My Progress after 8 weeks with Coach CQ.

So far, I've shaved 5minutes off my 1500m swim time and it's my 8th week into the training given by Coach Cheng Qiang. I've did today's 24:45 1500m with a pull buoy and without any kicking.

I am very very satisfied and very very happy with the progress but I have to keep myself in check because I know the progress gonna halt really soon if I don't take care of myself and my technique. Also, the rewards will eventually slow down to 1-2 seconds gain in a month or so's time because of something call "Plateau".

Honestly, the progress was way less painful than I expected it to be. Maybe I've a little more tolerance for mundane solo training and thus the RPE is always a little lower. Except last week when I was asked to do repeats of 400s. It was just very uncomfortable to go at a "comfortably uncomfortable" state and for the most part, I was too bothered by my timing rather than focusing on my effort.. Reason was I was just very excited to improve to an avg 1:41 pace for each 100 in the 400 repeats.

Monday: 6:53, 6:42, 6:44, 6:45
Wednesday: 6:42, 6:42, 6:40, 6:39

Eventually the constant hard exertion caught up to me on the 3rd training (Last Friday Morning) and my timing increased drastically. It hit me pretty hard in my morale but I kept telling myself to have faith, nothing comes easy and Coach always tell me "When you hit a phase where you feel tired and fatigued, you have to push past it constantly to breakthrough. That's when your fitness will improve.".. I kept replaying that sentence in my mind like it's my last life-line.

Friday: 6:44, 6:54, 6:56, 6:54

Last friday evening I approached Coach to have a word and I found out he actually wanted me to train again on Sunday instead of resting the weekend to prepare for Monday's session with him. It was a little shakening because I felt pretty tired from the 3 days of 4x400 on 8 minutes... the morning's 4x400 was shitty to say the least and then now I gotta do the 4x400 AGAIN on SUNDAY?

When sunday came, I could choose to workout in the evening at Sam's place but I decided to skip lunch to do it in front of Coach when he is on LG Duty. Well, I arrive the pool pretty worn and I told myself "look, if you're gonna give yourself more rest, it'd be the same as before you met him. Do not disappoint. Just do your best, like he said, RPE at 80% is most important, not the timing. As long as you do each 400 on 8minutes, it'll be good enough."

Sunday: 6:53, 6:48, 6:46, 6:43

As I went through the first 400 and saw my watch, I was like "sigh.." for 5 seconds and then immediately I caught a glimpse of the tallest figure on the pool deck watching me. Snapped right out of it and upped my tempo throughout the last 3 and I am so glad I got my flow back despite the fatigue.

It felt just like what it was: A Breakthrough.

Upon reviewing what happened in those 400s that went 6:53 and above, I was too focused on maintaining a high elbow and stretching in front that I glided instead of doing the kayak stroke. I felt that gliding stroke is so tiring to swim fast with because I couldn't move my arms relaxedly through the recovery and catch phase to rest them actively.. holding the stretched out position became a very annoying chore. As to why I turned to that on Friday's swim, it was probably because I was becoming tired and when I tried focusing on the high elbow and stretch, I couldn't maintain the continuous pull motion.. and that led me back to my old swim ways.

This week's swim was supposed to be 1.5km everyday.. however I took a rest yesterday to prevent any mental burnout because too much of that is just no good at all even if I get some results from the burnout. I want to do this long term and I got a long way to go to get my swim to 1:10 per 100 or less. I need to manage my own emotions, motivation and spirit/morales a little better.

Monday 1500m: 31:49 with breaks in between a few hundreds as Coach stopped me to correct some stuffs.
Tuesday 1500m: 26:37
Wednesday 1500m: 25:14
Thursday Rest
Friday: 24:45

I know I can go faster if I add the kick and that was not my best effort but I gotta save for the 10x25sprint 25easy and 400m Kick at 25sprint 25slow after the 1500.. besides, the instruction was strictly 80-85% except the last 200 for each 1500.

Looking forward to next training. It's gonna get tougher.. I need to get ready.

Cheers
KK

A short post on today's OWS.

Guys, I know today's "training" isn't much but I really had only one key point to drive through and that is to ease your anxiety and nerves.. Knowing exactly what you're facing is the best way to tackle an obstacle.

I know I made it sound really simple and some of you may misunderstood that because I'm a good swimmer I don't take it to heart that it is a Olympic Distance Triathlon.. It is still a big challenge for the untrained people and a strain even to the well trained ones. A 3.5hrs to 4hrs affair is as long as a marathon can take you.. So make no mistake, I am concerned for you guys, to say the least.

