Dear Coach: I am a
triathlete who has been swimming with Masters for a while now. I've found
that my other strokes have improved significantly, but I still feel there's room
for lots of improvement in my freestyle. What do you recommend? A
Triathlete
Dear A. Triathlete: It's common to plateau from time to
time and feel like you're not improving very much. Things that you can do
to kick-start your body into improving include:
- move to a faster lane so that you'll have more of a
challenge (you could do this only on freestyle days)
- take advantage of the lactate tolerance sets this
week to do some speed work (this often gets you out of a rut)
- take some private or semi-private lessons to focus
on technique (even a world class swimmer is less than 10%
efficient!)
Dear Coach: Why do I
get two copies of the newsletter every time? Another
Coach
Dear A. Coach: As you are a coach, you are in
two different e-mail groups, the coach group and the group for the program you
swim with. When I send out the newsletter, I can send to at most 100
recipients at once (a Sympatico restriction), so I actually send it out three
times, including a few groups each time. The two groups you are in happen
to fall into two different mailings.
Dear Coach: What is the rule for
freestyle turns? Do I have to touch the wall with both hands if I don't do
a flip turn? Not Yet a Proficient Flipper
Dear N.Y.a.P. Flipper: In freestyle as long as you touch
the wall with some part of your body (foot, hand, head, etc.) that's
fine!
Dear Coach: As not everyone in my lane
is exactly the same speed, I sometimes lap other swimmers in my lane during
longer swims. What should I do? A Speedy Swimmer
Dear A.S. Swimmer: The lanes at Carleton are plenty wide
enough for you to pass someone in your lane without either of you having
to stop. Normally you should swim near the lane rope so that
there is 1/3 of the lane (in the middle) available. Thus to pass
someone, you move to the middle of the lane and can swim by them without running
into oncoming traffic. It may take more than one length to pass someone,
but that's fine. As long as everyone in your lane is aware of where
everyone else is (and you all should be!), this should go
smoothly. Practice this in warm up!
Dear Coach: Should I push off the wall
with both hands above my head, or one hand or no hands? Just
Learning
Dear J. Learning: You should always push off the wall
with both hands above your head and your elbows squeezing your ears for maximum
streamlining. This applies to all strokes, including
backstroke!
Private and Semi-Private Masters
Lessons 