Total Immersion Level 2

This class built on Level 1, starting with 15 minutes of dryland work. Shane reviewed the benefits of shoulder and scapular articulation.

Week 1

This class picks up where Level 1 ended, and the first night of class we spent the first 15 minutes working on dryland training much like each level 1 class started. Shane reminded us about the benefits of shoulder and scapular articulation. Dryland is a really great place to work on this because we have the “mirror” in the windows and we’re not challenged by the addition of being face down in the water. He reminded us that shoulder articulation is the fastest path to improvement.

Next we hopped into the pool. There are only 4 of us this time, all from the first class. Additionally, 3 of us practiced several times together between the sessions, getting into a comfortable rhythm of practicing Shane’s “House of Cards” progression. I found it really helpful to practice with people from my class over the break. It really increased my confidence in swimming near people and sharing lanes. It also helped me get more comfortable with feedback; both receiving and giving.

Moving forward with Goals

Shane, ready to bike home (12 degrees outside)

We started the session off by swimming, and working through Shane’s progression points. Now is a good time to mention that it was 12 degrees outdoors, windy, and it is January. Tuesday night is our craziest night of the week - Elizabeth has ski training at Bristol mountain, and Xander has piano and choir practice in Ithaca. I have to quickly drive him home from these things only to turn around and head back to Ithaca for my class. Meanwhile, Scott brings Elizabeth to and from from ski training, arriving home just in time to bring Xander to Boy Scouts. As this first class kicked off, I realized our entire Tuesday evening schedule depended on clear weather and people not driving 30 in a 55!! We’ll have 7 more times of this, and after last night (when people did drive slow, piano ran late and things still worked) I know we can do it. And, as Scott and I were overusing fossil fuels, my zen instructor was biking to and from class.

One of my goals for the year is to improve my swimming and step 1 was to take level 1, followed by level 2, and most likely level 3. After that I plan to get into the lake with the tri club clinics and be much more prepared for the Cayuga Lake Tri this summer. I’m really thrilled that our family is making this work in winter!

1400 Yards

Two of my friends started level 1 on the same day that I started level 2. I wished them luck and thought back to my first day of level 1. We had a large class, and we started with introductions, hitting the warm pool after a big picture slide show presentation. It was during that first class that I realized it would be several weeks before I could ‘count class as exercise’ in my schedule. This is clearly not the case for level 2. Because I am a complete geek, I felt that I must count our distance; about 1400 yards give or take. This was awesome! First, by week 9 of the schedule we’re fully swimming and honing our skills AND we have the ability to do so. If someone had expected me to swim the entire class for day 1 of session 1, I couldn’t have done it. Shane has gradually worked with us to where we feel totally comfortable with this level of swimming. After the class in the locker room, a classmate and I talked about how far we would likely go by the end of this 8 week session - hoping to feel fishlike!

Glide Junkie

We did quite a few drills, but the big thing that stuck with me was that I’ve become a ‘glide junkie’ to use Shane’s words. We spent time working with tempo trainers, starting with a relatively quick speed and slowing down incrementally only to speed back up to faster than the speed we started at. I was very comfortable at the slower speeds. These speeds are when you refine your balance, so it is good that I like to work on balance.

However the faster speeds are tricky for me. My stroke feels really sloppy and I get panicked about keeping up with the beeping. I learned something from this though, not really related to swimming. When Shane asked us how we felt at the fastest speed, one of my classmates said she just couldn’t even keep up and didn’t bother with the beep. I was so stressed by keeping up with the beep that I just stopped breathing all together - my goal was to stay with the beep until it killed me. I had a similar learning experience recently in a spin class. The instructor was giving gear/watt numbers that for me couldn’t mesh up. I had to choose one to hit, but in doing so had such anxiety about it that I just wanted to leave class. When I shared this thought with my friend (who had been next to me in class), she laughed and said, “Oh I ignore that stuff. If I can’t do it, I can’t do it.” So, mellowing out is in my future, which will probably help me get better with these faster speeds. Accepting that maybe I can’t hit the speed right away, but eventually will be able to if I keep working at it is a good first step!

The Video

As with session 1, Shane shot video of us swimming. It was cool because with just 4 of us in class, Shane was able to talk with each of us individually about our video while the other 3 class members were swimming. I was a lot less nervous about being taped this time than the first time around - each time he has taken video it’s gotten a little easier!

This week I look forward to practicing at least once in the water (last session I was able to get 2 weekly sessions in but with ski season timing is much tricker), and working a lot on my dryland shoulder articulation - my biggest weakness!!

