March Swimmer Spotlight

Always a great time during lessons with swimmers Val and Jen who travel from Raleigh to learn a faster more efficient way to swim and they have a lot of fun in the process. After each session here at the Discovery Aquatics studio they practice together, and are able to enhance the learning process by giving each other instant feedback and sharing their experiences.. Lets get to know them.

How old are you?

Val: I turned 53 yesterday while we were swimming!
Jen: I am 44.

When did you begin your TI instruction and what have been your biggest takeaways in this time?

Val: I have looked at TI videos on line now and again for a couple of years, so was aware of Total Immersion.  But this winter Jen asked me to go to a TI workshop with her and that is when this new phase of my swimming began with Dinah and TI. My biggest takeaways from these past few months are: Organization – getting body to move as a unit. This included getting the timing of the 2-beat kick. And working ‘with’ the water – maintaining streamline. This included relaxing my arms.

Jen: I started my TI journey December 2015. My takeaways from this experience thus far have solidified my devotion to TI. I have learned to work WITH the water, relax into it and allow more ease. It had felt so counterintuitive for me to put forth less effort and still gain more propulsion, stability and balance. It also seems that my movement both in and out of the water mirror each other. If I am rushing, my muscles become tense and I can lose clarity in my thinking. However, slowing down my body and mind by highlighting focal points in my practice can smooth things out mentally and physically. Less overall stress!

What are your swimming race goals for this year?

Val: I plan to swim in several open water swims. These are fun for me. I don’t have time goals for these because conditions are so variable. But I do have a distance goal of entering the ‘big deuce’ which is a 2-mile swim.  In the pool, I am hoping to get my 1000 time to 17:30 (and then maybe even lower than that).  I can now maintain my 100 times in 1:40 and am working on getting that down to 1:35. I am also excited to begin working with the ‘math’ of my swimming and to understand my DPS and tempo relationships.

Jen: This year, I am training for the Alcatraz swim. The TI concepts have helped me be more deliberate and thoughtful in my movements which will cut down on wasting energy, allowing me to finish feeling strong and exhilarated.

How has your thinking changed to gain speed in your swimming?

Val: Now I think about speed as coming from a gentle momentum through the water. So when I am reaching for speed now I focus on my streamline position rather than on doing something ‘harder’.

Jen: I focus on relaxing into the water and cycling through the focal points I have learned, making streamline a priority. I am also working with the thought ‘the faster I go, the more ease I want to feel in my stroke’.

How do you manage practicing together and taking TI concepts into your group swim workouts that are not TI based?

Val: Luckily for me, I have my swim buddy Jen and we swim together 2 to 3 times per week. I swim on my own another 1-2 times per week. I have not returned to my group swims because I felt I needed to better understand my swimming first, I needed time.  It has been 4 months now and I am just now ready to return to a group situation – I will adapt drills to my TI focal points as needed.  So, for instance, if we do a “zipper drill” I will instead think about the painting a line on the tracks to ingrain correct recovery position.

Jen: I am lucky to have my friend Valerie to swim with 2-3x/week. It’s so great to have a swim buddy going through the same TI practices so that we can share things that we discover; different nuances and ways of approaching/understanding focal points. Valerie also has a video camera that we can use to check that we are on the right track. In the group I modify any drills they may be doing by replacing them with TI focal points.

Here is a look at how they have improved over the last 3 months. I am looking forward to greater speed gains and translating the improvements into open water swimming.

Coach Dinah

Clearing off the Cobwebs

As the air warms and the lake water begins its ascent into swimmable temperatures, many athletes are contemplating their first open water training session of the year. Along with the excitement of beginning a new season may also be brief moments of hesitation and apprehension about transferring pool skills into open water swimming.

With many years of open water swimming experience I am fortunate to not have those moments BUT most certainly went through a brushing off of the cobwebs, mentally and physically, with my first paddleboard training session this past weekend. This is a fairly new sport for me and I recognized that how I processed the first SUP session could very well be similar to what a newcomer to open water swimming may go through.

Here are some of the thoughts that went through my mind before and during the first training session:

• How cold would the water feel if I fell in?
• Could I physically make my planned distance?
• Could I physically make my planned distance with the speed I wanted?
• How would I cope with the challenge of paddling into a headwind?
• Could I retrieve all of my paddling technique skills from the last time I paddled in the early fall?

So many questions!

These questions seemed to cycle through my mind for the first mile of my paddle. I then decided to approach the rest of the training session with the same priorities I would give an open water swim.

First, recover and build mental strength. I am fortunate to have worked closely with Dr Izzy Justice and have built a successful SwimEQ program that increases emotional intelligence to optimize performance. I drew on these skills to find mental harmony and calm.

Then, find open water skills. Navigation and pacing are top priorities in open water swimming, so I did the same with paddling. Focus on paddling directly, and find a pace I knew I could sustain for the duration of the session.

Finally, cycle through the technique focal points that would give my sustainable pace efficiency and ease.

It was a wonderful return to the water, I felt empowered and satisfied with the session. I will do the same when it is time for my first lake swim of the year.

Coach Dinah