeping my elbows high, and pointing my fingertips down at the catch. I have to admit, it’s keeping me very mentally busy, so much so that I haven’t had any time to fantasize, which is probably a good thing because I’m delusional.
I don’t have any new video (yet), but I do have MEASURABLE results in my swim splits that indicate the new stroke is worth the effort.
Based on two weeks of swims, I’ve seen a reduction of 2-4 seconds per 100-yard split, while working at the same rate of perceived exertion.
I found free speed!
I don’t know about you, but I usually have to work pretty hard to shave 2-4 seconds off a 100-yard split. Let’s do some quick math, because if I’m only swimming 100 yards, then 2-4 second may not sound like much. But, my goal race includes a 2.4 mile swim, which is 4224 yards. That’s forty-two 100’s.
With these gains, I can expect to drop between 1:24 to 2:48–without any increase in effort. As I adapt to these new changes, especially the elbows and the fingertips at the catch, I hope to pick up even more free speed.
If you have never taken a video analysis of your swim, bike or run form, I STRONGLY encourage it. I didn’t know what I was doing wrong until I saw it in a video. Once I did, it became very clear to me that I needed to work on my technique. Otherwise, I’ll just be wasting effort without seeing any increase in speed. If you aren’t sure what you are looking for, then entrust the help of your coach (if you have one) or a knowledge friend.
If you think getting video of yourself might make you feel weird, get over it. You’ll forget any feelings of weirdness when you are moving faster toward that finish line.
Have you ever done a video analysis of your swim, bike and/or run form? How did it go? What did you learn?
