First of all, good luck guys.. for this sat's Singapore Biathlon! Its your first 1.5km swim + 10km run.. :) What I can say is you've done very well in the pool training and the open water swim and I believe you'll definitely be able to do more than just survive the 1.5km swim!
Those who trained running with me would definitely be able to complete comfortably..
I assure you as long as you keep your hydration checked (every 15mins drink a bit or every drink station drink..) and don't be afraid to push a little on the last turning lap! :)
Tips for races: Try to pre empt some stuff and visualize them happening and more importantly, you staying calm and handling the situations smoothly. :)
Singapore biathlon race experience:
- First two waves higher chance of kena jelly fish but they won't be more than pinches kinda pain and rashes
- Start line is VERY crowded (100+++++++++ ppl) and warm.
- Ppl like to chiong very hard so know yourself and your tactic, you wanna chiong with them to first buoy or you wanna flank them by going to the right and giving yourself some good space to swim easy?
Since you're joining this 1.5km swim race, I will say you're an above averagely accomplished swimmer (afterall we trained together and I've been managing..) and shouldn't be starting at the rear of the pack to get kicked at.
- Get to the start line EARLY, like 5 minutes at least before announcing.. because once they start announcing, ppl can really crowd the place and force you to get to the rear.
- Better to do the first 10 to 12 strokes without breathing if you're a strong swimmer. Not compulsory but I find that by just bashing through helps me to calm myself down and forget about getting hit.
- All sapphire swimmers who're below 1.7m tall should realistically do only 1 porpoising before start of swim unless its really a very very low tide day which havent happened for past 4 yrs.
- Build the kick steadily once you come into the two swim-laned swim exit path..
- Start to stand up and run only when you can see the sand being disturbed with your pull
- Once start to run on the sand.. don't sprint up the sand.. take your time to regain your composure. We're not there for medals so the 10 seconds slower won't kill and may save your muscles from cramping up.
- A 1.5km swim lap is a REALLY long affair compared to a 2x750 swim. Please go early to visualize the swim route and see how many buoys and what color you're expecting at which number of buoy. Keeps you entertained by knowing where you are already and what to expect next.
- Usually left turn into the coming back route is really bad because of the lousy visbility.. no solution to this.. try to sight slightly more often if need be.. keep going towards the outer side of the double swim-lane as that is the shorter way (straight line.)
- Start the run easy and build it up.. that's the safest way.. Those who trained with timing instead of distance.. just judge according to your normal training run time. Don't be intimidated by the run distance.. 10 km run can be 30min to 1hr 30min depending on your speed.. just run as per what your training has been like and you'll definitely do fine.
- Race like how you train!!!! :)
-Start hydrating NOW!!! Take in about 3l of water a day.. :) Tomorrow can be a short run or swim plus run (not more than 45 minutes).. then rest it off and prepare for the big one! Take in more carbs too.. those who eat a lot of rice normally can just eat as per normal with no need to increase yup...
- One hr into the race take a gel (if swim 40 mins then run 20 mins then eat gel and drink more water).. after the swim I like to eat banana to stick the salt down...
If you take the banana then don't take the gel until about 45 minutes into the run. The gel should be able to last you for about 45minutes. :) Those who need gel please tell sam or me by tomorrow and we can pass them to you on sat.. Pay sam, don't pay me. :)
Whether you wanna take it easy or go all out for it.. remember the most important thing is to ENJOY YOURSELF and BE SAFE!!!!
It is really a pleasure and honor to be on the same race as you guys... it's God's blessing that I could recover in time to at least do this race even though I'm not really race ready but I'll still give it my best try. :)
Cheers
KK
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Tri Suit design!
Ahh.. finally.. long awaited.. please see the following image for design. If everyone gives thumbs up then I will start collecting sizes info and order qty.
Click to enlarge!
Thanks,
KK
Click to enlarge!
Thanks,
KK
Friday, March 5, 2010
Swim Squad 03032010
Warmup:
100m each
Swim Kick Swim Kick Swim
Main Set:
10x50 on 1:20
200 easy
10x50 on 1:20
400m easy cool down
For Wilson and KianMing and Robert, the second main set was a pyramid set from 50 to 200 and down.
---------------------------------
Approximate (per lap) timing for first set of 10x50s.
Ryan: 0:55
Gen: 0:56
Sam: 0:55
Chang Jie: 0:58~1:04
Jia wei: 1:00
Marianne: 1:03
KK: 0:51
Kian Ming: 1:10
Wilson: 1:06
Approximate (per lap) timing for first set of 10x50s.
Ryan: 0:56
Gen: 0:58
Sam: 0:55
Chang Jie: 1:03
Jia Wei: 1:03
Marianne: 1:04
KK: 0:50
Leon: 0:51
-----------------------------
This is a good indicator set of how much race fitness we have. Having long rest allows quality swim laps/sets and thus the timing was quite consistent for most people.
Below are list of people whose timing dropped usually from 5th set onwards.
Marianne
Jiawei
Kian Ming
Chang Jie
This shows a lack of swim endurance base and thus in ability to hold a race pace power output. More swim will help and this is clearly shown in Marianne's case. There has been a huge improvement in pace maintenance for her and I believe it is due to the extra swim sessions she's done herself.
A word of advice to those who're using pull buoy for practice. Try not to over use it as it gives a false conception of isolating the arm to do the work and also it takes away the work of the erector spinae (lower back) and glutes and hamstring and calves in keeping the back extended and floating. Those muscles are important core muscles needed for keeping a streamlined position in water whilst rotating and applying power through the water with your arms and back muscles.
When you use the pull buoy, make sure you are working on the following point:
- Keeping your body locked straight at the hip area and don't let the body bent.
- Lock your body out from lateral swaying movements
- When doing the catch and pulling, remember to incorporate body rotation and not just use your arms.
- At all times, press your chest down and extend your legs far far behind with toes pointed to get a streamlined position, do not just make use of the buoy to help you float as it gives the body a crippled feeling once it is removed.
The pull buoy in a way takes away the floating problem from the hips but it magnifies the problem of any swimmer whose core is weak and unable to keep body locked in a straight line without kicks. Use it wisely to teach yourself of mistakes you're doing and correct them.. don't use the pull buoy as a mean to become lazy with the lack of neeed to kick.
-------------------------------------------
Chang Jie:
A small review for chang jie, the body rotation towards the non breathing side is incomplete and as a resul the recovering arm is forced to be dragging along in the water and the high elbow cannot get a high enough clearance to recover.
Next time when yu finished breathing and is starting the next pull, remember to rotate MORE towards the none breathing side.
Also, when you pull, your non breathing side tend to pull only half way especially when you're panting for breathe. It is more like shortening the non breathing side's pull so you can start the breathing side pull faster to come up and breathe sooner.
Bad habit to have as it reduces the amount of glide you have.
Kick is very weak and cannot help in propulsion too..
Last but not least, breathing is abit on the high side. Keep abt half the face in the water if possible in calm water situation.
Ryan:
A short review for ryan.
From this practice it confirmed my finding for your swim.
1) You got a strong back and glutes probably from running with a straight body. Thus your body streamlining is good.
2) Kick is weak and does not help in propulsion
I saw you working on the high elbow. Most important thing to do now is to consciously add them into the moderate effort sets and warm up sets. I can understand when its race pace, it is hard to incorporate but still, you'll have to add them into the race pace set sooner or later..
The thing about swimming is you need to practice a skill at speed after you practiced it slow. Its just when you swim slow and you finally got it on how to recover with a high elbow, but when you swim fast, your body won't be able to ccope on the coordination due to different exertion level.
Leon and Sam
Leon and Sam have this same problem of the lower body sinking like nobody's business at the end of the sets which is very detrimental as that is when energy is very depleted already and you're trying to use every single ounce of energy you have left to move forward and not fight the drag forces.
You guys have to do more back extension or prone superman exercises. Also when you kick, kick from the hip and glutes.. try to resist the urge to just wack the legs flexion from the knee downwards.. very detrimental to streamlining of the body with too much bending at the knees.
