For the second time, I have completely baffled my swim coach. He pulled me out of water, explained to me what he was seeing, then admitted he didn't know what was going on, or exactly how to fix it. He used to work with the national team, so he knows his stuff, but I guess those swimmers who are destined for the national team don't have the same issues I do.
I'll explain what's going on, and if anyone has a suggestion, feel free to fire away. During freestyle, when I'm reaching forward and rolling my body, there's a jackknifing in my hips. Without a diagram, as I reach forward with my left arm, my torso shifts so that my butt is now left of my left shoulder, there's a bend in my hips, and my legs are pointed back to the right. Make sense? (The description, not why I do it. We've already established that doesn't make sense.) We tried some kicking drills, and adding another focus point during stroking, which seemed to correct things somewhat, but the last thing I need now is yet another mental cue. One thing we established is that is NOT due to reaching too far across my body with my arms. Another idea is that I may have exceptionally tight hip flexors from running and cycling, so after the marathon, I'll start stretching them more religiously. Thoughts?
We got a pretty good swim in this morning, even with my extra coaching. Time was an issue, so some thing got cut short. We tried some new this morning for the sprints. Since the numbers were down, there was enough room for us all to go at the same time, so the sprints were done as 25 yd races. Fun, and tough trying to beat/keep up with the person beside you.
Swim: w/u 4x100 free, back, breast, pull
Special coaching for Drew, including: 2x50 side kick, 2x50 free
1x100 free (joining the group mid-set), 20"
1x200 gloves, 20"
100 back
3x300 free, pull, free, 20"
100 back
200 free, 20"
150 free, 20" (was supposed to be 4x200 getting faster, but out of time)
6x25 sprint
c/d 150 pull
Total: 2750 yds
Later, I'll do a short run after work
Run: 3 miles @ 6.8 mph
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2 comments:
I've seen this before (if I understand what you're saving) but it's uncommon enough that I never figured out any pattern to it...
My gut instinct (without seeing you swim... so, really, this "advice" is totally worthless and may even be harmful) is that this is a compensatory mechanism induced by rolling over too far.
The 'rolling' action in the front crawl should ideally be as minimal as possible. Rotational motion about your longitudinal axis is at the expense of energy that could've been used to move you forward. So this is a good thing to stamp on anyways. Some rotation is unavoidable as an artifact of human biomechanics, but really try to think about minimizing it next time you're in the pool.
OK, I can see what you're saying, but the advice doesn't jive with our coach. (Not saying you're wrong, just explaining.) Similar to TI, he's taught us to roll during the stroke. The idea is to reduce drag by reducing frontal area in the water.
I was told that I don't bend like this when I'm flatter in the water, but it happens when I use more roll. I've seen similar to your thoughts from other sources, so this all gets confusing. We'll see what happens after a week away.
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