Tri swims are not a liesure activity

I think there is a myth, perhaps perpetuated by (misinterpretations of?) the 'total immersion' school of swim instruction, that a good swim should not feel like a lot of effort. Bologna! When I am swimming fast, I know it, I feel it. It isn't a leisurely paced recreational swim, but a race, baby! I'm pushing it. Of course I maintain good form, but good form and power/speed are complementary, not in opposition.

Thank goodness I took the powerstroke class with Marty Gaal where he spent a lot of time humorously criticizing those who like to act like the swim portion of a tri should be a leisurely thing. Do you think the people finishing in the top three are having a relaxing leisurely swim? No, they are redlining baby. They are pushing it.

Cool new swim drill

I call it the 'watch check.' I used to have a really bad habit, during recovery part of the stroke, of lifting my arm up with my whole back and holding my arm really flexed, with the bottom of my forearm facing my body. I ended up with bad posterior shoulder pain.

Then I found out this is really bad. Of course, you don't want your arm flexed you want it relaxed. But also, you should move your arm so the top of your forearm is facing you, like you are looking at your watch. So that's one of my drills now. On each recovery I "check my watch". Not literally with my eyes, but I bring my arm/forearm into the 'checking my watch' posture with the forearm top facing my body.

It is sort of like the motion of the windup in baseball, I have toyed with the 'throwing the ball' analogy, but the 'checking the watch' is more universal and works really well.

I start out with a few laps of checking the watch, and my shoulder pain has gone away as my recovery phase has become more natural and relaxed.