Wilson:
Loads of anaerobic power.. very respectable. Remember to work on the slow easy swims for now.. you need to learn to master the finesse as that will give you a much bigger return in the future.. anaerobic fitness are always trainable and thus even if you lose abit of them now it is ok.
Try to pay more attention to your body's relaxation during the non race pace set and make stroke counts. Break 1 long lap into 2 counts (first half and second half) then find out which part has the most increase (usually last 10 meters)..
Then next time pay attention to what happen to the body and what are you doing (how you breathing and are you gliding? etc..) during that part of a swim when strokes are increasing alot.
Gen:
I see conscious effort in pulling all the way back but when you have to still pay more attention to what you're doing when you're feeling like dying already.. usually the last 2 sets. Technique falters quite a bit during the last 2 laps.
Jiawei:
Eh bro.. can you explain why on the 1st 30m of the very first set you DAMN FREAKING FAST... like going at 25secs 50m pace.. then you always die off... and you never recover for the rest of the sets!?
Can you try to curb the temptation to chiong on the first set and aim for 10x of 50seconds instead? Use your energy wisely. You only got 2seconds of ATP stores and the glycolytic system only last for 10secs.. you chiong all out for 10 seconds then you need time to recharge liao.
---------------------------------------------------
Everybody's kick is still pretty weak.. Next time must do timed kick sets AND vertical kicking liao....
Last but not least, I know this sounds a bit narcissistic but when any of you swim beside me.. try to take a look at how I do things in the water. I usually go 2 seconds after i said "Go" so you're definitely in front of me and have a good view of what I do when I pass you...
Sam caught a glimpse of how I drive my hip and chest into the water with my strong body rotation and how it helps me to gain a huge load more gliding with each pull and she broke her PB for her 50m that night.. 51secs. :).
This is a true form of practice as I often watch the olympic swimmers in youtube and I find myself swimming faster too due to the silky movements that I try to mimic from the video... try it!
Gen, I know liao.. it is not my pull or kick that is creating the wave.. but its more like my rotation and I'm consciously activating my back and core muscles through rotation.. Arm and leg muscles only cannot create such wave to push you away one la.:)
Cheers
KK
100m each
Swim Kick Swim Kick Swim
Main Set:
10x50 on 1:20
200 easy
10x50 on 1:20
400m easy cool down
For Wilson and KianMing and Robert, the second main set was a pyramid set from 50 to 200 and down.
---------------------------------
Approximate (per lap) timing for first set of 10x50s.
Ryan: 0:55
Gen: 0:56
Sam: 0:55
Chang Jie: 0:58~1:04
Jia wei: 1:00
Marianne: 1:03
KK: 0:51
Kian Ming: 1:10
Wilson: 1:06
Approximate (per lap) timing for first set of 10x50s.
Ryan: 0:56
Gen: 0:58
Sam: 0:55
Chang Jie: 1:03
Jia Wei: 1:03
Marianne: 1:04
KK: 0:50
Leon: 0:51
-----------------------------
This is a good indicator set of how much race fitness we have. Having long rest allows quality swim laps/sets and thus the timing was quite consistent for most people.
Below are list of people whose timing dropped usually from 5th set onwards.
Marianne
Jiawei
Kian Ming
Chang Jie
This shows a lack of swim endurance base and thus in ability to hold a race pace power output. More swim will help and this is clearly shown in Marianne's case. There has been a huge improvement in pace maintenance for her and I believe it is due to the extra swim sessions she's done herself.
A word of advice to those who're using pull buoy for practice. Try not to over use it as it gives a false conception of isolating the arm to do the work and also it takes away the work of the erector spinae (lower back) and glutes and hamstring and calves in keeping the back extended and floating. Those muscles are important core muscles needed for keeping a streamlined position in water whilst rotating and applying power through the water with your arms and back muscles.
When you use the pull buoy, make sure you are working on the following point:
- Keeping your body locked straight at the hip area and don't let the body bent.
- Lock your body out from lateral swaying movements
- When doing the catch and pulling, remember to incorporate body rotation and not just use your arms.
- At all times, press your chest down and extend your legs far far behind with toes pointed to get a streamlined position, do not just make use of the buoy to help you float as it gives the body a crippled feeling once it is removed.
The pull buoy in a way takes away the floating problem from the hips but it magnifies the problem of any swimmer whose core is weak and unable to keep body locked in a straight line without kicks. Use it wisely to teach yourself of mistakes you're doing and correct them.. don't use the pull buoy as a mean to become lazy with the lack of neeed to kick.
-------------------------------------------
Chang Jie:
A small review for chang jie, the body rotation towards the non breathing side is incomplete and as a resul the recovering arm is forced to be dragging along in the water and the high elbow cannot get a high enough clearance to recover.
Next time when yu finished breathing and is starting the next pull, remember to rotate MORE towards the none breathing side.
Also, when you pull, your non breathing side tend to pull only half way especially when you're panting for breathe. It is more like shortening the non breathing side's pull so you can start the breathing side pull faster to come up and breathe sooner.
Bad habit to have as it reduces the amount of glide you have.
Kick is very weak and cannot help in propulsion too..
Last but not least, breathing is abit on the high side. Keep abt half the face in the water if possible in calm water situation.
Ryan:
A short review for ryan.
From this practice it confirmed my finding for your swim.
1) You got a strong back and glutes probably from running with a straight body. Thus your body streamlining is good.
2) Kick is weak and does not help in propulsion
I saw you working on the high elbow. Most important thing to do now is to consciously add them into the moderate effort sets and warm up sets. I can understand when its race pace, it is hard to incorporate but still, you'll have to add them into the race pace set sooner or later..
The thing about swimming is you need to practice a skill at speed after you practiced it slow. Its just when you swim slow and you finally got it on how to recover with a high elbow, but when you swim fast, your body won't be able to ccope on the coordination due to different exertion level.
Leon and Sam
Leon and Sam have this same problem of the lower body sinking like nobody's business at the end of the sets which is very detrimental as that is when energy is very depleted already and you're trying to use every single ounce of energy you have left to move forward and not fight the drag forces.
You guys have to do more back extension or prone superman exercises. Also when you kick, kick from the hip and glutes.. try to resist the urge to just wack the legs flexion from the knee downwards.. very detrimental to streamlining of the body with too much bending at the knees.
Wilson:
Loads of anaerobic power.. very respectable. Remember to work on the slow easy swims for now.. you need to learn to master the finesse as that will give you a much bigger return in the future.. anaerobic fitness are always trainable and thus even if you lose abit of them now it is ok.
Try to pay more attention to your body's relaxation during the non race pace set and make stroke counts. Break 1 long lap into 2 counts (first half and second half) then find out which part has the most increase (usually last 10 meters)..
Then next time pay attention to what happen to the body and what are you doing (how you breathing and are you gliding? etc..) during that part of a swim when strokes are increasing alot.
Gen:
I see conscious effort in pulling all the way back but when you have to still pay more attention to what you're doing when you're feeling like dying already.. usually the last 2 sets. Technique falters quite a bit during the last 2 laps.
Jiawei:
Eh bro.. can you explain why on the 1st 30m of the very first set you DAMN FREAKING FAST... like going at 25secs 50m pace.. then you always die off... and you never recover for the rest of the sets!?
Can you try to curb the temptation to chiong on the first set and aim for 10x of 50seconds instead? Use your energy wisely. You only got 2seconds of ATP stores and the glycolytic system only last for 10secs.. you chiong all out for 10 seconds then you need time to recharge liao.
---------------------------------------------------
Everybody's kick is still pretty weak.. Next time must do timed kick sets AND vertical kicking liao....
Last but not least, I know this sounds a bit narcissistic but when any of you swim beside me.. try to take a look at how I do things in the water. I usually go 2 seconds after i said "Go" so you're definitely in front of me and have a good view of what I do when I pass you...
