This afternoon I managed my first swim since Ironman Vichy last week. A gentle 2k consisting of 40x50m. Whilst I was in the water I was trying out different techniques to better appreciate the difficulties faced by some of my swimmers. For the most part, I played around with body position in the water.
The three things that made the most difference to my body position:
Head. If I lifted my head high (eyes looking forward) when swimming, my legs dropped. Without doing anything else, when I dropped my head back to its normal position, my legs were back on the surface.
Torso. I generally swim ‘stretched’, trying to make my body as long as I can in the water. This way I tend to swim on top of the water. When I stopped ‘stretching’ and swimming long, my legs dropped and swimming felt much more difficult.
Ankles. As a former swimmer, I have pretty flexible ankles and point my toes when swimming. To try and emulate some of the swimmers I coach, I reduced the amount of flex to give myself a stiffer ankle, and immediately my legs dropped in the water and I had to use more force to power me through the water.
Three really small changes made a massive difference to swim efficiency and swim speed. Three things for you to try at your next swim session! Let me know how you get on?
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