Week 2

With a temperature of -5, my car refused to start when I was out taking Xander to piano shortly before class. I had planned to drop him off after choir and head to do errands at Wegmans. He and I had 10 minutes to kill before piano, so we sat in the car with the auxiliary power on, and when I went to turn the car on it wouldn’t budge. Luckily, his teacher came out and jumped the car! I sat there with it running for the half hour not wanting to risk getting stranded at Wegmans. I called Scott and gave him the heads up. He was driving home from Bristol Mountain with Elizabeth, due to arrive home a bit before 7. My swim class starts at 7, 20 minutes away from home. I had a little internal temper fit thinking I would have to miss class, before we realized that I could be late (wait for him to arrive home and take the reliable car), or I could drive the car down and if it wouldn’t start after class he could come get me. We decided on late and I breathed a sigh of relief knowing I’d make class! He and Elizabeth hit no traffic, and I managed to arrive to class by 7:03 - not bad for a 7 p.m. start.

Class Time

The pool was crowded, and the 4 of us got re-connected with Shane talking about our swimming. Shane’s strategy is to do some dry land work before getting in the pool. Surprisingly, the lanes seem to clear out just when we need them to every time! We worked on our shoulder articulation before hopping into the pool. He set the stage, telling us that tonight we would start the kick! This meant we’d hit the warm pool about 45 minutes into our hour and a half class. I could hardly wait!!

The House of Cards

We had two lanes, and we worked through our standard progression, starting out with “lazy” swimming and moving into focused target points. Shane took video of our swimming, and we did our standard layering until things started to fall apart. He had us work with the tempo trainers at a tempo of our choosing. Here is my video.

So, as I watched this video, I couldn’t help but see my classmate zooming along through my video with much nicer form. I feel SO much more streamlined than when I started, but when I watch my video, it looks like I’m still moving like a snail. I also learned when we started to discuss the kick that I’m EXTREMELY right side focused, another fact that is obvious in my video.

The Kick

Shane asked us to talk about how we feel about our kick. Each person had a different answer prompting good discussion. Of course, Shane shared his observations, “right dominant” “constant kicking” and “not kicking at all” were some of the things we heard. This is ok, as we’re going to start to focus on the two beat kick. The news that I am extremely right dominant with the kick was a surprise. I have watched the video of the two beat kick, and in my head felt like I was two beat kicking. Once Shane called the right dominancy to my attention, I realized he is totally spot on. Off we head to the warm pool to learn drills for our kick.

Mind Blowing

First, I made a flippant comment that I should use the tempo trainer in a tri to stay on tempo. This led to a GREAT discussion about USATF rules (long story short, you can use them) and the value of a tempo trainer AND the fact that most deaths in triathlon swim are caused by asphyxiation which starts with panic and inability to get air, and not by heart attack. Shane shared that he uses his to keep him calm and steady and he trusts the trainer. But, back to the kick. It was nice to get into the warm water, and I mistakenly thought, “we’ve learned so much that this will be easy to layer onto what we’ve learned!” Famous last thoughts.

Work at the pool barre, followed by drills for kicking and soon I felt like a drowning hippo. It was entertaining and laughable. What made this SO much better for me than the first couple of weeks of Session 1 was that I felt safe and comfortable, and I totally trust Shane. I laughingly told him that the only thing he had going for him was that I trusted in his system now. After a mere 30 minutes of work, my brain was fried and my body was done. After weeks of layering, and getting more comfortable, we were adding something completely new!

The After

This week my practice was more interesting than usual. My first session, I hopped in and had a lane to myself. I started with shoulder work and then went through my standard progression. After a solid “house of card” building in the pool, it was off to the warm pool for kick work. When I finished the kick practice, I rewarded myself with time in the hot tub where I met another swimmer who had trained with Shane. He said, “are you taking Shane’s class?” and we promptly started talking about the kick. He shared that the kick had literally thrown him for a loop for WEEKS! He thought he’d never get it, and then one day it just clicked.

A few days later, I was back in the pool again, and this was when I discovered how far I’ve come. The pool was FULL. I nabbed the last spot, sharing a lane with a gentleman. He was my lane partner for about 20 minutes, during which time the deck filled up with 2 swimmers waiting for any spot in the pool. He left, and one of those swimmers joined my lane, and another spot opened in the pool for the 2nd swimmer. I continued to happily swim along with my tempo trainer set when a woman tapped me on the shoulder and said, “I’m going to join you guys, ok?” Circle swimming! This is the time that I’d normally just get out. I can’t keep up with other people, or swim around them. No way! But, this time I said, “sure” and happily kept swimming. It NEVER crossed my mind to leave the pool. I was only halfway through my practice. After a lap or two, we were both at the end of the pool and she said, “are you a Total Immersion swimmer?” Wow, twice in one week I was spotted! My form, though still very rough, is progressing to the point where it looks enough like TI to be recognized!!

