Swimming

At the moment we do a kick drill I'm about 25 m behind everyone else on a 50m swim, indicating my legs are basically doing nothing at this stage, whereas I'm able to keep up on arm only and normal drills so I'm trying to learn proper swimming technique and then I can adapt if necessary but at the moment I must be working harder than everyone else just to go as fast as my legs were sodding useless...

It comes back. I've done maybe 10 sessions now after about 2 years off and although I'm still WAAAY slow, I'm starting to enjoy it again.

TBH, I don't think nearly enough about my technique... I learned when I was a kid and since then I "just swim". Now I'm training with my baby sis who used to be national level (juniors) but is just getting back into it after about 7years off. Frustratingly she still destroys me, but it's the first time I've ever had someone to look at me from the outside.

Does no one listen to anything i say.
Huff.

Does no one listen to anything i say.
Huff.

I do... now that I've bothered to read back in the thread. Embarrassingly it was the last post before I joined the thread so I really should have paid more attention:

Legs add a maximum of 8% of the overall forward propulsion.

Swimming is everything you do all put together. But it starts from the core.
Power comes from the core, hip rotation. piercing the water and causing the least amount if drag.

The leg kick is more of a flutter with floppy ankles. The kick starts from the hip Flexors. Again an awesome core stabilty aid.

Try swimming fc with no legs. But try and keep the hips high.
Practise floating front and back working on keeping your entire body long and as close to the surface as possible.
Body position is key.

Legs are mainly for balance, your keel if you like. :)

In other news, I can confirm that triathletes are weird... When I arrived this evening there was some guy training in a tri-suit in the pool. By the time I got to the changing room he was there too, and instead of showering he put on a pair of leather loafers and a mac and wandered out into the rain.

And in final news I can confirm that I fucking love swimming :-)

^ Now that is style !

I forgot to come back and check on replies here. Very rude of me.

Right.

1) I blow dry my lush moustache, so it's not absorbing water.

2) There's no hiss as I hit the water. It's a myth that I live at burning temperature. I'm just hot in other ways.

3) Scales weight, clothing tighter around the upper body. Swimming makes me hungry but I'm actually eating less. I've put on six pounds in three weeks. True, for a few reasons I've not been cycling recently, but it's only while I've been swimming that I've gained weight.
My wife noticed my back looking rather wider, and overall I feel pretty good, but I do feel kind of bulkier, if you see what I mean.

Shoulders bigger ?

Much bigger. Like I'm smuggling coconuts.

It wasn't really my aim, i just really enjoyed the swimming and wanted to stay fit while off the bike.

I find changing shape quite a startling side effect!

coconuts ?

Does no one listen to anything i say.
Huff.

I do. And to great effect so far. Did 1.2 miles last night without too much effort. Sure i should push harder / do drills / whatever to feel greater benefit, but was certainly no chance i could have even managed this distance before putting into practice bits of advice from here and other sources.

Anyway - wetsuits got, Shepperton lake open for business. First lake swim this Saturday morning. Interesting to see how that goes.

Ooo thats my closest lake now. One of the guys and some old ladies told me about it..... where i pool swim.
Im waiting till it warms up a bit but am happy to meet up at some point if you want..

Sounds good. Definitely planning to go there on Saturday early doors to check it out. The Great North Swim is only a few weeks off, but i've really been enjoying swimming, and the lake looks awesome, so hopefully keep it up after the event.

Doing my first open water swinm session on saturday, going to bray lake as I can use it as part of my tri club for free (well, not free but at no extra cost...)

Tempted to swim in the winter surfing wetsuit, but will just have to htfu and use the swimming one!

How cold is it going to be at 6am?!

The only open water swimming I've done is in dorney lake with several 100 others and in the sea on my own, so this should be a happy medium!

Doing my first open water swinm session on saturday, going to bray lake as I can use it as part of my tri club for free (well, not free but at no extra cost...)

Tempted to swim in the winter surfing wetsuit, but will just have to htfu and use the swimming one!

How cold is it going to be at 6am?!