Remember that you need to have different things to focus on to drive yourself to perform continuously. Read my previous post on what "doing your best" is about.. Then formulate a strategy on a piece of paper and read through it. I do that for ALL my races, from 50m freestyle sprint race to my marathon to my half iron man.

Don't leave anything to doubt or guess work. Cover every single possible detail you could manage to think of. Once you do that, you'd have "gone through" the race once. Read through it several times whenever you have free time and then write down KEYWORDS that your mind can easily remember and think of during the race to remind you of what is next to come and expect.

Here's my very simple try. Mind's shutting down after training in the hot sun in the afternoon, so bear with the mistakes if any.

• Race day, wake 4hrs before, finish breakfast, do all tagging.
• Reached Race venue 2 hrs before start. Nerves creeping in stomach.
• Unpack things at transition area. Rack bike, place helmet on aerobar, shades, bike shoes, bottles, run shoes, socks. Fingers cold -- > Remind warmup will cure all coldness.. =)
• Take goggles, swim cap, Anti fog, apply anti jelly fish sun block.
• Take small expendable bottle of H-TWO-O OR water and gel.
• Recce Bike in, Bike out.
• Recce Run in, Run out.
• Recce Swim start, Swim exit, Swim route - How many buoys are there out there and divide equally to the distance (200, 350, 200) so you get some pacing knowledge and know how far you've covered. The math will take away a lot of anxiety and worries.
• Warmup at sea. Check Tides and Current. (Porpoise, 3-4x20 strokes out easy, Moderate to Hard come back) Make sure goggles don't come out when porpoising.
• Start of swim, everyone will be rushing, I stay cool and calm from start to first turn.
• After turn, I ease into my rhythm with the waves.
• Sight frequently (Every 4-5 strokes if choppy, every 8-10 if not) and conservatively, don't come up too high if not needed.
• Do not follow crowd unless in lead pack. (Even if in, check once in a while, maybe leader HOLLAND.)
• Upon exiting the first loop, walk 5-6 steps or more.. don't run immediately as blood is in the top of the body and you will cramp up easily. The run will not earn you much time unless you're chasing lead/draft pack.
• DON'T BE SHOCKED IF YOU GOT INTO THE NEXT WAVE'S START. Handle it calmly and watch where the main crowd go, if you are a flanker, FLANK ACCORDINGLY. Nobody will penalize you for staying on shore for a longer run across the beach to get yourself into a more comfortable position to swim.
• Repeat same strategy and find rhythm ASAP in second round of swim.
• Once out of swim exit, walk a little, then jog.. If need be, walk up the ramp. Across the bridge then jog down slowly. It's gonna be WET, SANDY AND PAINFUL a little bit.
• Into the transition area, get your HELMET FIRST, then bike shoe then bike and drink on the bike if you are aiming for timing, else drink then go. After 1.5km of swim, will be a little disorientated and getting a sip on the bike may prove a little more difficult to balance than whatever you've experienced before.
• Push the bike out to the mount line and mount and go. 
• Start with easy gear for first 2-4minutes. Ramp up gradually to your Time Trialing gear if you're aiming for timing. Else just keep shifting to a gear you can hold at 85-95 RPM according to how you feel throughout the race.
• It's 6 rounds, if you have a speedo, press LAP on every time you pass the bike out.
• Every 15minutes DRINK SOMETHING.
• Every 60minutes, eat a gel.
• POINT OF CAUTION: when you pass the bike out, most likely they'll make you do a U Turn near the toilet area. It is really pretty tight if there are more than 2 bikers turning with you. Last year, they placed COOLING WATER SPRINKLERS AT THAT CORNER. (Like What the.....).. so it was slippery also. JUST BE PREPARED. I saw NUMEROUS CRASHES at that area.
• POINT OF CAUTION 2 : They may make you do another U turn at a LONG KANG, if that happens, it is EXTREMELY TIGHT. Only 1 biker will squeeze through. Reason they gave was they don't have enough fundings to get another chip sensor to spread the whole width of the road. Ridiculous but true. BE PREPARED TOO. 
• POINT TO DRIVE THROUGH: ECP IS JUST NOT A NICE PLACE TO TIME TRIAL. 
• Upon finishing the 6 laps of biking, dismount at the dismount line else you'll be given some 10seconds penalty I think.
• Get the bike on the rack THEN remove helmet.
• Change into running shoes, go for an easy 10km run. It's 2 loops of 5km, I assure you it'll be H.O.T. But I'll be there. --> Got link meh? =p
• 
  
• 
  
• That's all, for my simplified version of race day draft.

