5 Weeks of Swim Stroke Correction

I had just completed the 5 week (swim) stroke correction sessions with Coach Ryan Bourke. These sessions ran on Saturday afternoons for 5 weeks. After having spent some long hours on the saddle Saturday mornings from 7am (sometimes a car trip over an hour is needed to some of the locations), a love-hate relationship was also formed over the last 5 weeks for the Saturday afternoon swim.

The good thing with these sessions is that they are not too long (< 2km) or intensive (luckily not a standard swim session) and nothing above T2 as we work on our technique both above and below water - the purpose of these sessions.

The bad thing was that they cut into my (after ride) nap time. Once I got home from a ride, I may have a small shut eye (for about 30min max), then packed about 3-4 more bags for the next few days before I headed off to the actual swim session.
Bag 1 - Swim bag
Bag 2 - After swim bag (non training clothes) as I use Sat nights for dinners with friends
Bag 3 - Run bag (for Sunday morning North sessions)
Bag 4 - Any 'after run' plans I had over the last few weeks which ranged from bbq, lunches, football and general catch ups. Bag 2 + Bag 4 are often combined into one large bag too.

Management issues aside, these swim sessions have been priceless. Over 5 weeks, we learnt the following:
·         Streamline body position and its advantages
·         Correct body position and rotation
·         Breathing technique and head position
·         Feeling the water (hands)
·         Catching the water
·         Hand entry and exit
·         Recovery of the freestyle stroke
·         High elbows with rotation
·         Bilateral breathing and its benefits
·         Building a strong underwater technique
·         Strength Bands and their benefits
·         Getting the most from each stroke
·         Polo, citing and open water swimming

Ryan utilised techniques which he had learnt/used in the past for non-swimmers to understand how your hands/arms/elbows/body position should be/feel for a good and effective swim. Simple things like:
- Shark Fin - using the elbow to form a fin (learn how to lift your elbows above water)
- Monkey Scratch - extend the shark fin method to drag your finger tips along the side of your body to your armpits
- Pull bouy touch - with the pb, making sure that your complete your stroke and touch the pb between your legs after the push (or backsweep) before the recovery.
- PB single arms - with a pb or kickboard in front of you - touch the edge of the pb/kickboard during your entry - this teaches you to not cross your arms over in front of your face which causes drag/resistance
- Single arms - no pb/kick board in front of you are you just use single arm to swim but making sure that your fingers enter in the right spot and the entire stroke (all five phases) is efficient.
- Bands - this uses all your upper body technique to swim - no kicking (as your legs are tied together)

As these sessions were nice and easy, we could practice the methods as we never have a chance to do so during our normal swim sessions.

I will also be shadowing Ryan for the next block of technique classes to learn more from him (as a swim coach) and to be a better swimmer myself.