Swim coaching

After a long plateau and unsuccessful previous attempts to find a swimming teacher I decided to go for the rather costly Swimsmooth approach. The most convenient coach with space was Julian Nagi in Acton and I went and spent two hours with him on Saturday morning. I've looked at their free online resources and I'd previously suspected I was a 'Bambino' style although that turned out to be incorrect.

Within a few lengths Julian had spotted a number of issues and through the video recording he was able to show these to me.

I think that this single frame shows my 3 major technique problems all at once!

1. Low legs with too extensive and floppy-knee kick
2. Leading arm far too low in the water at the time I'm inhaling
3. Straight leading arm with weak catch

Seeing my video footage it was evident to me and it is surprising that at previous classes the tutors couldn't have made these common issues known to me. Of course spotting issues is one thing, the important thing is working to improve them. Before going to there though it is worth mentioning that after only a couple of lengths it was clear that bilateral breathing wasn't working for me. I've written often about a 'shortness of breath' and this was solved instantly by breathing to my dominant right side. We discussed balance, neck pain and power issues and I was advised to try to learn to breath to the left for a proportion of lengths to give balance. 

I did a 400m 'time trial' in 10:40 which is 2:40min per 100m which illustrated how big a difference just changing breathing had made (normally I'd be well over 3 minutes). I was also able to work harder and exhaled more deeply naturally without having to think about it! After that we went through a set of drills to improve my kick, mainly to reduce drag. Oddly I thought that I kicked with a neat flutter kick until seeing the video!

Secondly there was some work to allow me to focus on a high reach during the inhale phase to keep a leading hand and again maintain a sleeker profile. Finally we looked at a high elbow catch to help provide forward drive earlier in the catch and reduce shoulder load. By this time I was tiring and this didn't go all that well. This was simply a combination of being in the water for most of a two hour session and having tried two new actions. That is probably plenty for me to have learnt.

Another issue, that isn't related to technique is simply a lack of swimming fitness. I can understand that I need to do at least 3 sessions a week to make progress. I'll have to see how well I can fit this in around running but it would be a shame not to build on the weekend's investment. One thing that should help is that Julian has already sent me an eight week programme with a plan for each session. There is quite steep progression in the programme so I'll need to keep an eye on diet and recovery. I think such a programme will be a great help as previously I haven't had goals and have drifted between classes, the only progression being my rather restricted ideas where to go next.

Overall I was pleased that Julian had shown me key areas to improve and given me the tools to address them. I wish I'd visited him a year or so ago!

Monday marks the beginning of week 1. 

Back to Back

I've just completed a 4km road run which is nothing in itself but as it's after yesterday's long run it does feel slightly important. On Wednesdays I 'jog' to circuits after the Tuesday run but usually i don't run on consecutive days. There is an issue of needing rest days but there's the conflicting argument that long runs shouldn't make up too much of the weekly load. Sometimes these aspects seem impossible to square with each other.

I also changed the battery in my heart rate strap beforehand. I've wondered if there was an issue for a few months and bought a packet of CR2032 coin cells fro eBay but hadn't fitted a new one. I think it did help as the recording in the early part of the run was far more stable than it has been for a while.

Let's hope all OK tomorrow. I'm entering 'tiger country'...

Cattle on Hondkirk Road

After the essential task of getting a load of washing on the line I ran my half-marathon length route up though Blacka Moor to Oxytones via Houndkirk Road. On the verge of Byway there were some new residents chomping away at the spare vegetation.

I suspect these are dun-coated Highland cattle but would welcome correction. I only saw four but there might be others free on the moor. They make a change from sheep but might be a bit scary if one crept up on you.

Anyway, the run was Ok. I didn't really notice my ankle until the 12km mark and on the descent through Limb valley I became aware of my left knee. Things weren't too bad when I got home and I easily managed to pop to the shops and cut the grass so no real problems. However this was my first run over 20km since the Canalathon so inevitably there is a bit of effort and retraining involved.