Cheers
KK

A maturing tale of "Doing Your Best".

Why "maturing", you ask? Read on if you are keen, skip if you feel I'm too long winded, you know I am.. but you don't know what you're missing. =)

First, in my short 27yrs of life, "Doing My BEST" have been the center of my universe where my Sun revolves. Since how long? Since the first time I saw the world.

I've been competitive since I started knowing things, but I lived in a sheltered life. My parents were so protective of me that I wasn't given a chance to try and Be competitive at all.

I've never had friends that were competitive, that kind of made things worst. I don't like to lose but I don't have anyone to win, let alone lose to. It was such an ironic situation that even till now I couldn't really understand the complexity of that vicious cycle.

As I was about to get to know my true self in study, I was kind of a "work my ass off to get what I want" kind of person if you look at my report book but I easily get distracted. Because my dad and mum thinks I'm working too hard and getting too many Band 1 and Distinctions so they introduced me to gaming. Like real, but it did happen, so it is real and unfortunate.

Luckily I regained that edge when I knew Gwen in Poly. I remember I cried when I lost to her by 2 marks in a Calculus TEST. She got 100, I got 98.

In basketball, a game where I picked up since 16, I've made many true friends and many enemies because of my "I'M GONNA KILL YOU TO HELP MY TEAM WIN" way of playing defence.. Again, I found myself there, if you've seen me play in a match seriously, you probably won't come over and say "Hi Coach KK.". Every game I play in turns up in intensity because I don't like to play for fun and I just unknowingly boost the "WIN OR DIE" feel in them.

In NS, there's 40 people in a platoon/squad, I only have 1 friend, that is myself and 39 other enemies. If I don't win them, I brood, I work harder and I challenge them in the face telling them things like "I WILL SWIM FASTER THAN YOU, MR PANG.".. I did not manage to even pick up freestyle during that period of time, and I was UPSET that I didn't even get my breast stroke sorted out, let alone win him. But I worked hard and swam 88 laps with my just-can't-farking-move kind of breast stroke in the attempt to get better.

I have to win in every single 2.4km run. The only person I'd lose to is the best runner in the squad. I fucking hate to be 2nd but I'd rather die than to be 3rd. I'd run 10km every free night I have, I'd do 2.4km run at 95% effort on the night before IPPT and tell my Sir I am doing it easy to prepare for tomorrow. I HATE LOSING.

In every relationship I have, I'd give my best. EVERYTHING. So much so that everyone of them left me because I gave too much without knowing what they want. I just give what ME want to give, not what they need or want..

It was Horrible to say the least...

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So, from all the above, you can already tell my definition of doing my best = JUST GIVING MY EVERYTHING.

Is there a limit? Probably somewhere in the hemisphere.

Often in my mind I'll ask "Am I giving enough?".. There was never "Is this too much?".

Often, the question is "Is this good enough?".. There was never "What exactly am I working on?".

JUST DO. JUST FREAKING DO IT AND DO YOUR BEST THEN THINK LATER.

That kind of just implode in me and made me the person I am today, both successful and failing in many many aspects of my life. Coach KK is an image of me that is a self-motivated and rationale, knowledgeable and self contained person..

But that is only half as true. There are so many things in life that I could have done better.. not because I've not given my everything but its because I have no idea what I'm actually working on before I started doing.

I'm not gonna give a life lesson here but relate to life in anyway you want.. I'm sure it'll make sense. The thing I'm gonna touch on here is about training and racing.

Doing your best does equate giving your everything. But in order to do our best, the pre-requisite is to KNOW what exactly we're working on and the purpose of doing them.

For example, in a swim training, I set the following as training program:

Warmup:
SKPKS x 100 each (Easy, raise HR)

Pre-set:
4x100 build (getting ready for main set of speed work)

Rest 3 mins

Main set:
20x50 Hard on 1:00

Rest 5mins

Cool down:
300m easy mixed strokes

What does doing your best mean in this training session then?

If it was me 6 yrs back (with the swim skill i have now), I'd tell you:
"That's so easy, I'd go hard from the first metre to the last.. I'D SKIP ALL THE REST TOO! Else, I won't feel the kick in the workout at all.".