I wasn’t able to practice the kick at this practice, as there was a class in the warm pool, and every time I tried to work from the hip and kick, I felt off balance. But, I did use the side wall to do some drills at the end of several of the lengths. I’m very excited to continue work during class #3!!

Week 3

2 Steps Forward, 1 Large Step Backwards

After my practice this week, I commented to my husband, “I TOTALLY understand why people swim for exercise.” Lately, I’ve been really into my bike trainer and enjoying swimming more than running. This is unusual for me, and it is partly because we’re so busy getting the kids to and from ski training that I’ve been working out at odd hours.

I had just finished bragging to a friend who is a self declared “not so great swimmer” that if I could learn to swim from Shane anyone could. I mentioned that he could probably teach a rock to swim if he could teach me. Famous last words.

We began with dry land work and Shane commented that I was still struggling with pulling backwards on my recovery. Most of the time my head is a scary place to be, so read on with caution. That one simple comment threw me for a complete loop. As with many things, I thought I had it! Suddenly I didn’t even understand what he meant by recovery. I was doing it wrong. Everyone else was doing it right. My brain was overloaded as I tried to figure out how to do it properly. Soon we were in the pool and my entire stroke fell apart.

I struggled in all of our first lengths, and I won’t even share my video from this week. It was definitely a 2 steps back kind of week for me.

The Side of Opportunity

Halfway through our practice, Shane brought over some fins and lined them up by the side of the pool. We were going to work on our kick, and he suggested that we place a fin on our weaker leg IF we had one leg that tended to dominate our kick. I quickly reached for a fin for my left foot. He asked us to swim, focusing on the kick using the fin to help the “side of opportunity” with the kick.

This drill was AMAZING! I could actually feel the kick. It sounds silly, but I really wasn’t sure that there had been any rhyme or reason to my kicking up until now. I had some idea of what was happening, but it wasn’t repeatable, or even planned. Instead it just kind of happened as needed.

The Email

Shane sent us everyone’s videos to look at and learn from this week. They arrived shortly after class and I viewed them the following morning. However, before I viewed them, I read an email that one of my classmates sent after watching the videos. She says,

I just looked at all the videos Shane sent and I’m struck by how much everyone has improved and how “patient” everyone looks. I think your form looks beautiful, and even from my limited vantage point, I can sense how much more comfortable you feel in the water compared with early in Level 1. I am amazed at how much more comfortable I feel swimming as well...before I would get winded swimming a 50.

I realized after watching the videos a few times that she is RIGHT! We are getting better and I think I can speak for our whole class that none of us get winded swimming a 50 anymore. We ARE moving forward and it was SO nice to have a classmate point that out.

The Fin of Opportunity ... swim, bike, run

In my practice this week I got out the fin for my “side of opportunity” and I worked on that side with running and biking too. Funny thing. Usually my first reaction to finding out that I’m doing something very wrong is to cry, want to stop, think it is hopeless etc. Luckily, my 2nd reaction is to attack the problem AGGRESSIVELY.

I wore the fin for practice this week and worked on that side. I focused on imprinting that kick. Shane told us that we should spend some time on the kick each week, but not to stress about it too much. We should spend some time just swimming and working on our front end. I like that. It takes the pressure off, BUT once I became aware of the kick, I realized that I couldn’t actually make the kick leave my mind. I’m not sure where that will land me this week, but for practice anyway, I wasn’t able to use the tempo trainer effectively this week. Between the front end and the kick, my mind had enough to focus on and the tempo trainer was just added noise. I’m looking forward to class to start to sort that out. Here is a teaching video showing the 2 beat kick.

And, I am pretty sure I know the next thing coming; I think that I am reversing the arm and leg that should be moving together. I’m not sure but it feels like my rhythm is wrong. Shane is a dancer, and he talks about the need to just feel vs think. I know I’m in thinking mode still.

Now to the biking and running. After beginning to think about my weak side as an opportunity, I realized it was also an opportunity on the bike and while running. I worked on my left side on the bike trainer and while running all week. It felt like a little project and I feel how all 3 activities are complementing each other well!

