Since retiring I've been swimming regularly but, despite an attempt to plan sessions to build pace and endurance, I consider that my performance has plateaued. Admittedly (like everyone) I'm aging but I feel I could do better. A few weeks ago I signed up with Swim Now and my first session was this morning. I discussed objectives with the coach, suggesting that I'd like to achieve a 2 minute 100m. I thought this might need less than 10% improvement but actually I need more like 12% as I have been judging myself in a 25 yard pool.
In today's session I was given a few tips, mostly to reduce drag:
- Keep arms closer to my head when reaching, especially on the left
- Keep legs closer to each other - note a bonus when toes touch
- Aim for a slightly faster kick
- Don't rush reach, make an effort to pause whilst arms ahead
- Be more snappy with turns to save time
During today's session I managed to take a few seconds off and achieved 2:09min/100m twice. The hotel pool is only 18m long so there is a potential advantage over a 25m pool if turns are fast and powerful. I suspect that a high proportion of today's gains came from more timely turns.
My practice will be to try some intense 100m sets and then close with 'steady' longer sets for endurance. I'm also going to aim to improve flexibility around my neck and shoulders with the goal of being able to improve my streamlining, if only marginally. I've downloaded a video from Siska Systems and will see if that helps me at all.
After yesterday's circuit class my arms feel quite heavily worked with a swim and stretch.