At the start of the run my heart rate data were all over the show - sometimes ridiculously high. Often this is due to the contacts being dry but that wasn't the case as I repeatedly moistened them. For the latter two thirds, or perhaps even four fifths the readings were fine. Maybe the level of sweat had built up enough to maintain the pick up. Might be worth swapping the battery to see if that helps.

10 day swimming break

It's been nearly a fortnight since I last went swimming and it shows. I went along after work today and found my usual 32 lengths to be very hard work and slightly slower than usual. At first I was trying to exhale more deeply but I have to say that at the pace I'm working it feels too much. As time progressed and my pace settled a gentler breathing pattern felt more natural.

Earlier this week I saw an online article commenting that whilst technique is important in swimming one mustn't forget strength and fitness. Today I really felt that both of those were lacking.

Throughout this week I've felt weak even though last week was a nominal rest week. Circuits on Wednesday felt tough - although I did the run there and back a little faster than usual. before that, I could barely face going out on Tuesday for a run and eventually cut it a bit short.

Gurnell Dubs

This weekend we visited friends in Kendal. It was suggested that I might enter the 30th Hutton Roof fell race but as it was a rest week and my ankle is still troubling me it didn't seem wise. From what I heard the terrain is a bit rough underfoot and not ideal for delicate ankles and feet.

On Sunday we did a hike up to the strangely named Gurnell Dubs which from Kendal via Garnett Bridge and returning through Staveley was a reasonable 23km.

Throughout the walk I was aware of trying to trend carefully and couldn't decide how to put my right foot down. This is hard work and very irritating until I managed to forget about it for a few km at a time. Really it was no trouble nor painful just not entirely trustworthy.

This morning I received a very thorough leg massage from one of the friends who is training as a Sport Therapist and at that stage of competence and confidence where you get good work executed very conscientiously. It's a pity he doesn't live a lot closer. All the usual suspects were tight, and now some hours later a bit tender, but I'm sure they'll be improved in the long run.

Ankle and foot

I've had three weeks of progressive increase in distance with the background of a slightly odd ankle and toes. Really, now, it would be excessive to call it even a niggle just something slightly odd. Every so often I'm aware of the ankle around the peroneus ligaments but the most noticeable thing currently are my middle toes feeling slight odd. This is sometimes related to a feeling of excessive eversion and more often to a distinct feeling that I don't know quite how best to put my foot down. There doesn't feel to be  'natural' position either lateral to medial or heel to forefoot.

The physio looked at my feet and decided that they were very tight and rigid, an issue I've been aware of for many years. She was able to loosen them up a little which eased tension on the dorm of my right foot, possibly around Extensor Digitorum Brevis. I've been given some exercises in an attempt to educate the intrinsic muscles of my feet to be more dynamic, both in contraction and importantly, in relaxing. An interesting observation is that I am happiest with my feet walking around barefoot at home, Ok with them in lowish running shoes and find a new pair of trail walking shoes (quite rigid with 12mm heel drop) the worst. Perhaps I've become used to less than 10mm of drop?

Swimming lesson

In my quest for a swimming coach I found Swim121 near Chesterfield. The first problem was in locating it but that was due to my carelessness rather than any error in the company's location map. I was disappointed to find that the pool was only 10m long. As my major issue is fatigue it is hard to induce that in very short lengths. Also the pool lacks any internal markings so you have to keep quite a check on how many strokes you'v done per length to avoid hitting the end.

The teacher gave me some tips about my stroke, in particular that I probably wasn't exhaling sufficiently for the effort I was making. This was also linked to a rushed arm stroke that gives a short window for inspiration. Having said that, I didn't feel I'd settled into my stroke at all in the half hour due to the short pool length.

He also thought that I should adopt a thumb-first entry style to reduce air capture on hand entry which some online 'experts' feel is bad practice nowadays. Here's an example but there are others! This is probably trivia but anything with a risk of injury isn't ideal for a stiff 50 year old.