400m
 

Did 400m tonight! Four times further than I've ever swum freestyle before!

What did you think, do, or feel that was different?

Thanks for the reply :)

I felt secure in my technique for one length (25m) at a time. In particular I've been finally gaining a little bit of feel for the anchor - just light-to-medium pressure. Plus lots of breathing drills, feeling comfortable both sides.
So what else was there to do other than push myself to swim a bit further and see where my weak areas are?

Suprisingly, my technique didn't collapse, though my arms got tired for the final 4 lengths, which made spearing and anchoring a bit sloppy.

If you used only light-to-medium pressure, why do you suppose your arms tired? Could you lighten pressure further?
Because completing 400m with no fatigue is how you progress to 1500 or 3000 or 10,000m.

Even spearing deeply enough to counteract my sinky legs takes a suprising amount of effort.

In future I want to put 90% concentration on spearing correctly, and 10% on getting some pressure on the catch.

It was a useful experiment.

If you use the weight shift optimally -- relying 90% on gravity and body mass and only 10% on muscle power -- you can do it almost indefinitely without fatigue.
When was the last time you had a tuneup with a TI coach?

Yeah... the eternal puzzle of using weight shift. Anyone who can't swim perpetually probably isn't using it optimally.

I've not had any real-life coaching. I realise it's unrealistic to expect a DVD and a forum to turn you into an efficient swimmer. My problem is that I keep getting better each month, so I keep putting off getting any coaching.

Option coming shortly to receive coaching by video from TI coaches

Coaching via video streaming
 

Coach Terry,
I would be very interested in either chat sessions with a TI coach or video coaching. Just to have someone tell me "yes that's normal" would be helpful after hearing my current status toward a 400m swim goal.
Thanks!

Terry created the TI Academy for just this purpose. There's a big link to it from the ti home page. But you can upload videos to YouTube etc. and have feedback on this forum from coaches (if they have time) and interested fellow TI swimmers alike.

It's a funny coincidence that you've resurrected this old thread that I started last year, as I was just about to post something new to it... coming up in next post.

Ant