Friday, October 15, 2010

Last Minute Swimming Advice Needed!

OK, here's the deal.  With the help of my swimming coach, I have worked on and adjusted my reach, pull, body roll and turnover rate.  I am doing OK with bilateral breathing in the right circumstances (like the pool, alone and fully concentrating).  And not that it matters in the case of a race, but I can also do a fairly mean flip turn.  But last night we decided that despite all this improvement my butt is still sinking too much.

I've added a race to my schedule (which is tomorrow) to avenge my DNS at the Orange County Olympic triathlon last Sunday.  It's the Big Rock Olympic Triathlon out at Lake Perris.  Now I know I probably shouldn't have done this, but I found myself going over the AG results from the last few years.  And what I found was that assuming the same sort of field turns up tomorrow, I would have a fair chance at a podium spot in my AG if I can shave a few minutes off the swim.

Last week I did 1500 meters in 39 minutes.  If I can get that down to 35, I would be in the thick of AG the race because I can make up some time on the bike and run.  Again this is based solely on the last few years of results.

Does anyone have any simple advice or a trick that they use to keep their lower body "up" in a better position?  Maybe I'm over-simplifying it and maybe I'm asking for too much, but I have nothing to lose by trying out a trick or two.  I already Googled "How to keep your ass out of the water while swimming" but the search results where not too helpful.

Thanks!!

23 comments:

Diana Tries-A-Tri! said...

Stuff some water wings in the butt of your suit. Works everytime. And the ladies will love it!

Big Daddy Diesel said...

Wetsuit or strong kick

or

what Diana said

Heather said...

Pass gas and contain it in your wet suit??

You have probably already tried this, but duck your head. Think chin to chest and at the same time imagine pressing your upper chest toward the bottom of the pool.

This makes it difficult to turn your head for a breathe, but that's probably overrated.

Unknown said...

What Heather said above. Your chest goes down and you ass and legs will go up. Think Teeter toter.

Also, this is gonna sound stupid and rather "duh" but just increase your arm cadence. If you are in a wetsuit your ass is going to float so just move your arms a substantially faster. Might tire you out for the rest of the race put your swim split will be better.

Jennifer said...

I'll repeat, look down, not forward. Head down, booty up, it works for me. Think about swimming downhill. Good luck and have fun!

Karen said...

Make sure you are keeping your elbows up on the pull through of your stroke. I also try to visual myself swimming downhill. I think that helps me to push down with my upper body forcing my back half to come up. Hope this helps!

misszippy said...

Try to swim "downhill" if you can. Good luck tomorrow!

TRI714 said...

i think you got all the advice your getting. But I am glad you chose to do this race, and I think your going to do exceptional in it. You may be over thinking your swim too much.Think less and swim smoother, think more and swim slower.

Emz said...

I use a raft.

Trust me IT WORKS!

KovasP said...

Use a ringer for the swim portion - it will also give you more energy for the bike and run, so you might end up on the top step! Or push Em on her raft, that sounds like a good plan as well.

Unknown said...

I think you have a ton of great advice here! I'd say push your head down. Think of curling your chin to your chest. That always makes my butt float better. good luck!

Barbie said...

It's all about the head position Patrick. If your looking too far forward that makes your shoulders drop and your butt follows. Keep your head position down with your eyes either looking straight down or at a 4-5 o'clock position.

Jump on this website:
http://www.swimsmooth.com/

The little guy shows you all about the Fr/s stroke.

Also keep your core turned on. A saggy belly makes your back dip and your butt drop too.

Hope this helped.

RockStarTri said...

Many good points.

Swimming improvement comes from repition. The more times you can get into the water, the faster you will improve. So, rather than being in the water 2x a week for an hour, 4x a week for 30 mins is better. Of course, this helps for long term progress.

I think you should just have only one race thought for tomorrow' swim. One that works for me is to reach and glide.

Good luck!

The Green Girl said...

Fat floats, right? So clearly that's your problem...

Laurie said...

Kick, kick, kick... either that or take EMZ or Kovas' advice. Good luck!

Julie @ HotlegsRunner said...

Hey Patrick! thanks for stopping by my blog. I am already following you as well.

It's getting cold already. Where do you swim? need to find an indoor pool in our area soon! =(

Andrew Opala said...

I know this is going to be hard to understand, but you have to learn to breathe out of your eye-lids like a Lava Lizard from the Galapagos Islands.

DRog said...

Be the Ball Danny, go with the flow!

just starting BT.com -like it...thx

Lauren said...

I'm not the best one to give swimming advice (I gave up on bilateral breathing long time ago), but I'd love to see your kick. Are your legs straight? I see a lot of swimmers at the gym who bend at the knees when they kick. Also, do you have a big splash? The smaller the better in my opinion -- I kick just slightly beneath the surface, far as I can tell, with little or no splash. It's just a guess, but I'm thinking it might be your kick. Also, I may be "behind" on your blog, but do you use the kickboard to strengthen your kick? Oh, and one last thing, do you have a twist to your stroke, does your core twist? That might also be the problem. Just some things to think about. I look up strokes on youtube sometimes and find good stuff that has helped me out.

Chris K said...

Sorry, I got nothing. Wait, maybe repeat the Stuart Smally mantra, "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me".

Caratunk Girl said...

This is late - you are probably racing right now...GOOD LUCK! I am a terrible swimmer. BUT that said, have you heard of "pressing the bouy"? It is weird, but if you can imagine pressing your chest down, you butt goes up. Check out the Swim Smooth console (http://www.swimsmooth.com/) it has some great visualization stuff.

Unknown said...

Love the google search - and the new look of the blog.

My swim is slow too so I'm not much help. But, the advice seems good. I may try some of it myself - well, maybe not pushing EMZ on a raft.

Jill said...

Green girl is pretty smart, I like her idea :). I would think kicking your feet stronger would help life the booty up some, too - since kicking comes from there.

GOOD LUCK!!

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