So yes, I received the video analysis from Dave on Sunday and it threw me into a bit of a mood because urrrrrrrrrrrrrgh, that left arm cross is nasty. Not to mention the whole "dear god, I look like a hippo" thing. Anyway, once I'd got over myself I had a good look and compared my stroke with some actual good swimmers - Jono von Hazel and Ian Thorpe, as well as the example Dave sent - and yes, as he says, I'm overreaching significantly. You can practically see the energy draining away and being wasted as my hand hits the water.
I wasn't expecting a lot at the pool tonight - it's often infested with numpties anyway and January is particularly bad for post-gym-bunnies lounging in the lanes. But I have to say I was pleasantly surprised to have a well-behaved lane; people giving way or nodding thanks for moving over, nattering only on set breaks, etc. It meant I was able to get a mile's worth of 200m sets in, eight in total, focusing tightly on a high elbow and pulling hard on the catch. It's not a distance I usually measure over because I find it's very prone to interruption, and those 10s pauses really add up, but it was worth doing today even though I don't really have anything to compare it to directly. I averaged 4mins 20, which is not amazing but a significant bump for me when you add that up and compare it with my best mile time from last year.
That would be 39m 15s then, vs 34m 45s tonight.
Five and a half minutes better than last season.
Even when you consider that last year's PB was open water, in a wetsuit, at an event; and tonight's time was in a pool with minute breaks between sets...I never bettered that PB in the pool at any point last season. In fact I got slower.
I need to replicate it. I need to go back and do a straight mile, no breaks, to see if it was a fluke, whether it was the resting, find out what the hell is going on. And whether I can sustain that over a mile without a rest, because it did feel like I was working a lot harder in the deep muscles of my back, chest and core. My BPM was higher for sure. I don't know if I'll get chance now before Sunday's second coaching session, but whatever happens, I'm excited to find out what happens after the in-depth session!
