SwimShack Review and More!

Another week has flown by; I have been ill for most of it 8-( Hence I was unable to ride the Ely Hardriders 25 Mile Time Trial last week. The event was, by all accounts, held in awful conditions, so I probably made the right choice in not forcing myself to ride when not well. I slowly started with some easy training on Tuesday. By Thursday, I was frustrated at not being totally well again so I did a reasonably hard session on the turbo followed by 3 x 1 mile run efforts. The run efforts were ok and it was good to train at a higher level of intensity. On Friday I had my last scheduled session at SwimShack.

SwimShack – The Review

I have been attending the endless pool set up for filmed coached sessions since October. The focus started on body position and balance in the water. I was bad...very bad! However, as the lessons passed and my full stroke swimming decreased and I focussed almost entirely on technique, my balance improved. Each time I visited SwimShack new drills to bring me nearer to a new technique were introduced. I then returned home and worked on mastering the new drills before the next session.

In January I started to become quite good at drills. However, there was a feeling of under lying fear that my full stroke swimming would not change. I started to introduce more full stroke swimming – my fears were realised! I felt terrible as I tried to swim with an improved technique. I was trying to cross the drills into my swimming but it just wasn’t happening.

All was not lost – phew! Last Friday a lot of different aspects came together. Ian at SwimShack had told me not to worry but to be patient. The session on Friday pulled all the drills together and showed me the best way to link the drills to full stroke swimming. All it took was a couple of points to focus on and I was away! I hadn’t realised, but I always focussed on my catch when swimming. Ian told me that my catch was fine and that I should focus on my recovery and entry to extension. One very subtle aspect was my shoulder position when pulling through the stroke. I was pulling with my shoulders, rather than my core rotation. To address this, Ian gave me some good drills that placed my shoulder in the correct position prior to starting the recovery. I then start this drill and blend it into full stroke swimming during a 50m repeat. As I continue to do this the new stroke should become permanent – but this will take time. I have 4 months to build up to a decent swim fitness and, hopefully, some speed!

Overall, I am happy with where I am at with my swimming but there remains an awful lot of work to do!

I managed to get out for the club ride on Sunday and covered 62 miles averaging a shade under 19 mph. This may not seem fast but there were lots of periods of waiting and slowing up during the ride. The fast group comprised of only 5 riders and the pace was full on for most of the ride. The hills were particularly painful! Tom, one of the road racers was obviously very perky and getting into some form for the season. He was hammering the pace on the hills. Considering that I had been ill, I rode ok. The final rise after about 60 miles saw just me and Tom going head to head. As he stood out of the saddle and accelerated, I attempted to do the same. However, I felt as though I was in too easy a gear to be out of the saddle and my legs sort of crumbled underneath me. He was strong for sure! A good workout indeed!

On Monday iron Bally and his mini Bally family visited us during their week long family tour from Saudi and stopped the night. We managed to squeeze in a meal at Frankie and benny’s. Now Iron Bally seems to have lost some of his iron consistency! Take a scan at this pic – not too good quality but it is true, iron Bally is not in good shape!

Will he return to race again when he gets back from Saudi for good? We have a plan that when he returns we will enter an Ironman triathlon – which on? Who knows. It may never happen but it would be good to dabble at the crazy distance with Bally.

Catch you later bloggers.