Yesterday I attended a Swim Clinic. A what? Well I knew my stroke was (still is) pretty awful and despite trying to teach myself to improve it's very difficult on your own. I'd like to join a club but KSC being what it is, that's out of the question. But that's a whinge for another time. So, I battled up the M6 to Birmingham for 8:30 and we were videoed swimming in the water. My issues were immediately apparent; a breast-stroke kick with a crawl action doesn't look elegant but worse, creates drag. No wonder I was going so slowly and struggling. My arms also weren't quite right and my breathing could be improved (these chaps are big into bilateral breathing, which is taking a breath on either side, every third stroke or so).
There were three swim and three classroom sessions, and I got to take away a swim plan, the dreaded footage of my original swim on DVD and loads of advice on what to do to improve. The best session was the last where we worked with a 'wetronome' a little bleeper that sits under your swim cap and sets your stroke. By increasing my stroke rate from my standard 45/min to about 54-56/min (and using a floatie to stop my legs trying to kick) I can improve my arm action and breathing and then (hopefully) the kick will follow. Working with fins also helped but of course you can't use them in the pool.
So gadgets do help. As I feared, it's almost like learning to swim from scratch again, probably worse with bad habits to undo, and that's going to take time. But I'm so fed up with struggling along that there is certainly the impetus to improve, and hopefully this will also be reflected in my times! (but wish me luck).
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