Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Justin Johnson's swim vid

Met up this morning with my former co-worker and friend Justin Johnson.  He's a triathlete and wanted some tips and video analysis of his swim.  So I was there at 5:15 at the pool where I took some video.  Here's the video with analysis captioned into it:



I pointed him to a few videos for helping correct some of the small flaws:

Initiating pull with the elbow, and avoiding crossing over:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr9Wg0Trubk
Pulling through:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJpFVvho0o4
Kicking:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgZ5-oatDg8 

I definitely don't want to come across as a know it all, or that I have the perfect stroke.  I definitely DO NOT.  In fact Dennis gave me a tip this morning that helped me focus the rest of the workout.


What other suggestions would you make if you were the coach?

Afterwards I started my swim with Salt, where Kyle came up with the workout:

200 warmup
1000 - 8 x 125's (50 back, 75 dps swim) on 2:15
Main set, all pulling various paddles sizes
900 - 400 free :15 ri, 500 - 4 x 125's free descending on 2:00
775 - 400 free :15 ri, 375 - 3 x 125's free descending on 2:00
650 - 400 free :15 ri, 250 - 2 x 125's free descending on 2:00
525 - 400 free :15 ri, 125 - 1 x 125 free strong
700 yards warmdown

4750 yards total in 1:40


Dennis told me I'm not pulling with my elbow.  This morning I didn't get a good warmup and my upper lats were sore, as well as my triceps.  Because of this I was failing to really focus on the very start of my pull and getting lazy.  Something to work on for sure.  Here's a little video of what I should be doing:


As you could see, today's workout was shortened for a couple reasons.
  1. My arms are toast!  
  2. I hit my major goal for the month of February swimming a quarter million yards (actually swam 253,450 yards for the month)
So I rewarded myself with getting out early.  In fact, I'll take it nice and easy the rest of this week by swimming less than 5000 yards per day.  Then I'll pick it back up on Monday.  I killed it this month and feel like a little R and R is in order.




2 comments:

Josh said...

Cool video! I need to have you film me sometime, you do a great job.

I am by no means a coach, but I think you caught all the same things that I saw. He head position and body roll look good.

Mj said...

What I would suggest is:

Stroke count and DPS this giving quick feedback as to the swimming form. With a crossover you will not be moving forward down the pool in straight line but rather flighting with the water side to side.

Cross over, (this is a hard one, I know) think of drawing a line from top head in outside to hip. Having feedback often by video helps or having a friend verbally tell you where hand position is at.
Drills: Layout Freestyle (with fins if needed) – 3 full strokes then kick on one side for 6 seconds focus on proper breathing position. On your 3 strokes, remember to roll your body but keep your head still. While kicking, focus on the position of your head. Head should be in the breathing position (head parallel with water, one goggle in water one goggle out). back to basics.
Failing that apply ice packs to the shoulder often.

More time in the pool, swim often.
Do some active shoulder warm excises on the deck of the pool before swimming.

I am no coach, I am just a person who has learned to swim 8 months ago so I know the struggles.