Sam caught a glimpse of how I drive my hip and chest into the water with my strong body rotation and how it helps me to gain a huge load more gliding with each pull and she broke her PB for her 50m that night.. 51secs. :).
This is a true form of practice as I often watch the olympic swimmers in youtube and I find myself swimming faster too due to the silky movements that I try to mimic from the video... try it!
Gen, I know liao.. it is not my pull or kick that is creating the wave.. but its more like my rotation and I'm consciously activating my back and core muscles through rotation.. Arm and leg muscles only cannot create such wave to push you away one la.:)
Cheers
KK
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Reviews reviews reviews!!!
Much awaited review of last wednesday's swim!
Oh wait wait.. first of all..
CONGRATULATIONS TO LEON AND ROBERT FOR COMPLETING THEIR FIRST BIATHLON!!!!!
Leon did 13minutes swim and 23min run!
Robert completed with a brave 20mins swim (Come on, 20minutes swim are real nice! :D) and 29minutes run!!!
Pauline, even though you didn't recover yet, i'm sure you'll be well for tribob sprint triathlon!!!
I'm really proud of what you guys have done in the race and even more importantly, enduring the nags in training~~~~ jiayou! more to come! hehe.
*APPLAUSE*****
*******************************************************
Ok.. back to review....
I thought everyone did very well and marianne shown superb improvements but still died on the last few. :P
Ryan:
I am really happy about the timing you're posting and your aerobic fitness and core strength are pretty much there to hold the body in a streamlined position except when you don't kick.
Which means if you don't kick, your body will start snaking around and that spells trouble in saving energy because in triathlon, we all try to cut the amount of kick and put it in only when it really counts.
Looking at your kick timing, your kick aren't helping you alot at all in frontal propulsion (despite same or more energy expenditure than those who's kick are helping them move) and if we look at the above analysis plus this, your kick is only good for streamlining..
A kick for balancing and streamlining don't have to be continuous and it can be in 2 beats or even 1 beat per 1 pull. Something for you to ponder if you intend to be more efficient.
According to what I see, the high elbow is something you should really take a look into right now and I believe your straight arm pulling under the water is probably why the momentum of a straight arm swinging out exiting the water and going back in in front again.
Straight arm pulling can allow you to catch a lot of water but it also causes your arm to become a very huge piece of drag in front (you're moving in front and thus when you pull straight down until the arm is perpendicular to the floor, the water is also pushing against that whole arm). Think about reducing frontal drag and applying same amount of force. Check the video i posted previously on how to do the catch.
Gen
Timing isn't improving much despite training for so many times liao. Why? Techniques wrong never change. When doing high effort set only know how to chiong chiong chiong nia. Focus on the technique then apply force! Don't be like cow can?
- Left arm pull is horrendously short. How can it end at the stomach area when you are sprinting? Already having a short catch because of bad shoulder flexibility, and you still shorten your pull, it simply means your pulling has VERY VERY LITTLE propulsion. The catch phase is NON-propulsive, so your current catch position is around the forehead or face area instead of an ideal in-front-of-head area... so your pull only has propulsion from the length of the point from your eyes to your lower abdomen. How cool is that?
- Evidence of short catch position, look at fist drill + pull buoy lap timing. Your normal lap swim is about 6 to 8 seconds faster than marianne and this time when marianne was really trying to hang in there with you girls, you're actually doing slower than her. Why? First, hip is sinking, second......
Fist drill works in a way that it takes away the sensitive paddle of your palm and force you to go into a early catch position without a feel of fingertips holding onto the water at the beginning of the pull. Because of this lack of anchoring palm onto water, you were not able to catch alot of water at all and the catch was probably around chest level instead of face when during fist drill. Ask me if you don't understand.
- Right arm also never finish pulling. Somewhere around starting of the thigh? I got a feeling that when you went to gym to do some kind of gym work, you did not do til the full range of motion of your arm joint and thus now your muscle has very little automatic active range of motion that it should be trained to use.
- When you use pull buoy to pull, you did not make an effort to tighten your core and thus your hip was sinking and your body was snaking really alot from side to side with the rotations that was happening. by the way, There was NO rotation towards the non breathing side of your body.
- When you finish breathing, WHY MUST YOUR HEAD ENTER THE WATER LOOKING IN FRONT FIRST THEN LOOK DOWN AT THE FLOOR? can't you rotate straight down to the floor? Once or twice in many strokes to see if got ppl nevermind.. EVERY SINGLE TIME ALSO LIKE THAT!!! HAIZZ...
- You do very well for the sprints.. and I know you always tell ppl "Yah my coach always say I do very well for sprints but sprints only la... then he always say my technique yada yada yada.. but i also don't know yada yada yada.."
Seriously, let me tell you "WAKE UP EH!" What's the point of keeping letting ppl telling you only your sprint good and only your short d good? can't you change and shut them up? how can you don't know when i already told you SO many times and you have the heart to change and not say you don't even come for training!
If you really take me like your khor, i tell you, Haiz. its really frustrating for me to keep writing the same mistake of you over and over again and see you never change and keep telling ppl the that you're doing the same mistake with that silly smile on your face. Please jiayou can, Mei?
Marianne
Looks like the extra swims you did paid off well? Having two swims a week really makes a huge difference but at the expense of luxurious time.
Even though your fist + pull buoy laps are slightly faster than gen's, I'd like to make a guess that this is actually because when you have a pull buoy, you are above to keep your hip floating better and when you squeeze the buoy, you actually kept your body more streamlined than when you're kicking and thus the quicker time? You digest, and tell me if its correct.
I see nothing much to change for now since competition is near, except also a better catch position perhaps...
Wilson
I tink we should go for a run session and bike session. Proper ones. A session where we're maintaining aerobic threshold speed, something that is comfortably uncomfortable and you can maintain. Because when you go into such sessions, you'll learn to relax the other parts of the body and just "tense up" the needed areas to maintain a good form so that all energy can be efficiently used by the working muscles.
For now, you get the idea of which area to flex and hold, but you haven't get the idea of holding them without the need for thoughts of them.
Next time, try these:
Take a huge breathe of air and go into the water and just stay in there and close your eyes. See how long you can hold. Let nothing run through your mind and just listen to your own heart beat and gently bubble. I can hold 2 mins ++. The more relaxed you are, the lesser oxygen is used by the muscles because none is tensed up. I am so relaxed that I can open my eyes and see but I am not even thinking or registering what I saw. -Shut off-.
After doing that, try to do the side kicking with arm up extended drill, and once you start kicking, forget abt the kick, close your eyes and blank out your mind. Shut off again. Try doing that and subconsciously holding your body to a streamlined position.
After 1 breathe, stand up. Do another one on the other side.
Step 3,
1 breathe, do as many pull as you can with your eyes closed and make sure you're always streamlined after every pull. Try doing that with your thinking shut off, just let your body do the work that it has learnt for so long already.
That is the most relaxed swim you can get.
Final step.. Utilizing it on normal lap swims.
Push off the wall and immediately start bubbling and pulling. Do not hold breathe and do extra freestyle kicks. Just pull, bubble and breathe. Your first 10 pull is probably gliding alot. Your aim is to glide as much for the last 10 pull!
The only way you can do this is to minimize the oxygen debt in the first half and be extra relaxed in the first half instead of the normal natural instinct to make use of the kick off to do some powerful quick pulls to gain some distance before momentum drops to none. Pull as gently as possible at the first half then try to finish stronger than you start. That way you'll have a balanced lap and not always die off at the second half. As you get better, split the laps the same way.
Sam
I know you're concerned about your timing. Don't be. On tuesday you did a 750 swim + 55minutes run. That is a 1.5hr total body workout and plus you've been training consistently for weeks, look at your training program, its peaking next week.. so fatigue is definitely around. You're gonna do without the swim today and rest well. Monday is another 1km swim and 60mins run. Jiayou! :)
- When you breathe, you tend to braethe too late. Start the body rotation slightly after the catch phase, and you'll be able to turn up to breathe when the pull is half way through your torso! :)
-Also, when you are doing easy swim or not thinking, your lead arm is always not straight and stretching one leh... it means when you're tired or when you're doing it reallly realllllyy fast... you're going to make the same mistake too.