Right now, I'd tell you:
The rest times CANNOT BE SKIPPED. Without the rest times, your body are just not fresh to perform perfect technique. Every stroke is a practice. If you screw up technique for hard swim then you might as well don't swim because you will NEVER improve.

Warmup you better do it easy and gradually build up the heart rate. When you go too hard at the warmup (from non workout state to hard workout state), lactate and oxygen debt will build up quickly and take a very long time to go down. If that happens, the rest of the workout will be screwed.

Pre-set is to get your body ready for the intensity of the main set and is highly relevant to whatever is to be done later. If its a high technique focus main set then the pre-set will be something to kick start your focus like a fist drill swim. In this case, I'd say better start very easy from the first 100 then build to flat out in the last and 4th 100m to shake the body up and get ready for pacing.

Main set here is 20x50 hard. It's pretty straight forward here. The whole idea is to go very hard and get more rest. However, swim is a skill base sport that is so affected by drag factor. Your BEST here will not equate to swimming every 50 til you're completely breathless and fainting. Your BEST here WILL MEAN to do every 50m as hard as YOUR PERFECT TECHNIQUE allow.

Cool down is named "COOL DOWN" for a purpose. Take it easy and slow down the heart rate slowly by doing easy swim. Your BEST here is to make the swim AS EASY AS POSSIBLE so you get ready for a good rest and recovery. Without recovery, your training is just potential for falling sick.

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In a racing situation, doing your best will mean to savour every single second of the race. If it means you have to draft somebody to take it easy for a minute before making that last burst to lead the pack then let go of the lead and do the draft first. If it means slowing down to a walk to relieve that cramp before risking to tear something then WALK.

Often, we, especially MEN, are so taken over by our own pride and ego that we can't see the balance between rate of exertion and the technical aspect of everything we do in life.
We were so often overwhelmed by the need to give our best in a competitive environment and with a competitive heart, we forgot what is the reason and rationale behind doing some things.

For example, what's the point of being able to Fly 80kg, bench press 150kg and Bicep curl 50kg if you can't lift a damn TV off the floor with ease and walk up 10flights of stairs when the lift breaks down?

Or another example, what's the point of going so hard in your warm up and pre set when you totally exhaust yourself and then could only force yourself to give half effort in the hard effort main set?

To become successful, at least in sports, we have to have the patience to know the reason behind doing all things and performing the purpose of the training to the best that we can possibly achieve. Only then can we see the returns of the training.

With that, I'd rest my case and I'd rest my bod. And yes, I can rest with ease because with the above realization in mind, I have seen so much improvement over the past 6 weeks for my swim. I hope they benefit you too.

Cheers
KK

ps - Thank you Pang and Gwen for guest "appearance". :P

An overwhelming appreciation for "Coaching".

The "Coaching" I'm referring to here isn't me coaching somebody else but it is about "Being Coached".

As I've mentioned before, at least I think I've mentioned before because I've mentioned so many things before and even the words "mentioned" and "before" need to come up so many times in this sentence because.. well, I've indeed mentioned them before...

... That being a passionate guy about the things I choose to do, I've ALWAYS given my 200% in everything that I've willingly partaken in. From basketball to studies (yes I was in director's list in my dip.) to running to swimming to personal training and gym works. However, I've almost never podium-ed in my entire short 10yrs of sporting life.. I honestly felt a little short changed for the effort I've input and the heart and soul I've given.

The reason is not that I did not work hard enough but nobody was really there to guide me in what I should do correctly and what I should not. I've never had a proper certified, qualified/accomplished(optional) and capable coach who is there to WATCH ME and correct my mistake and tell me what I need to do.

I've read everything I need to learn to improve on every subject myself. Believe it or not even my lifesaving 1,2 and 3, a paid course, was taught by a extremely disappointing instructor that I have to re-study everything myself to get ready for the next level. This is a personal post and thus I hope sam will not be bothered by this.. She often proudly told people that she taught me how to swim at the start but the fact is that she didn't. All my questions was answered with "LIKE THAT LA, WHY CANNOT? I DON'T KNOW LEH."..  Ok, she wasn't a coach yet then but that kind of described the answers I get every single time I tried to work with my peers about something I want to improve on, not just swimming but almost everything else.

I've got some seniors in basketball that I need to thank to have helped me by sharing with me what they know, but they are not coaches and i'm forever a point guard who is good at using his brains to set up and improvise plays for his team instead of learning the proper pick and rolls and other set plays that can establish me as a "stable" PG..

