OH YEAH MD!!!

So glad you started this group!

I learned to swim as a toddler, wouldn't get out of the water as a child, swam competitively in High School, and because of spine injury and arthritis, need to get back in the water. My techniques have had to modify because of injury, but I can still do all the strokes,,,I do, do a one handed fly though ;)

So, what tech, did you learn that shaved so much time off??

I've heard of this technique/class called Total Immersion. (Google the term for details.) I'm signed up for a class in the hopes that I can get my time for a mile under an hour. :(

I'm not interested in flip turns since in an open water triathlon, which I hope to do one day, there aren't a lot of walls... :)

Swimming, ugh! I am a triathlete and the swim portion is so hard for me. I love the water but I am slow, very slow. It's a great work out to balance out the cycling and running.

I took TI training a year ago. It helped tremendously. My only warning is, keep up the techniques, you have to make an impression using the new techniques after years of the old one. You'll enjoy it, I promise.

Hey ya Soft-touch!

A triathlete friend of mine told me about a few things, and I have since seen the video. They are basically:

- Keep both arms out to the sides & do not cross the center line of your body. As if you were paddling a surfboard (which I've never done)

- Focus on the tiles - ie. keep your head down. That made a big diff for me. It lowered my resistance and brought my feet up to the surface.

- Streamline off the wall - head down, hands together, shoulders to ears.

- The pull is flat, so the elbows come up a little, the wrist doesn't bend much, and all the power happens in the first part of the stroke. This was important, and I may be able to add a link or the name of the video if you want.

I'm not a fast swimmer to begin with. But I've gone from 36 minutes to 32 minutes in the past 3 weeks!

I think I'm going to challenge M. Phelps in a month or two...

Yay!! I'm glad you started this thread. I swam competitively when I was a kid, but gave it up for other sports as I got older. Then after being a serious runner for nearly 30 years I had to quit running due to tearing the meniscus in both knees....soo I took up swimming again about 5 years ago. I currently swim 4 days a week, usually about 2500 yards each time. It takes me anywhere from 46 to 48 minutes as a rule (I always swim freestyle). I'm also doing some triathlons--but I only do the swim and bike events and then stop. It has been so good for me, enabling me to maintain a good serious workout schedule without running (which I dearly miss). Anyway, I believe it may the perfect exercise!

I think it is one of the best, but I have a couple things to overcome.

First, I'm working on alternate breathing, but haven't got it down yet. The result being that going the same way most of the time makes my neck sore (auto injury).

Second, I take on a little water on my turns, and then I feel like a have a cold the next day. I suppose I should get a nose plug of some kind.

Other than those, I'm cruisin and truly love the feeling of moving through the water.