Oh, one last problem... i copy and paste for you.
- When you finish breathing, WHY MUST YOUR HEAD ENTER THE WATER LOOKING IN FRONT FIRST THEN LOOK DOWN AT THE FLOOR? can't you rotate straight down to the floor? Once or twice in many strokes to see if got ppl nevermind.. EVERY SINGLE TIME ALSO LIKE THAT!!! HAIZZ...
Must take note k.
-----------------------------------------
Everyone:
The reason last week's set was with pull buoy, kicks and fist swim is because this allow you guys to see these weak links of us mere mortal swimmers (the olympians like phelps and thorpe has probably perfected them already):
- Catch positioning
- Strong kick
- Second nature Core activation in swim
I see ryan's hip always snaking to the left when breathing and using the buoy.
I see marianne's body pretty straight (i'm guessing again, that last time you trained alot with pull buoy and thus the lousy kick but still 1 mins swim. :P)..
I see sam's body pretty straight except when breathing the lead arm is not straight and sometimes body tend to crunch to the right.
I see gen's body snaking left and right.
I see all except marianne's hips are flexed with the buoy.. no activation of core to keep the legs up! Even 2 cm of hip drop can slow you down alot!
Everybody's kick is damn slow la.. including myself... zzz... My fastest was 3:30 only last week before i fell sick.
Anyway, ppl, great job thus far! Hopefully i see all of you this wednesday!
Cheers
KK (Shagged liao...)
Oh wait wait.. first of all..
CONGRATULATIONS TO LEON AND ROBERT FOR COMPLETING THEIR FIRST BIATHLON!!!!!
Leon did 13minutes swim and 23min run!
Robert completed with a brave 20mins swim (Come on, 20minutes swim are real nice! :D) and 29minutes run!!!
Pauline, even though you didn't recover yet, i'm sure you'll be well for tribob sprint triathlon!!!
I'm really proud of what you guys have done in the race and even more importantly, enduring the nags in training~~~~ jiayou! more to come! hehe.
*APPLAUSE*****
*******************************************************
Ok.. back to review....
I thought everyone did very well and marianne shown superb improvements but still died on the last few. :P
Ryan:
I am really happy about the timing you're posting and your aerobic fitness and core strength are pretty much there to hold the body in a streamlined position except when you don't kick.
Which means if you don't kick, your body will start snaking around and that spells trouble in saving energy because in triathlon, we all try to cut the amount of kick and put it in only when it really counts.
Looking at your kick timing, your kick aren't helping you alot at all in frontal propulsion (despite same or more energy expenditure than those who's kick are helping them move) and if we look at the above analysis plus this, your kick is only good for streamlining..
A kick for balancing and streamlining don't have to be continuous and it can be in 2 beats or even 1 beat per 1 pull. Something for you to ponder if you intend to be more efficient.
According to what I see, the high elbow is something you should really take a look into right now and I believe your straight arm pulling under the water is probably why the momentum of a straight arm swinging out exiting the water and going back in in front again.
Straight arm pulling can allow you to catch a lot of water but it also causes your arm to become a very huge piece of drag in front (you're moving in front and thus when you pull straight down until the arm is perpendicular to the floor, the water is also pushing against that whole arm). Think about reducing frontal drag and applying same amount of force. Check the video i posted previously on how to do the catch.
Gen
Timing isn't improving much despite training for so many times liao. Why? Techniques wrong never change. When doing high effort set only know how to chiong chiong chiong nia. Focus on the technique then apply force! Don't be like cow can?
- Left arm pull is horrendously short. How can it end at the stomach area when you are sprinting? Already having a short catch because of bad shoulder flexibility, and you still shorten your pull, it simply means your pulling has VERY VERY LITTLE propulsion. The catch phase is NON-propulsive, so your current catch position is around the forehead or face area instead of an ideal in-front-of-head area... so your pull only has propulsion from the length of the point from your eyes to your lower abdomen. How cool is that?
- Evidence of short catch position, look at fist drill + pull buoy lap timing. Your normal lap swim is about 6 to 8 seconds faster than marianne and this time when marianne was really trying to hang in there with you girls, you're actually doing slower than her. Why? First, hip is sinking, second......
Fist drill works in a way that it takes away the sensitive paddle of your palm and force you to go into a early catch position without a feel of fingertips holding onto the water at the beginning of the pull. Because of this lack of anchoring palm onto water, you were not able to catch alot of water at all and the catch was probably around chest level instead of face when during fist drill. Ask me if you don't understand.
- Right arm also never finish pulling. Somewhere around starting of the thigh? I got a feeling that when you went to gym to do some kind of gym work, you did not do til the full range of motion of your arm joint and thus now your muscle has very little automatic active range of motion that it should be trained to use.
- When you use pull buoy to pull, you did not make an effort to tighten your core and thus your hip was sinking and your body was snaking really alot from side to side with the rotations that was happening. by the way, There was NO rotation towards the non breathing side of your body.
- When you finish breathing, WHY MUST YOUR HEAD ENTER THE WATER LOOKING IN FRONT FIRST THEN LOOK DOWN AT THE FLOOR? can't you rotate straight down to the floor? Once or twice in many strokes to see if got ppl nevermind.. EVERY SINGLE TIME ALSO LIKE THAT!!! HAIZZ...
- You do very well for the sprints.. and I know you always tell ppl "Yah my coach always say I do very well for sprints but sprints only la... then he always say my technique yada yada yada.. but i also don't know yada yada yada.."
Seriously, let me tell you "WAKE UP EH!" What's the point of keeping letting ppl telling you only your sprint good and only your short d good? can't you change and shut them up? how can you don't know when i already told you SO many times and you have the heart to change and not say you don't even come for training!
If you really take me like your khor, i tell you, Haiz. its really frustrating for me to keep writing the same mistake of you over and over again and see you never change and keep telling ppl the that you're doing the same mistake with that silly smile on your face. Please jiayou can, Mei?
Marianne
Looks like the extra swims you did paid off well? Having two swims a week really makes a huge difference but at the expense of luxurious time.
Even though your fist + pull buoy laps are slightly faster than gen's, I'd like to make a guess that this is actually because when you have a pull buoy, you are above to keep your hip floating better and when you squeeze the buoy, you actually kept your body more streamlined than when you're kicking and thus the quicker time? You digest, and tell me if its correct.
I see nothing much to change for now since competition is near, except also a better catch position perhaps...
Wilson
I tink we should go for a run session and bike session. Proper ones. A session where we're maintaining aerobic threshold speed, something that is comfortably uncomfortable and you can maintain. Because when you go into such sessions, you'll learn to relax the other parts of the body and just "tense up" the needed areas to maintain a good form so that all energy can be efficiently used by the working muscles.
For now, you get the idea of which area to flex and hold, but you haven't get the idea of holding them without the need for thoughts of them.
Next time, try these:
Take a huge breathe of air and go into the water and just stay in there and close your eyes. See how long you can hold. Let nothing run through your mind and just listen to your own heart beat and gently bubble. I can hold 2 mins ++. The more relaxed you are, the lesser oxygen is used by the muscles because none is tensed up. I am so relaxed that I can open my eyes and see but I am not even thinking or registering what I saw. -Shut off-.
After doing that, try to do the side kicking with arm up extended drill, and once you start kicking, forget abt the kick, close your eyes and blank out your mind. Shut off again. Try doing that and subconsciously holding your body to a streamlined position.
After 1 breathe, stand up. Do another one on the other side.
Step 3,
1 breathe, do as many pull as you can with your eyes closed and make sure you're always streamlined after every pull. Try doing that with your thinking shut off, just let your body do the work that it has learnt for so long already.
