Totally Immersed Day 1: Relax the head

Today was Day 1 of my Total Immersion transformation. Today I went to 24 Hour Fitness before work for 1 hour.

I pulled on my new Total Immersion cap and reminded myself that whenever i pull on this cap I am swimming in a whole new world. Different goals, different priorities, different measurements of a good workout... like I said a whole new world.

This was my 'workout' today....

A bunch of 12.5 and 25's drill. From a pre-TI perspective that is how I would have thought about this workout. and I would have come away with pretty much nothing. No gained fitness, not improvement of technique. It would have been a waste of time.

However, now that I have taken the workshop I now see it as the best time I could have spent. I spent my time working on balance and relaxing my head. Specifically I worked on hanging my head. Here is what I found. If I push my hand forward and keep that muscle tension on I tend to use my head as part of my "force" of my stroke. If i didn't work so hard to keep my hand reaching forward i could relax my head, relax my shoulder and just let the power happen.

I only did 3 lengths of whole stroke free. And I did this in an unheard of 13 strokes. (Without a long push off either.) Also while I was drilling I did not work on breathing. If I had to breath I rolled onto my back like we did in the workshop and then rolled back and continued.

During the superman drills and skate I kept the propulsion kick going. However when I got to doing switches I let the kick go to nothing or just a small 2 BK except when I rolled on my back. If I was on my back I kicked a little but when I rolled back I stopped my kick because it really pointed out how much I "muscle" my way down the pull. Being at basically a stop really pointed out how my muscles were being triggered and allowed me to really focus on making it feel different.

The other distinctive thing I did was I did things to perfection. I didn't just do the drill to get the lengths in of the drill. I did the drill focusing on the 1 thing I wanted to concentrate on and doing that as perfectly as I could.

Here's a video that was taken of my pre-Ironman Canada 2007 that is probably pretty representative of my stroke as of about a month ago when I started working on the TI drills.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJSwVm3U1FY

And here is a video of what I want to look and feel like.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJpFVvho0o4

New Identity

Right now I am working on developing a new identity, changing from a Slow Fat Triathlete to a Slim Fast Triathlete. I know I can do it but here is what I think. Until I change my picture/view of myself I will not "transform" myself into something else. So as of today I am a Slim Fast Triathlete. Not a huge change but substantial. Many things will remain the same I am just modifying a couple things.

Slow to Slim

• S:
• L:
• O to I: Streamlined and slim
• W to M: Totally turn this around from weight to muscle

Fat to Fast

• Just adding and S here: Not a huge change just Slim and Slender

Day 1 of Total Immersion Workshop

Not to brag but my stroke looks better than it ever has at the beginning of this workshop. Granted there is a HUGE difference between 25 yards and 2500 yards. Holding that stroke can be a different story. I actually find though that if I keep it smooth and easy I can keep it that way longer.

Patience is going to be the key here. Practicing the drills and getting back to the basics. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to do this while I'm swimming with my regular group. I'm not sure I have that amount of discipline to keep it together without trying to return to the normal mindset of yardage focus.

The main thing I think I need to work on is:

1. Head position: keeping it down more and stationary
2. Breathing: Keeping my breathing in the same timing and same stroke as when I am not breathing. That will be a big one. I already know that my timing gets off when I swim and breath. I have a hard time keeping the same stroke.

Why Total Immersion

I have been thinking about why I want to take the TI wrkshop

One is to improve my Ironman swim the other is because I think swimming is the fountain of youth. My goal is to stay as healthy as I can for as long as I can. I think swimming truly is one of the few sports you can do for life. And if I am going to do this for a life I want to figure out a way to make swimming pleasurable and a place I can improve for as long as possible in my life.

Total Immersion Workshop

i decided I need some concrete goals prior to attending this TI workshop otherwise what am i spending my $$ on. After the workshop I'll figure out the how I'm getting there.

Gecko Swim 2.4 miles in May/June 2010 in 1:12

IMC 2011: 2.4 miles in 1:10