Training for DM

[elijahb]

like others have said try breathing on every third stroke at most, you should practise your flip turns lots before you test for speed, you should swim looking at the bottom of the pool but your chin should not be touching your collar bone, count your strokes and try to make your stroke more efficient,your speed will come with practise and practise kicking lots. I like to practise my flutter kick with a set of fins on.

[comet24]

Here goes. IT's hard to explain some things over the internet and this is one of them. FWIW I swam competitively for many years. Although a 100 now and I am out of breath.

Don't slap the water with your hands.

For each stroke as your hand enters the water, reach out before starting to pull back. You want to get as much as you can out of each stroke.

Try to find a nice rhythm. No need to try and move your arms and legs as fast as you can.

Kick from the thighs and let the knees bend just a little. If you try to kick with your knees you are only going to tirer yourself out.

Breath as you need to. You can breath every stroke on the same side, every other, or alternate between sides. Just find a nice rhythm. Don't let breathing interfere with the stroke.

[Bigg_Budd]

I knew posting to this forum would get me the guidance I need. Thanks for all the feedback. I'm going to put your advice to practice, and see what works for me.

To quote texdiveguy, it's time to suck it up and swim...

Thanks again.

[ertechsg]

how far is the dm swim?

[Bigg_Budd]

450 meters

[wolfen42]

Thanks for the great tips. I've been working on my ab entirely too much lately and I need to spend some time swimming back and forth. Working on technique tends to be a good motivational thing for me

[kayak32]

I had to help my husband train for his swim. Having been a competitive swimmer from the age 5 through college and a nationally ranked swimmer at that, it was frustrating watching him struggle. His main problem is he can not keep his back arched and thus keep his but and legs near the surface.

Anyway I agree with much of what has been said. One thing I have not seen mentioned is for most competitive swimmers (Janet Evans aside, she was my teammate and had an unusually stoke that few could copy) stoke speed is not always faster. What is important is that you are constantly moving "new water" The hand enters the water thumb first so you slice into the water the hand is then rotated so it is facing back, you pull straight back until it is about inline with the shoulder, then sweep in slightly while still moving the hand and arm back till just before the hip then sweep back out and take the hand out of the water pinky first again slicing the water. Pulling the hand out or entering palm first is a waste of energy because you are pushing the water upward/downward not back. The hand should come out almost right next to the body to reduce drag. The person who said if you what a good swimmer from underwater it does not look like their hand is moving is correct but your stoke must be perfected beyond the level that most recreational swimmers ever get to. However if you can continually move "new" water you will have a more powerful and efficient stroke.

Another key point is the walls, they are your friend even if you can not do a flip turn. When you push off do so, below the surface, just like you where going to do a vertical jump on land with as much power as you can. Then streamline, streamline, streamline. The streamline is your fastest point in the water. Hands on top of each other arms squeezing your ears face down, feet together. Do not kick until you can feel yourself slowing down, then start to kick (dolphin or flutter which ever is more powerful for you) bring your self to the surface arms still in the streamline position until right before we break the surface. Right as you break the surface start your stoke. Keep in mind not only is the streamline your fast point in the water it is a resting period the only rest you get when you are swimming against the clock.

Good luck.

[ChrisA]

Originally Posted by ertechsg

Use you legs get a kick board and do 400? meters or so with just legs. Back when I did the swim team if we didn't use our legs the coach had use doing laps with these damn boards all day

I've read a few places that if you are not a competivie swimmer, the energy used by the legs is better saved. In other words if you are just and average swimmer you might go faster in 500M timmed swim if you just use a light kick. In other words if you are not in the best shape you have to budget energy usage

The DM swim test does not really require great speed in the water. If you are like many of us, just rying to get through it then what's importent is to not waste energry so you may want to kick just hard enough to keep your feet from draging

Of course this is not good advice for someone who wants to win a race. It's aimed at the out of shape guy who simply wants to finish. If you want to win, the advice I remember from a flat water kayak coach applies: "get off the line fast, pick it up in the meddle then sprint the finish."