The only open water swimming I've done is in dorney lake with several 100 others and in the sea on my own, so this should be a happy medium!

Bout 10c atm ?

On the subject of legs when swimming freestyle.
My view is that Nick Nack is right in the amount of forward propulsion you get, so they aren't that important to your speed, but using them demands a lot of your core strength
So if you are swimming for fitness and conditioning really work on engaging the legs, kick really hard as part of a session. I tend to do two lengths kicking really really hard and getting the legs to move through quite a range, i.e. trying to get them really deep in the water.
I repeat this several times to help develop core strength. One of the reasons I swim is to deal with a back injury, and I find this helps. You can really feel it

Cheers adroit.
#someonelovesme.

Yup swimming is defo core strength.... i have a 4 pack stomach and i dont do any sit ups etc
Just from swimming.

Not boasting. Just stating.

Sounds good. Definitely planning to go there on Saturday early doors to check it out. The Great North Swim is only a few weeks off, but i've really been enjoying swimming, and the lake looks awesome, so hopefully keep it up after the event.

How was the lake ???

How was the lake ???

Awesome. Well, the setting is indeed beautiful. Weather was much better than expected. With a wetsuit on, the water temp really wasn't a problem. However, when i got in it reminded me why i had a mini panic last time i tried open water swimming. For some reason i feel like i want to take panic breaths and gulp down water when i put my face in. Just not comfortable with it at all, but i think this will come with not too much more experience. It was more a case of just seeing what the place was like and letting my gf feel how different it is compared to the pool ahead of the Great North Swim in a few weeks. She can only swim breaststroke and was quite put off by how much slower she was going than everyone else. The difference it not nearly as notable in the pool. I guess wetsuits are just built for crawl, but it's too late to try to learn it now. She still swam 800m without too much effort, which i think is an excellent achievement for a first go in open water.

Back again next Saturday to have a proper go, with a bit more time on our hands, so maybe do a few loops of the 750m course.

Makes you feel like a bit of a hero to be up early on the weekend in a beautiful lake having a bit of a swim. Thoroughly recommend it.

First sea swimming of the year this weekend down in Folkestone. About 10 degrees, so swam wetsuited so could last longer. Got 3x1hr swims in, but no swimming in 6 months means technique is all blown to hell, so need to get it together swiftly.

My mate did 6hrs straight, non-wetsuit, which was pretty impressive. He's doing the Channel on the second tide this year, and the general consensus is that getting across on the first 2 tides will be impossible as the water is still 2 degrees colder than usual. He's got the build and strength to tolerate it tho, if anyone does.

Does anyone do this:
http://www.theswimmer.org/index.html
Looks amazing, wish I were in London more often- or just on the right days.

^^ Woah.

Well, back in my world of swimming, Shepperton was lovely again on Saturday. Sadly we couldn't drag ourselves out of bed on Saturday morning so we had limited time till the lake actually shut, but really felt like i managed to get into a rhythm and could actually breath. Still not resolved the issue of going straight though. Stopping and starting to point myself in the right direction again and again does let me catch my breath, but is hugely disruptive to any sort of flowing stroke. Girlfriend also had a really good swim. Sticking with breaststroke, but after initial panic due to cold and scary lake size, settled in and could have kept going had we not run out of time. She's now just shy of the 1 mile target. I've still got a bit to go. Knocked out about 3km in the pool last night which i was pretty please with, but it was a bit of a slog.

Also, Tooting Lido was a surprisingly difficult swim. First time there, lots of other folk in wetsuits so not too weird to wear one. I thought as it was a pool i'd just be abel to churn up and down without the other worries the lake brings, but i think precisely because those other worries aren't there, it just felt like hard work. Looking forward to our final lake swim in a couple of weeks ahead of the Great North Swim.

Went for a swim in Coniston water on sunday, once I got over the panic inducing cold it was really pleasant, tired without success to get my dog out far enough to come with me (no forcing, just coaxing), bit she is getting braver!

I might be able to get out to a lake swim this weekend, does anyone else find it difficult to breathe for the first couple of minutes?!