Total Immersion
Lucky
Posts: 137
in General Chat
Morning all (as I post this)
So my crawl is rubbish, I do 4 x 25m and that's me shattered, I'm making basic mistakes but like all things finding the time to correct my technique just isn't there, I've got the Total Immersion book and I've gone through some of the exercises and it helped (a bit) but old and ingrained habits die hard.
So has anyone experience of the TI workshops (normally over a weekend) I'm thinking of doing the Reading one in May and just wondered if anyone here and done one, what they thought of it, or what they thought of TI ?
So my crawl is rubbish, I do 4 x 25m and that's me shattered, I'm making basic mistakes but like all things finding the time to correct my technique just isn't there, I've got the Total Immersion book and I've gone through some of the exercises and it helped (a bit) but old and ingrained habits die hard.
So has anyone experience of the TI workshops (normally over a weekend) I'm thinking of doing the Reading one in May and just wondered if anyone here and done one, what they thought of it, or what they thought of TI ?
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I hope someone who has been on a TI course replies as Id also book one if feedback is ok.
Good luck - post feedback if you do go on a TI weekender!
...probably one of those things that I really need to work at and apply some thought rather than attempting to plough up and down the pool.
If / when I do the course I'll post up.
I was in exactly the same position last year but eventually cracked it (I'm still rubbish but I can at least now manage 1500m+ without stopping). All the technique tips will help you to swim faster and more economically, but I found the key to swimming the full distance without breaking into breaststroke was first to concentrate on my breathing . Once you've sorted that out then you'll stop getting exhausted after a couple of lengths and can start concentrating on all the other techniques.
I'm no expert on breathing techniques (I learnt from the internet) but I found the key things to learn at the start were:
a. breath out between breaths (I used to hold my breath under water)
b. stop lifting the head up out of the water to breath - by rolling the body and keeping the head straighter/flatter you don't upset your balance each time you breathe.
c. learn to breathe on both sides
I've never tried any swim coaching but I would like to do so. I was thinking of Swim4Tri - has anyone else tried this? If so, was it any good? I'd really like to get an underwater video of my swimming so that I can see any glaring errors.
Mike
I'm training for the Ironman. A lot of the guys at the pool have done one or more. They all say, save the legs for biking and running. If you have a wetsuit, it'll help you float, so won't need to kick - but focus on keeping the toes pointed. Kicking adds a whole new level of complexity to swimming - there's enough to focus on with the arms and body movement. When I kick, I get winded fast, but so far, I've crawled 2,5km or more in the pool nonstop. I need better technique to relieve shoulder stress - it's mostly in the body roll as far as I'm concerned - my natural tendency is to swim like paddling a surfboard.
I train with a buoy all the time; though I should move to wetsuit - it's a pain to put on. Yesterday, did 2km nonstop in just under 40mins, but losing speed for every 500m which is how I track the time. I'm at about 21-22 strokes / 25 meters. Not great. I'm no good at the underwater turnaround - I go all the way to the wall, spin, and pushoff.
Though, if you make to Hawaii - the water is warm enough, wetsuits are not allowed, then it's time to kick.
I went to Amazon looking for the Total Immersion book, but there were so many different titles - Total Immersion: This and Total Immersion: That. Which one do you guys have?
Thanks,
Turtle
He seemed very enthusiastic about it.
Hope it helps
However, and somebody please correct me if I'm wrong, I came away with the thought that "rolling" was wrong, which contradicts TI which encourages you to point yiour belly button to the side wall.
I suspect somewhere between the 2 lies the truth.
Next time I swim the simple thjought I'm going to work with is to stay tall in the water, and to imagine I'm swimming through a narrow tube. I'll see how it goes.
Over the course of around 4 or 5 months, my 400mtr pool time's come down from a knackered 9 mins (if I made 400 at all) to a fresh feeling 6.15.
The main thing i took out of both the TI and the SFT course was to make yourself streamlined in the water and keep yourself balanced (I.e so you're not fighting to hold your position in the water when breathing) and keeping a high elbow stroke and recovery.
You may feel like a dick doing the drills and you may need to get in the slow breastroke lane to do them, but it's really worth perservering with them as they helped me immensly. I now try to do at least 45mins drills a week away from my triclub swim sessions.
The SFT course was obviously more expensive than buying a TI book.VCR set, but so I'd say it was money well spent for me anyway. The guys there really know there stuff and seeing one of the instructors - Dan Bullock, swim in the pool with you for the full session is pretty inspirational....
The book's a good start though, and If you go to the TI website you can download vid clips of most the drills anyway..
FYI, the SFT course was £100 for a day and I think the TI courses are around £350 for a weekend which was a little out of my price range.
I did a hour in the endless pool with Swim4Tri just last week. I feel that it was money well spent. I was able to swim 1500m no problem but was aware that my technique wasn't great, having not had a lesson since school (probably some 20years ago). In the hour I was there I managed to reduce my stroke/minute from 69 to 52. Can't wait to get in the pool and practise the drills. If I don't go back, I still feel that this 1 hour will make a big difference to me on race day.
I would definitely recommend it.
Cat
http://www.swimsmooth.com/swimsmoothhome.htm