As a matter of fact, ALL THE SWIM STROKES were picked up by my consistent disturbance on other "swimmers" or anyone in the pool that is better than me and then further practiced and confirmed by the long hours of trial and errors of drills and swims. Even up till the start of this year, it was a frustrating and continuous process to believe and coach on something I only have 95% faith that it is the right way to do. Until 6 weeks back. Everything in my swimming world changed.

With that, I am so overwhelmed with appreciation in today's training with my very own China Coach who is so well coached himself that every word he said makes me feel tinier and tinier-er in terms of knowledge base.

So to recall...

The first time I got a proper coach was Mr Chan, a 50+ years old man who can do one arm pull ups with ease. He taught me a complete set of gym training that made me more than just a functional being. He introduced me to proper joint alignment and kick started the process of learning how a body really work. His teaching and sharing is so valuable that if I had not been coached by him, I've be nowhere near who I am right now because I won't know how to activate all the muscles I need to, let alone coach the people to do the right things (insert Russel Peter's "be a man!" joke here :P)!

Then came Nicole Gallagher, the many many times podium sprint coach who inspired me to do better in triathlons and taught me what result a routine and consistent training can bring. She is the one who gave me the realism on what periodization training and scheduling of workout is about. Without that, team sapphire won't have such improvements to today already.

Then now, it is Cheng Qiang. One of the tallest lifeguard in Seng Kang. To have a feel about how he has changed my swim (perspectives and physical ability).. let's take a look at my swim times.
First sessions of:
2 x 400m on 8mins - 7:22, 7:33 (Rate of Perceived Exertion - 9/10)
20 x 50m on 1min - 0:49 to 0:54 (Rate of Perceived Exertion - 9.5/10)
2000m - 39:00 (Rate of Perceived Exertion - 9/10)
800m fist swim with board shorts - 22:30 (Rate of Perceived Exertion - 8.5/10)

NOW:
4 X 400M on 8mins - 6:53, 6:42, 6:44, 6:45 (Rate of Perceived Exertion - 7.5-8/10)
30 X 50m on 1min - 0:41 to 0:47 (Rate of Perceived Exertion - 9.5/10)
2000m - 37:00 (Rate of Perceived Exertion - 8/10)
800m fist swim with board shorts - 19:41 (Rate of Perceived Exertion - 8/10)

I have no idea how to express how excited I am in the training and I just felt SO motivated to do whatever he asks me to. I wanted a coach SO much. My desire to win and compete at the highest level is SO F*CKING GREAT. I can't better describe it.

When I felt the nerves and anxiety as he asked me to do my 400m warm up with a straight face.. I recalled how Team Sapphire members will reserve in the warm ups and pre sets to "prepare" for the main set... I recall Lawrence saying "Reserve a bit ma.. don't know what you'll throw at us later leh~!"... And I felt so so excited because I am finally being COACHED and I so want to reap the benefits and pure enjoyment of just being in the water giving my everything in the sets pre-determined by somebody else and that somebody is one I respect so much!

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Honestly, I've come a LONG WAY to where I am today without much proper coaching. And getting a proper coach in SG who knows what he's talking about is just SUCH A DIFFICULT MATTER. With that, I need to exclaim and remind myself and everyone else reading this subject thus far that Being Coached is a PRIVILEGE - and I appreciate it So F*cking Much.

Cheers
KK

12072011 Swim Squad Timing

Dear Team,

Please see below for swim timing. I'm glad to see some of you are gaining a lot of progress in the swim!

Yukari just did a sub 20minutes 1km swim last sunday!

Sam's stroke is undergoing changes and thus the drop in timing.

Ben's swim is getting faster by the sessions!

Wilson is now officially second fastest in time when vincent's not around :P

Calvin's so powerful that he is "dragging" his buddy in the kick part.. - no price for guessing who the buddy is. :P

Teck Beng's textbook like swim stroke is gaining recognition not just from me but coaches like Fred and the China lifeguards themselves.

Saori's just too fast and furious for a non club swimmer.. I don't know how else to put it. =p

Lawrence's swim is so so smooth now that he can totally chill and still keep up with you guys.. hmm.. maybe this is not something to be excited about. :P

------- Without further ado, below is the training program, followed by the timing------

PROGRAM...

TIMING....

Note: Below is some very honest feelings about the team that I had right now.. it's about striking a balance between expectations of me as a coach and the complacency of us being achievers... Read on if you care about team sapphire and I sincerely hope we will all advance towards a FASTER SWIM TIME by the end of the year!