That is the most relaxed swim you can get.
Final step.. Utilizing it on normal lap swims.
Push off the wall and immediately start bubbling and pulling. Do not hold breathe and do extra freestyle kicks. Just pull, bubble and breathe. Your first 10 pull is probably gliding alot. Your aim is to glide as much for the last 10 pull!
The only way you can do this is to minimize the oxygen debt in the first half and be extra relaxed in the first half instead of the normal natural instinct to make use of the kick off to do some powerful quick pulls to gain some distance before momentum drops to none. Pull as gently as possible at the first half then try to finish stronger than you start. That way you'll have a balanced lap and not always die off at the second half. As you get better, split the laps the same way.
Sam
I know you're concerned about your timing. Don't be. On tuesday you did a 750 swim + 55minutes run. That is a 1.5hr total body workout and plus you've been training consistently for weeks, look at your training program, its peaking next week.. so fatigue is definitely around. You're gonna do without the swim today and rest well. Monday is another 1km swim and 60mins run. Jiayou! :)
- When you breathe, you tend to braethe too late. Start the body rotation slightly after the catch phase, and you'll be able to turn up to breathe when the pull is half way through your torso! :)
-Also, when you are doing easy swim or not thinking, your lead arm is always not straight and stretching one leh... it means when you're tired or when you're doing it reallly realllllyy fast... you're going to make the same mistake too.
Oh, one last problem... i copy and paste for you.
- When you finish breathing, WHY MUST YOUR HEAD ENTER THE WATER LOOKING IN FRONT FIRST THEN LOOK DOWN AT THE FLOOR? can't you rotate straight down to the floor? Once or twice in many strokes to see if got ppl nevermind.. EVERY SINGLE TIME ALSO LIKE THAT!!! HAIZZ...
Must take note k.
-----------------------------------------
Everyone:
The reason last week's set was with pull buoy, kicks and fist swim is because this allow you guys to see these weak links of us mere mortal swimmers (the olympians like phelps and thorpe has probably perfected them already):
- Catch positioning
- Strong kick
- Second nature Core activation in swim
I see ryan's hip always snaking to the left when breathing and using the buoy.
I see marianne's body pretty straight (i'm guessing again, that last time you trained alot with pull buoy and thus the lousy kick but still 1 mins swim. :P)..
I see sam's body pretty straight except when breathing the lead arm is not straight and sometimes body tend to crunch to the right.
I see gen's body snaking left and right.
I see all except marianne's hips are flexed with the buoy.. no activation of core to keep the legs up! Even 2 cm of hip drop can slow you down alot!
Everybody's kick is damn slow la.. including myself... zzz... My fastest was 3:30 only last week before i fell sick.
Anyway, ppl, great job thus far! Hopefully i see all of you this wednesday!
Cheers
KK (Shagged liao...)
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Goodbye Aviva 2010.
There's only 2 words that I can use to describe the feeling of having trained for almost half a year to go for my Half Ironman Debut this year just to have that dream smashed by a strain of flu virus. "-=Very Painful=-"
Having friends around me supporting me, especially Sam who has been taking care of me like I'm a handicapped person since day 1 is really a blessing that I've never even prayed for.
However, I really disliked the idea of them looking at me and say "you over trained la.."... and before I could explain any further.. they will say "Nooo... you listen first.. you must have pushed too hard during training.. yada yada yada.."...
After reading this post, I hope those who saw me this wednesday, will not start telling me I probably overtrained because I've analysed EVERY SINGLE FREAKING DETAIL in my training log (if you think this log here is detailed, you can check my own.) and I see no sign of overtraining taking place anywhere. It was almost too ideal that improvement was always coming with no injuries or sickness.
Anyway..
Firstly, lets dissect why people think this way.
1.9km swim
+
90km Bike
+
21km run
= A HUGE AMOUNT OF STUFFS TO TRAIN FOR. <--- That has to be true to MOST people whom the longest distance they ever ran is probably 42km and if they do ever get into some serious kind of training, usually it is not structured or coached, Not in singapore. What if its not structured OR coached? it probably isn't progressive. Definition of progressive overloading anyone?
So when one person drops out at any one point during training, the answer will be - Overtraining.
Now, secondly why do I dislike that comment?
i) I take pride in my training program, and my brother and sam hasn't been falling sick whilst being coached and monitored by moi.
ii) They did not train with me, and had no idea how i was doing (x number of weeks) before I fall off the ladder to my dream.
iii) They don't understand what is overtraining.
Signs of overtraining:
•Washed-out feeling, tired, drained, lack of energy
•Mild leg soreness, general aches and pains
•Pain in muscles and joints
•Sudden drop in performance
•Insomnia
•Headaches
•Decreased immunity (increased number of colds, and sore throats)
•Decrease in training capacity / intensity
•Moodiness and irritability
•Depression
•Loss of enthusiasm for the sport
•Decreased appetite
•Increased incidence of injuries.
I did not experience ANY of the above.
I checked with a doctor from SGH about my persistent cough and he says i probably have very easily irritated throat and due to coaching. Also with the running nose and i was diagnosed with sinusitis, which is not a problem is it?
Lets go back to my last whole month of training. I was enthusiastic about my training ALL the time even if it means 10x800 intervals at 2pm. I made sure i have water to cool myself and i made sure i made water stations for myself to drink and hydrate and eat properly. I did not have any injury (let alone increased incidence of injuries). I was eating like a cow all the time so where's the lost of appetite?
I got no washed out feeling or even a sense of heavy legs. My HR is always very easily controllable during training.
And last tuesday, I did a long run in the afternoon and I felt strong after that.. still I rested for 7 hrs before I swam for an hour. Both training I did superb and my swim timing was PB despite the afternoon run!
And after the swim, I kept myself warm and went up to bathe immediately.
But after that, I felt feeling of unwell creeping in.........
Now if you look at my training program, I can show you if need be, but i can't post it here. It is progressive, I started with 50minutes run, 1.4km swims, 1hr ride all once a week and the overloading has been very very finely controlled. Plus I don't just take instruction like a dummy and I always review the training and make sure I don't overdo things. If with the heart rate monitor still overdo then might as well throw that away and train without rite?
Also, Half Ironman i about pacing, NOT pushing yourself soooo hard like sprint distance! Almost all my training are done ard 75% hr!
This IS NO CASE OF OVER TRAINING.
As with all training, immune system will drop. Any exercise above 60minutes will cause a drop in immune system for a range of 2hrs to 3 full days. The virus just caught me at this time.
In other words, I'M *SUAY*.
------------------------------------
Seriously, This is FUCKING PAINFUL TO SWALLOW.
I trained my ass off, I was never so disciplined in ANY other things in my entire life except when picking up my swim stroke, my basketball game and sam.
Can you imagine the amount of pain I put myself through the lonesome ride after ride after ride, run after run after run and swim after swim after swim?
I put sooo much time to it and I just have to be kicked on my arse by this stupid strain of flu virus.
I am not complaining about the training I've went through.. it is what made a ironman fun and I'm glad I enjoyed it til the last 2 weeks without any injuries or sickness.. its been a blessing..
*act like genevieve* BUT STILL?!?!?! its still so hurtful to see my dream melt away and having to wait another yr......
Aviva, I'll be back WITH A VENGEANCE.
KK
PS- This post isn't meant for criticizing anyone, it is just a let off of my own thoughts. Its been a very rough 4 days for me given the amount of time and finance I've pumped into it relatively compared with my family condition....
PS PS-
Thank you all for the support and well wishes... I hope I can recover soon too and be on the same race day as you guys on SG Biathlon..
Thank you lawrence for reminding me that ironman don't quit.
But we have to know that the fitter one gets, the lesser time off he needs to lose nearly EVERYTHING.
But I really wish this can be like some tv drama.. where they just flash some screens of the guy training harder in many different ways then in the next scene or episode voila! he's ready for competition again..
