Group Swim, Lesson #5

My first Wednesday evening group swim training session with Peh the other day. Fellow swimmers were Shahrom Abdullah, Ah Wei and Mon.

I had done 600m of slow warm-up front crawl by the time Peh arrived. After he came my technique automatically improved.

For the training I did 100m stints, each time taking in his advice which was generally…

1. Reach forward strongly with leading arm. This aids rotation (although rotation should really be from the “core”, not shoulders) and improves the final push of the other arm.
2. Aim the leading arm 4-6” underwater. With a horizontal body (ideal position) and extended arm, this is the natural depth. Trying to keep the arm at the surface causes the body to look “up” increasing drag.
3. Arms should not cross an imaginary line passing though the centreline of the body/direction of travel.
4. Leading arm should extend above water – not enter water then extend.
5. Finally – keep the “T” low, keep elbows high on pull, imagine pulling a barrel towards you, finish pushes strongly.
6. Tonight I felt for the first time that my legs were just “following” and I was kicking less. This is a sign that balance/body position is improving and will save legs for the following bike-run.

I swam at least 1600m front crawl that night. I was doing 100m in about 2m45s. Saturday target is to do 400m non-stop. My long term goal is to be able to swim 1500m @ 2m20s per 100m = 35mins for 1500m.