The only complain I have about this training session is the timing given to me is still not accurate for some of you guys despite the constant prompt for accurate numbers for proper documentation. 

I do understand that most of us are in the team to enjoy the time swimming together but I hope the team can understand that it is a responsibility of mine as the trainer to keep track of benchmarks and consistently introduce results and improvements in order for the team to continue to feel intrigued and improved each session.  And without proper documentations, it is just impossible to see the tangible results and keep the fire burning. I am NOT complaining about doing the documentations because I love doing it for our team... but I really hope each and everyone of us will take more responsibilities in our own swim time and progress so we can have things to look back and forward on.

The reason for raising this up is I do not wish for the wednesday swim session to become a time whereby everyone just come for a gathering. Because the passion for SOCIAL Gatherings will fade but the Heart and Curiosity to learn and improve SHOULD NOT. I hope everyone continue to come with a mindset to improve and learn. 

Do you remember the very first time you came to Team Sapphire? It was so much talking from me and so much learning on our parts, both you and I and each and every session, everyone of us went back with something to work on and I will work on getting louder and lasting longer in my nags. 

I need to sound out that I really hope and expect the team to keep on growing, my dream is for this Team to be doing sub 1 minute 50m swim repeats for every single one of you by the end of this year. It is very doable and I have faith that if you guys continue to trust in me and we both do our parts in giving our best in training and sharing, WE will both reach this target by the end of the year. 

To be honest, at times, I do not dare to speak up about these because I still am a 27 years old brat to most of you guys in the team and I respect that age and experience difference. I've spent time knowing each and every single one of you in the team as much as I possibly can and I know that indeed some are satisfied with what we have already and I too respect that because I don't want to enforce a dictator's will on the team about progression.. 

Instead of speaking up on that, I have chosen to continue my very own education on swimming, triathlon, human and exercise physiology and biomechanics all these times when I am training you because I wish to set the example that no matter how good we can become, we should not take our skills attained for granted and should maintain humbled by the enormity of the whole subject's complexity. 

Many a times when we've accomplish something in a subject we were not good in, we tend to forget how bad we were and how far we have to walk to get to where we are right now. Let's NOT be in that kind of times.. lets ALL continue to have a LEARNER'S Mind and BEGINNER'S Curiosity. Let us ALL be THIRSTY for knowledge in the team once again! For it will bring us further than you've dreamt, not just in swimming, but in your fitness and health and That is your greatest wealth.

Cheers

KK

Pointers for our "Renewed" Freestyle stroke.

• Body rotation does not mean hip rotation, hip rotation should be kept to minimum.. Rotation of upper torso is what is needed
• Body rotation does not contribute to power output for push phase
• Body rotation allows proper exit of arm and hand on recovery and also facilitates streamlining of body by allowing the push phase to guide water "Away" from the body instead of onto the thighs
• Catch phase commence IMMEDIATELY after entry is made instead of glide phase
• Without glide, rest phase is during the catch and over water recovery thus they have to be done with extreme caution to be effortless and efficient
• Exertion at push phase is a gradual build up of arm velocity from the in-sweep phase
• Kick is Important for keeping a flat hip and additional propulsion

Upon stating the above, I need to remind each and everyone of us that we can do ALL strokes that we want and it is important we pick up all the different kind of rhythms. Both for the fun sake and also learning more things in the water just simply makes us a better swimmer or person who moves in the water. It gives your body a good sense of rhythm. 

Some of you may say that you're not a coach and thus you just choose one to perfect or race with.. that is not wrong.. 

However, say if you chose gliding stroke to focus on, then upon race day, the tides are against you and your opponents.. you'll have no choice but to attempt to glide through the strong currents which is very difficult.

And you'll come to think about it and say "Aiya. just learn the non gliding one la. Got current then i can move fast, no current i move faster wat.".. Then on race day you find the tides are with all of you.. and guess what? The whole field would choose to do gliding strokes all the way and allow the tides to push them totally from start to finish.. but you're not so good at gliding and thus you're gonna just pull and push throughout.. that'll probably mean you're about at most 3-5minutes faster than the rest and comes up pretty tired as compared to those "gliders" in the same wave who rode the tide for a free ride.

As racers, we have to be versatile in adapting to different race conditions and I believe I've already given this team an edge on knowing what can be possibly done and achieved with freestyle stroke. It is truly up to you to perfect this art and master the technique to fully benefit from it and enjoy it.

Cheers

KK

PS: Do read back the previous posts on Catch!