HIM is 3 weeks away, I can't even walk without giddiness & headache & pain around solar plexus now. I tried swimming today and I was breatheless after 1 lap of slow swim. Doctor probably kill me and I got a bad feeling that whn I see him on Monday, he's gonna give the "no go" for my HIM due to the intensity and serious flu virus needs at least 6 weeks to fully recover.
Thank you wilson, for always trying to cheer me up. :)
Having friends around me supporting me, especially Sam who has been taking care of me like I'm a handicapped person since day 1 is really a blessing that I've never even prayed for.
However, I really disliked the idea of them looking at me and say "you over trained la.."... and before I could explain any further.. they will say "Nooo... you listen first.. you must have pushed too hard during training.. yada yada yada.."...
After reading this post, I hope those who saw me this wednesday, will not start telling me I probably overtrained because I've analysed EVERY SINGLE FREAKING DETAIL in my training log (if you think this log here is detailed, you can check my own.) and I see no sign of overtraining taking place anywhere. It was almost too ideal that improvement was always coming with no injuries or sickness.
Anyway..
Firstly, lets dissect why people think this way.
1.9km swim
+
90km Bike
+
21km run
= A HUGE AMOUNT OF STUFFS TO TRAIN FOR. <--- That has to be true to MOST people whom the longest distance they ever ran is probably 42km and if they do ever get into some serious kind of training, usually it is not structured or coached, Not in singapore. What if its not structured OR coached? it probably isn't progressive. Definition of progressive overloading anyone?
So when one person drops out at any one point during training, the answer will be - Overtraining.
Now, secondly why do I dislike that comment?
i) I take pride in my training program, and my brother and sam hasn't been falling sick whilst being coached and monitored by moi.
ii) They did not train with me, and had no idea how i was doing (x number of weeks) before I fall off the ladder to my dream.
iii) They don't understand what is overtraining.
Signs of overtraining:
•Washed-out feeling, tired, drained, lack of energy
•Mild leg soreness, general aches and pains
•Pain in muscles and joints
•Sudden drop in performance
•Insomnia
•Headaches
•Decreased immunity (increased number of colds, and sore throats)
•Decrease in training capacity / intensity
•Moodiness and irritability
•Depression
•Loss of enthusiasm for the sport
•Decreased appetite
•Increased incidence of injuries.
I did not experience ANY of the above.
I checked with a doctor from SGH about my persistent cough and he says i probably have very easily irritated throat and due to coaching. Also with the running nose and i was diagnosed with sinusitis, which is not a problem is it?
Lets go back to my last whole month of training. I was enthusiastic about my training ALL the time even if it means 10x800 intervals at 2pm. I made sure i have water to cool myself and i made sure i made water stations for myself to drink and hydrate and eat properly. I did not have any injury (let alone increased incidence of injuries). I was eating like a cow all the time so where's the lost of appetite?
I got no washed out feeling or even a sense of heavy legs. My HR is always very easily controllable during training.
And last tuesday, I did a long run in the afternoon and I felt strong after that.. still I rested for 7 hrs before I swam for an hour. Both training I did superb and my swim timing was PB despite the afternoon run!
And after the swim, I kept myself warm and went up to bathe immediately.
But after that, I felt feeling of unwell creeping in.........
Now if you look at my training program, I can show you if need be, but i can't post it here. It is progressive, I started with 50minutes run, 1.4km swims, 1hr ride all once a week and the overloading has been very very finely controlled. Plus I don't just take instruction like a dummy and I always review the training and make sure I don't overdo things. If with the heart rate monitor still overdo then might as well throw that away and train without rite?
Also, Half Ironman i about pacing, NOT pushing yourself soooo hard like sprint distance! Almost all my training are done ard 75% hr!
This IS NO CASE OF OVER TRAINING.
As with all training, immune system will drop. Any exercise above 60minutes will cause a drop in immune system for a range of 2hrs to 3 full days. The virus just caught me at this time.
In other words, I'M *SUAY*.
------------------------------------
Seriously, This is FUCKING PAINFUL TO SWALLOW.
I trained my ass off, I was never so disciplined in ANY other things in my entire life except when picking up my swim stroke, my basketball game and sam.
Can you imagine the amount of pain I put myself through the lonesome ride after ride after ride, run after run after run and swim after swim after swim?
I put sooo much time to it and I just have to be kicked on my arse by this stupid strain of flu virus.
I am not complaining about the training I've went through.. it is what made a ironman fun and I'm glad I enjoyed it til the last 2 weeks without any injuries or sickness.. its been a blessing..
*act like genevieve* BUT STILL?!?!?! its still so hurtful to see my dream melt away and having to wait another yr......
Aviva, I'll be back WITH A VENGEANCE.
KK
PS- This post isn't meant for criticizing anyone, it is just a let off of my own thoughts. Its been a very rough 4 days for me given the amount of time and finance I've pumped into it relatively compared with my family condition....
PS PS-
Thank you all for the support and well wishes... I hope I can recover soon too and be on the same race day as you guys on SG Biathlon..
Thank you lawrence for reminding me that ironman don't quit.
But we have to know that the fitter one gets, the lesser time off he needs to lose nearly EVERYTHING.
But I really wish this can be like some tv drama.. where they just flash some screens of the guy training harder in many different ways then in the next scene or episode voila! he's ready for competition again..
HIM is 3 weeks away, I can't even walk without giddiness & headache & pain around solar plexus now. I tried swimming today and I was breatheless after 1 lap of slow swim. Doctor probably kill me and I got a bad feeling that whn I see him on Monday, he's gonna give the "no go" for my HIM due to the intensity and serious flu virus needs at least 6 weeks to fully recover.
Thank you wilson, for always trying to cheer me up. :)
Friday, February 26, 2010
Timing update.
As usual, Click to enlarge. :)
The rest time except for the 2 minutes ones and wilson's (due to his lack of understanding on how to relax in water still..).. are what i'd like to call "Slack times".. it is the time when you finish say the 1st 100 in 4x100 and then you just stand at the wall side fiddling and doodling around with your goggles or caps instead of pushing right off the wall.
And yes, those are also the reason why sometimes we can't finish our training. :D I thought it'd be interesting to record those down too.
Sorry for the late posting and I can't do a review at this moment despite having all the swim errs in my mind that I observed at the side. This virus is literally killing me. For the meantime, please look at the website below. The website shows a model of what I am trying to share with you guys and I find it very educating and enlightening even to myself.
http://www.goswim.tv/entries/5775/freestyle---active-gliding.html
Til next wednesday! Peak week for singapore biathletes!
Cheers
KK
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Review. Finally.
Reading TeckBeng and Lawlaw's comments on chitty chitty chat chat box made me down 1can of redbull and come up with the below review... enjoy. ;)
-------------------------------------------------------------
If there is one con about swimming in a group, it's the fact that during warm up, if one person intend to up the speed, the rest will just follow.
The warmup on this last training session showed an overall weakness of own pace awareness. I will not deny I'm proud to be able to finish one lap and tell you it's exactly 5# secs and 90% of the time it's spot on, even when i'm tired. In doubt? ask sam.
I only picked up swimming(from scratch) 3 yrs back and before that I almost drowned in a 1.4m pool. So it isn't an excuse that those of you who've been training with me can say that "thats because coach kk is a swimmer! I'm not!"..
It is really a matter of how much conscious awareness you're disciplined to put into each swim. With a swim squad and a coach, you're getting timing feedback almost every set.. So you should be measuring your perceived rate of exertion, number of pulls and distance per stroke relative to the swim time and be able to gain a rough insight to how fast you're moving through the water when you pull That hard. 2km swim is 40laps, if you swim once a week, you'd be getting about 40 practices of estimation.
My advice:
Work harder, the smart way people...:)
Individually..
Pauline and Robert I kind of feel bad that only both of you are in the other group and I hope I wasn't neglecting you all too much.
As much as I believe the sole issue faced by Robert and you right now is the lack of time spent in water doing swim reps in a conscious manner... I hope you will still find each swim session fruitful and not just there to clock lap after lap... You know if you have any qn, just stop me after I made the group go for the rep and I will attend to you guys..
