Comments on: Can It Get Any Better Than This?

By: Osoyoos Runner

Osoyoos Runner — Fri, 20 Nov 2015 05:31:00 +0000

Terry’s article on runners’ pain and swimmers euphoria struck a chord in me. I come to Total Immersion from a running background. A background which includes many hard training runs as described in his article. But also a background which includes many pleasant runs through many of the world’s natural and urban wonders. The fitness I have obtained from those hard work outs has also allowed me to enjoy many long enjoyable, even zen-like excursions/hikes into some of the world’s most wonder places.

I admit that there is a difference between running and swimming and Terry should know this too. The enemy to swimming is water resistance (700 times air resistance) and human’s inefficiency in it – Terry says we are only 3% efficient. And if we try too hard we become less efficient and waste more energy – thus the importance of feel in the water, being gentle with the water and zen-like in your movements. The enemy to running, on the other hand, is muscle fatigue and our own fitness – and in order to get fit we have to first break down the muscle tissue and then allow it to recover/heal and thus become stronger. Thus training requires a certain amount of masochiastical effort. So there are some hard days but there are also some totally zen like runs that I don’t remember passing a certain point on my journey. Even though Terry describes his pool experience as relaxing and uplifting it is hard to imagine that there was no effort in his workout – after all, he lost 8% of his stroke length between his first and fourth laps. Efficient stroke length allows you to swim longer but in order to go faster there has to be an increase in effort once you have reached your ultimate efficiency.

So please don’t dis runners. We are working against a different enemy.

By: Suzanne Atkinson

Suzanne Atkinson — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 05:30:00 +0000

This is one of my favorite posts you’ve ever written, thanks Terry!

By: Steve Wago

Steve Wago — Tue, 10 Nov 2015 15:12:00 +0000

Hi Patrick, fellow grad of TI, I count strokes for each arm movement, L, R = 2. Also each length of the pool is one. I do not count laps which would be a length up and back, 1 lap = 2 lengths. That’s how I keep it straight. Happy swimming, Steve

By: Patrick McGough

Patrick McGough — Mon, 09 Nov 2015 21:14:00 +0000

I’m a long time reader of Terry’s and have gotten a lot out of his commentary (and I’m a decent swimmer as a result: doing about 2500 yards, non-stop, in about 52+ minutes every other day). I want to be more efficient and a “little bit” faster and have been focusing on discussions of strokes and the Green Zone and all that, but am not clear on one basic point: he mentions above that he “took 24 strokes the first length” in a 36m pool. Sorry for the dumb question, but – does that mean every time your right arm, or left, makes the rotation counting as “one stroke”, or does each arm count as a stroke? Thanks! (In my pool, I swim 25 yards with my right arm coming out of the water 12 times – am I doing 12 strokes or 24 strokes?) (Part of my confusion comes from my firm belief that one “lap” in a pool equals 2 lengths.)

By: John Berger

John Berger — Mon, 09 Nov 2015 19:42:00 +0000

I began swimming 7 or so years ago to help a back problem, read Terry’s books, bought the DVDs, took lessons from a TI coach here in Australia and loved every stroke. I’ve gone from taking a short rest after each lap in the slowest lane to swimming 2500 meters continuously in the fast lane three times a week with a SPL of 37 in the 50 meter pool. As a violinist, I equate the timeless flow of swimming with playing music: just being in the moment. Thanks, Terry!

By: Nico from Zurich

Nico from Zurich — Mon, 09 Nov 2015 19:35:00 +0000

how nice, dear terry, and thanks your always so stimulating posts.

By: silverstream

silverstream — Mon, 09 Nov 2015 15:35:00 +0000

I run as well as swim, and usually run about 10km two or three times a week. The first 2-3km aren’t particularly joyful, instead being a period of focus on my feet, heels, ankles, calves, knees, thighs and hips, relaxing each in turn until they are operating loosely and smoothly, so that by the end of the third kilometre, all my joints have warmed up and everything is relaxed. From that point on, my legs feel like a wheel, simply rotating easily over the ground, carrying my upper body on a springy, flexible support. The sense of flow is very similar to the sense of flow I get while swimming.

By: Salvatore McDonagh

Salvatore McDonagh — Mon, 09 Nov 2015 15:05:00 +0000

Thanks Terry!

*This* is why I swim.

When on land, walk! Running is restricted to flat out sprints when playing with my children or our dog.