#mit2016

I got back from a visit to Boston for my brother’s graduation (#MIT2016!!) and to meet college coaches last Sunday and had lifeguard training the whole rest of the week, so unfortunately I haven’t been to practice very much recently. Coach M said to me today, “You look like you’ve been in the sun a lot recently.” He paused then added, “You look like you’ve been in the sun a lot recently and you’ve been in the pool a little,” which is very true-- no offense taken, since my attendance has been pretty dismal over the last week and a half. Luckily, I just have an in-service training to attend and I’m done with training for the next two weeks (and I get paid for in-service-- $13.03/hr. highly recommend working for the City of Austin if you live nearby and choose to be a lifeguard), so I can actually go to afternoon practices this week.

That being said, Thursday night I swam a little with a younger group, because of scheduling conflicts, and then worked on some breaststroke technique on my own with help from their coach- 2012 Olympian Christian Schurr. Recently I’ve noticed I arch my back and turn my right hand so the palm faces slightly upwards during the pull recovery (both HUGE no-nos). The latter is a relatively easy fix, but requires constant focus, as does any stroke change. To maintain proper hand positioning, it is crucial to keep high elbows.

Back arching is a harder problem to fix. Because the human lumbar spine is naturally concave, when swimming, it is natural for people to sink their stomachs and hips, causing further arching/concavity. However, it is more streamline to have a straight or flat back by engaging your core. I made many attempts at remedying this over the past few weeks, but didn’t realize the underlying problem until Thursday night.

First I assumed the issue was active back arching, and attempted to keep a more flat, or even convex upper body position, but that mostly translated into hunched shoulders. There was a slight change, but not significant enough to be a practical solution. Then I partially correctly hypothesized the arching stemmed from the relationship between my pull and kick. I believed that because I focused so heavily on my pull, by neglecting my legs, I was arching my back to compensate for lost leg power and increase power from my pull. Thus I believed  I needed to kick harder and my legs and hips would float upwards (thus making it harder for the middle of the abdomen to sink) just as flutter kick in freestyle causes the lower body to stay elevated. I was right in predicting the solution would come from increasing focus on the legs, but it had more to do with timing than force.