You've done it before, I'll stop even in the midst of my swim.. You have my assurance.:)
Seriously, coming for the swim training at least makes sure that you're putting what you learnt into good practice and not forgetting it! The training I've designed for your group is specifically for eliminating the weakness and also for self discovery of what is lacking in one's stroke. Thus it really isn't just about the laps.
Swim wise, Pauline lack stabilizing strength in the core.. Without strengh in stabilizing the core, it is very difficult for the body to move fluidly from one stroke to another.. Be patient and with more moderate to slightly faster swims, the strength will come!
Robert is currently doing very well addressing to the shortness of breathe and also the body is getting more and more streamlined following each week's practice. This shows that you've been really conscious about how your body shape is when you're swimming.
Spend more time swimming, add a session by yourself or with Pauline, other than the Wednesday one.. With more frequency of practice (not the bulk or volume per training), you'll impove even faster.
Personal tip: don't look in front to see the end too often.. it should be an enjoyable deed that you can do over hours! Western Australia IM is your aim!!!!!:)
Lawrence
- I enjoyed watching the strong finish and also your own enjoyment of feeling strong in the swim. It also reminded me that training with timing is but just a mean of logging progress and one should not be always engrossed with whether you're swimming fast in one training or not.
- The so called "turtle legs" are also opening up quite abit.. it may seem like its just very small width apart, but once apart and especially when you're rotating body from side to side, it would just become more than shoulder width apart. That will contribute to loads of drag...
- Pulling arms crossed center axis Really badly in the last set.
- You're definitely in good form for the biathlon's swim right now. hope you're doing great on the run too! :)
Sam
You're getting very close to what I'm doing right now.. the ability to tell pacing.. and I can see that in you because of the inconsistency of timing (too slow at some point and getting too fast after realizing you are still very strong in the last set)/lack of confidence in pacing after missing 2 weekend swims over 2 weeks.
Kick also got a lot of bend in the knee and thus the feet got out of water a lot during the 500m in 11mins.
Also, the 500m's last lap of Strong finish is good, I like. :)
Good job on the swim again, now all you need to do is just build your confidence on the success that you can find in your progressively more challenging training. :)
Remember, Success breeds confidence and confidence itself will breed success. :)
Gen
Having not enough rest is definitely wearing you out. Lack of badminton training is probably one thing that is causing your overall body endurance to drop but the main problem lies in under-resting and not under-training.
Inability to complete the main set is almost expected when we depart from your home and I saw the shagness in your eyes.
Rest well, and for those first 5x100 that you did, you can Rest Assured you still have it in you and not have to worry of losing any swimming fitness.
We'll see what you can do in the next training. Feedback to me if its too hard, we can switch groups if need be. Consistency is key, intensity is but just an icing on the cake right now that we're building base for a strong 20 years of racing to come.
Yes, I'm assuming you will do triathlon and biathlon races by yourself soon enough. :)
Wilson
We missed you.
KH
We missed you too.
I miss your presence alot at home when you were away at camp. :)
KianMing
We missed you also.
Teck Beng
The back extension video is not yet done as I really don't have the time yet. I will do so once I can find the time yeah. Apologies.
I felt that you did a great job in the swim. And you demonstrated to us what biomechanical advantage can do to offset the lack of mature swim finesse. :)
The swim was relatively fast when compared to the others but at your height and limb length, you really ought to be doing at least 10 to 20seconds faster at the current effort you're exerting.
Try to work on the catch part of the pull to catch more water. Its not that the left arm is weaker, it is just that the right arm is catching more water and thus you can feel that you're applying more force whereas the left arm is like swinging through the air and you have nothing to apply force on.
Work also on the kick and keep your butt and hamstring and back of knee up on the surface of the water. That way, you'll have a horizontally flat base in the water and thus more streamlined. :)
Marianne
I nagged enough to you one on one after the swim.. From the timing you can also see that you're literally Hanging there at the last 3 sets... From first 100 of the 5x100, you can see the potential timing you should be aiming to maintain every single lap for now.. 2:04 for a hundred!
Okay, things to do for you:
2 words:
Swim More. :D
JiaWei
Lifesaving instructor leh.. wah piang eh.. at least 2 hrs before the exercise you must FINISH YOUR FOOD LIAO....... NOT START EATING.. and you still ate 1 hr before you exercise... you wanna vomit is it.... or you think the pool not dirty enough?? zzz... hahaha..
Ok la, joke aside, I see obvious improvement in your stroke lengths per pull and you can now keep up with the majority despite feeling a little breatheless. It is like that at the beginning because when you switch from one habit to a new one, it's more energy consuming.
Try to work on relaxing the WHOLE body whilst you pull through the water with one side. What I always do is try to act like the rest of the non working muscles are dead piece of meat, including the face. Seldom you'll see me have other expression than a straight face of deep thought(or pain when pushing really hard).
Sometimes I also find that you kick a little too hard and chiong a bit too hard at the beginning. Try to restrain yourself from chionging in the first lap. It is sort of an subconscious/ego kinda thing. Needless to say, you probably don't know you're one of them pushing the pace at the warmup phase..
Be patient, the race is always won at the end as long as you keep sticking close to the leader with a much lower perceived effort than him/her. :D
Ryan
First of all, welcome!
Pardon me but I can't do the video analysis now due to not enough time (12.40am.. tired.. 3 hrs ride + run tomorrow...).. i will do it on monday! Gen took the video of you swimming... and its pretty clear cut that you're making some of the very common mistakes.
Generally your fitness is up there, and your swim is pretty ok. I see quite a few easy tweaks that you can use to swim faster.
Currently, you need to work on
- High elbow recovery on both sides after pulling all the way back (right arm got high elbow now but your pull ended at abdominal area instead of mid thigh, left arm pulling all the way back but is recovering with a straight arm)
- Leaning into the water from the chest and armpit area. Chest is too high, resulting in the hip sinking and the legs too.
- Gliding more. Holding your arm that had finished pulling to your body side (stand straight and raise one arm reaching to the sky. That's the position you wanna be in) and just let the body glide forward longer before recovering the arm to the front again. Start the next pull only after the recovering arm passes the forehead.
Ponder over the above in VIVID DETAILS in your brain. If you can't, ask me how before you start practicing.
Leon
What better to way to start a review with the daddy and mummy then to end with the son! haha.. that way, we're all a family already! Haha.. sorry, too shag liaoz..
Seriously, the swim was pretty good judging from the timing. But from what I see personally, the swim didn't seem very effortless or relaxed at all. Body was sinking quite abit and the recovery was more than draggy on the surface of water. Kick was way stronger than before and thus the improvement in timing. Also, leading all the way during the 500m in 11:00 until the last 2 laps was real cool. :)
Lets try to work on staying on the surface of the water, fingertip to the toes. The hand should be just as deep as the diameter of your head's cross section.
Also, the rotation over to the left side isn't really triggering.. thus the low elbow recovery worsened too..
Overall, I'm really impressed with what your fitness can bring you right now after a short period of swim training! Keep at it! I wanna see more improvements from you! Exciting to see your growth each week! :)
Alrightie, below is the timing for the sets. Enjoy. :)
-----------------------------------------------
Click to enlarge please.
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Cheers
KK
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If there is one con about swimming in a group, it's the fact that during warm up, if one person intend to up the speed, the rest will just follow.
The warmup on this last training session showed an overall weakness of own pace awareness. I will not deny I'm proud to be able to finish one lap and tell you it's exactly 5# secs and 90% of the time it's spot on, even when i'm tired. In doubt? ask sam.
I only picked up swimming(from scratch) 3 yrs back and before that I almost drowned in a 1.4m pool. So it isn't an excuse that those of you who've been training with me can say that "thats because coach kk is a swimmer! I'm not!"..
