The speed of Shinji

[tiswimjapan]

Originally Posted by Janos

Hi Shinji,

Have you had to make any alterations to your swimming style for the race?

Janos

Yes, I have. I swam 12km in Japan last year and I used strait arm recovery to increase my swim tempo. I used it twice for OWS, then I returned to my original style because I did not think I could keep swimming with the style for more than six hours. I will see if it works in Guam this weekend.

[Zenturtle]

Who, this is fun, Shinji with a straight arm recovery.
Cant wait to see it.
Did you shorten your stroke a bit for open water?
If so, at the front or at the back of the stroke?

[tiswimjapan]

Originally Posted by s.sciame

Thanks for the sharing Shinji!
Where's your japanese blog (hope Google translator can help here)?
What kind of sets are you typically doing in these practices? E.g. 10x300 at the pace you intend to swim the Rottnest Channel, or shorter sets at faster paces, or other?

Cheers and all the best!
Salvo

Thank you , Salvo.
It is http://swimlikeshinji.blogspot.jp

Since I cannot memorize details of menus, I try to swim very simple sets such as 10x400.
- 1st set: To reshape 7 kinds of sensors
- 2nd-10th set: Tempo pyramid (1.10-1.25-1.00 by 0.05) as follows:

Sets of 400 are mindfully divided into 4x100.
- 1st 100: Insertion point and weight shift
- 2nd 100: Catch position and spearing action
- 3rd 100: Pull path and coordination with body rotation
- last 100: Leverage (spear and pull)

100 will be divided into 2x50.
- 1st 50: Left side breathing
- 2nd 50: Breathing on both sides

I try to make the stroke count constant each lap.

When I have more time, I add 10x100 for speeding.
Decrease the stroke counts of 2nd and 3rd laps by 1 at various tempo.

I use Finis MP3 player to listen to music, and Tempo Trainer for checking tempo.

[tiswimjapan]

Originally Posted by Zenturtle

Who, this is fun, Shinji with a straight arm recovery.
Cant wait to see it.
Did you shorten your stroke a bit for open water?
If so, at the front or at the back of the stroke?

My tempo for OWS is 1.00, so I focus on front part of the stroke.
I will try 1.05 in Guam to swim much longer distance.

[Zenturtle]

If you have any tine left , a personal swimming question.
Does your underwaterpull has any influence on your bodyroll or is it totally neutral (armforce is not accelerating or decelerating the bdoyroll)?
Thats the case when the force is directed backwards, not inwards or outwards.
Personally ny start of the pull after catch is helping the bodyroll a bit, but I dont know if thats a good or a bad thing.

[tiswimjapan]

Originally Posted by Zenturtle

Does your underwater pull has any influence on your body roll or is it totally neutral (arm force is not accelerating or decelerating the body roll)?

There are four phases.
1) Hand entry and catch with the other hand
2) Arm extension (hand spearing) and pull with the other arm
3) Body roll and push
4) Finish

Catch, pull and push movements are related with others such as hand insertion, spearing arm and body rotation. Through phase 1 to 3, you try to relax the moving arm yet keep the shape of the arm with minimal tense.

If you try to enforce the movement more, you get tired sooner. Once you form the shape, you try to relax the whole arm so that you can move it more quickly. Quickness is more important than tense/power in the water. Force comes from acceleration.

[Zenturtle]

Thanks for the info.
Have a good swim.

[s.sciame]

Originally Posted by tiswimjapan

Yes, I have. I swam 12km in Japan last year and I used strait arm recovery to increase my swim tempo. I used it twice for OWS, then I returned to my original style because I did not think I could keep swimming with the style for more than six hours. I will see if it works in Guam this weekend.

That's so interesting, how much did you want or need to increase your tempo? If you had to go as far as change your technique to increase your stroke rate, it had to be very important: did you need it because of choppy water/currents or maybe to keep warmer in cold water?

And by the way, one of the most challenging tasks at Rottnest will be to deal with cold water for some hours: are you doing anything in particular to get used to it (e.g. increasing weight) or you're just swimming in ow to adapt?

[sclim]

Good luck in your Guam swim!

[s.sciame]

Originally Posted by tiswimjapan

Yes, I have. I swam 12km in Japan last year and I used strait arm recovery to increase my swim tempo. I used it twice for OWS, then I returned to my original style because I did not think I could keep swimming with the style for more than six hours. I will see if it works in Guam this weekend.

Hi Shinji,
how did it go in Guam? Did you try the straight arm recovery to increase your tempo? And if so, to what extent you increased it?

Another question if I may: one of the most challenging tasks at Rottnest will be to deal with cold water for some hours: are you doing anything in particular to get used to it (e.g. increasing weight) or you're just swimming more sessions in open water to adapt naturally?

Cheers,
Salvo