It is really a matter of how much conscious awareness you're disciplined to put into each swim. With a swim squad and a coach, you're getting timing feedback almost every set.. So you should be measuring your perceived rate of exertion, number of pulls and distance per stroke relative to the swim time and be able to gain a rough insight to how fast you're moving through the water when you pull That hard. 2km swim is 40laps, if you swim once a week, you'd be getting about 40 practices of estimation.
My advice:
Work harder, the smart way people...:)
Individually..
Pauline and Robert I kind of feel bad that only both of you are in the other group and I hope I wasn't neglecting you all too much.
As much as I believe the sole issue faced by Robert and you right now is the lack of time spent in water doing swim reps in a conscious manner... I hope you will still find each swim session fruitful and not just there to clock lap after lap... You know if you have any qn, just stop me after I made the group go for the rep and I will attend to you guys..
You've done it before, I'll stop even in the midst of my swim.. You have my assurance.:)
Seriously, coming for the swim training at least makes sure that you're putting what you learnt into good practice and not forgetting it! The training I've designed for your group is specifically for eliminating the weakness and also for self discovery of what is lacking in one's stroke. Thus it really isn't just about the laps.
Swim wise, Pauline lack stabilizing strength in the core.. Without strengh in stabilizing the core, it is very difficult for the body to move fluidly from one stroke to another.. Be patient and with more moderate to slightly faster swims, the strength will come!
Robert is currently doing very well addressing to the shortness of breathe and also the body is getting more and more streamlined following each week's practice. This shows that you've been really conscious about how your body shape is when you're swimming.
Spend more time swimming, add a session by yourself or with Pauline, other than the Wednesday one.. With more frequency of practice (not the bulk or volume per training), you'll impove even faster.
Personal tip: don't look in front to see the end too often.. it should be an enjoyable deed that you can do over hours! Western Australia IM is your aim!!!!!:)
Lawrence
- I enjoyed watching the strong finish and also your own enjoyment of feeling strong in the swim. It also reminded me that training with timing is but just a mean of logging progress and one should not be always engrossed with whether you're swimming fast in one training or not.
- The so called "turtle legs" are also opening up quite abit.. it may seem like its just very small width apart, but once apart and especially when you're rotating body from side to side, it would just become more than shoulder width apart. That will contribute to loads of drag...
- Pulling arms crossed center axis Really badly in the last set.
- You're definitely in good form for the biathlon's swim right now. hope you're doing great on the run too! :)
Sam
You're getting very close to what I'm doing right now.. the ability to tell pacing.. and I can see that in you because of the inconsistency of timing (too slow at some point and getting too fast after realizing you are still very strong in the last set)/lack of confidence in pacing after missing 2 weekend swims over 2 weeks.
Kick also got a lot of bend in the knee and thus the feet got out of water a lot during the 500m in 11mins.
Also, the 500m's last lap of Strong finish is good, I like. :)
Good job on the swim again, now all you need to do is just build your confidence on the success that you can find in your progressively more challenging training. :)
Remember, Success breeds confidence and confidence itself will breed success. :)
Gen
Having not enough rest is definitely wearing you out. Lack of badminton training is probably one thing that is causing your overall body endurance to drop but the main problem lies in under-resting and not under-training.
Inability to complete the main set is almost expected when we depart from your home and I saw the shagness in your eyes.
Rest well, and for those first 5x100 that you did, you can Rest Assured you still have it in you and not have to worry of losing any swimming fitness.
We'll see what you can do in the next training. Feedback to me if its too hard, we can switch groups if need be. Consistency is key, intensity is but just an icing on the cake right now that we're building base for a strong 20 years of racing to come.
Yes, I'm assuming you will do triathlon and biathlon races by yourself soon enough. :)
Wilson
We missed you.
KH
We missed you too.
I miss your presence alot at home when you were away at camp. :)
KianMing
We missed you also.
Teck Beng
The back extension video is not yet done as I really don't have the time yet. I will do so once I can find the time yeah. Apologies.
I felt that you did a great job in the swim. And you demonstrated to us what biomechanical advantage can do to offset the lack of mature swim finesse. :)
The swim was relatively fast when compared to the others but at your height and limb length, you really ought to be doing at least 10 to 20seconds faster at the current effort you're exerting.
Try to work on the catch part of the pull to catch more water. Its not that the left arm is weaker, it is just that the right arm is catching more water and thus you can feel that you're applying more force whereas the left arm is like swinging through the air and you have nothing to apply force on.
Work also on the kick and keep your butt and hamstring and back of knee up on the surface of the water. That way, you'll have a horizontally flat base in the water and thus more streamlined. :)
Marianne
I nagged enough to you one on one after the swim.. From the timing you can also see that you're literally Hanging there at the last 3 sets... From first 100 of the 5x100, you can see the potential timing you should be aiming to maintain every single lap for now.. 2:04 for a hundred!
Okay, things to do for you:
2 words:
Swim More. :D
JiaWei
Lifesaving instructor leh.. wah piang eh.. at least 2 hrs before the exercise you must FINISH YOUR FOOD LIAO....... NOT START EATING.. and you still ate 1 hr before you exercise... you wanna vomit is it.... or you think the pool not dirty enough?? zzz... hahaha..
Ok la, joke aside, I see obvious improvement in your stroke lengths per pull and you can now keep up with the majority despite feeling a little breatheless. It is like that at the beginning because when you switch from one habit to a new one, it's more energy consuming.
Try to work on relaxing the WHOLE body whilst you pull through the water with one side. What I always do is try to act like the rest of the non working muscles are dead piece of meat, including the face. Seldom you'll see me have other expression than a straight face of deep thought(or pain when pushing really hard).
Sometimes I also find that you kick a little too hard and chiong a bit too hard at the beginning. Try to restrain yourself from chionging in the first lap. It is sort of an subconscious/ego kinda thing. Needless to say, you probably don't know you're one of them pushing the pace at the warmup phase..
Be patient, the race is always won at the end as long as you keep sticking close to the leader with a much lower perceived effort than him/her. :D
Ryan
First of all, welcome!
Pardon me but I can't do the video analysis now due to not enough time (12.40am.. tired.. 3 hrs ride + run tomorrow...).. i will do it on monday! Gen took the video of you swimming... and its pretty clear cut that you're making some of the very common mistakes.
Generally your fitness is up there, and your swim is pretty ok. I see quite a few easy tweaks that you can use to swim faster.
Currently, you need to work on
- High elbow recovery on both sides after pulling all the way back (right arm got high elbow now but your pull ended at abdominal area instead of mid thigh, left arm pulling all the way back but is recovering with a straight arm)
- Leaning into the water from the chest and armpit area. Chest is too high, resulting in the hip sinking and the legs too.
- Gliding more. Holding your arm that had finished pulling to your body side (stand straight and raise one arm reaching to the sky. That's the position you wanna be in) and just let the body glide forward longer before recovering the arm to the front again. Start the next pull only after the recovering arm passes the forehead.
Ponder over the above in VIVID DETAILS in your brain. If you can't, ask me how before you start practicing.
Leon
What better to way to start a review with the daddy and mummy then to end with the son! haha.. that way, we're all a family already! Haha.. sorry, too shag liaoz..
Seriously, the swim was pretty good judging from the timing. But from what I see personally, the swim didn't seem very effortless or relaxed at all. Body was sinking quite abit and the recovery was more than draggy on the surface of water. Kick was way stronger than before and thus the improvement in timing. Also, leading all the way during the 500m in 11:00 until the last 2 laps was real cool. :)
Lets try to work on staying on the surface of the water, fingertip to the toes. The hand should be just as deep as the diameter of your head's cross section.
Also, the rotation over to the left side isn't really triggering.. thus the low elbow recovery worsened too..
Overall, I'm really impressed with what your fitness can bring you right now after a short period of swim training! Keep at it! I wanna see more improvements from you! Exciting to see your growth each week! :)
Alrightie, below is the timing for the sets. Enjoy. :)
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Click to enlarge please.
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Cheers
KK
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