Week 4

Swing Skate Drill

This week Shane had us try a drill that we’d done back at the beginning of Level 1. I remember when we did this in Level 1 that I didn’t get it at all. It is basically the “painting” movement with our arm. The purpose is to make sure that our shoulders are forward and articulating and our arm isn’t resisting the water. This drill helped something with my shoulders click today so that was really great!

The Power of a Question

I tell my kids that if they have a question about something in class to ask it. If they don’t understand, it is very likely that many others in their class are confused too and their question will help many. Last week I suddenly started to get confused about the recovery arm, when to start it and exactly what it even was. Toward the middle of class, one of my classmates asked a question about the recovery stroke. “How far does the arm go back before we start to bring it back forward?” Shane showed us, and helped us understand where we were supposed to be pushing in the water and suddenly it started to click for me. One of the things that has struck me on this swim journey is the power of the class. I have made connections with others, learned from what they are struggling with, and we all have a chance to ask questions sometimes and listen and follow along at other times. Sometimes we’re too cold, tired, or just don’t know what question we need to ask, just that we don’t understand. Other times, the question is right there at the forefront and by asking we help everyone else in the group.

Break the Rules

When we did the swing skate drill I finally started to understand the shoulder articulation. It was many weeks after I really should have gotten this, and I do hope that it isn’t one of the fleeting things where I get it for one class and then lose it as fast as it comes. Shane said that my shoulders looked the best they’ve ever looked and I felt like leaping into the air.

Shortly after the drills, we moved back into swimming and focusing on the kick. Shane asked us to observe the rhythm of our kick and how much flex we had in our knee. Later he asked us to focus on the pressure on our foot. After each 50 we shared our observations. He asked me what I observed and I said, “I am so excited about finally starting to understand the shoulders that I can’t be bothered to focus on the kick!” We all had a good laugh, and Shane said to continue to focus on the shoulders and break the rules! I felt silly that I was only just starting to understand something my classmates had been very comfortable with for weeks, but I was also exhilarated that I was getting it. Everyone has a unique timetable for learning, and we can’t always force things faster than they are meant to happen.

Conscious Incompetence

We went through a series of drills that some of us were really confused by. We were circle swimming and I wasn’t the one to go first, so I just hoped that the leader understood better than I did. She headed out followed by the two of us in the lane. We talked after the first 50 and she said, “I don’t think I’m getting this.” I spoke with my other classmate and she was as confused as I felt. I confided that I just hoped to make it across the pool without being called out for being too egregiously wrong. After a few times through these, we talked as a group about how we all felt rather incompetent. Shane said we were “unconsciously incompetent” and our next step was to be “consciously incompetent” followed by unconsciously competent” and so on. We all had a great laugh about our progress!

Final Thoughts, and the Video

Most of the evening, I felt like my right side “got it” and I was struggling with my left side. On the left, things felt loose and just unplanned while the right felt tighter and I felt in control. Shane’s first words in the video were just the opposite - my left side was looking more comfortable and relaxed. There it is; relaxed. He keeps telling us to stop thinking and let our body get into flow.

Week 5

Dry Land

Shane started our time together with dry land training focus. We worked on integrating the head roll of breathing on land, before we were face down in the water. While working on land, it struck me that I finally no longer feel silly as we go through all our motions. Shane’s subtle corrections to my form here really help my stroke in the pool.

A Little Light Reading

One of the coolest things about my class is that we are getting to know each other and feel safe asking questions, sharing stories about our swimming, and just feeling comfortable together. As we chatted about our week’s highlights, one of my classmates recommended a book that she recently read, and Shane shared one of his favorite titles as well. I’m always looking for a good read in the running and fitness genre, so I made sure to note the titles. Now, I have two more books in my reading queue.

Breathing!

After we spent our time doing our standard house of cards (tempo trainer work, focus on our patient lead arm, relaxed swimming and focus on our poise point), we added breathing to the mix with a vengeance!

I’ve been rather confident about my breathing lately. I know that I’m still lifting my head too far out of the water, and that my poise point is altered on a breathing stroke, BUT I’ve really imprinted alternate side breathing. Even when I share a lane, I can still keep the alternate side breathing going (in the past any stress added to swimming caused me to revert back to single side breath). All that confidence vanished when we started intense breath focus.

We used fins for a Breathe and Glide drill that we’d worked on in the past, only with fins. We focused on timing our breath with core rotation and extension, our head position all while refining our target and working on our poise point. As with most drills with fins, this was lovely!

It was when the fins came off that things got really hard! Shane asked us to breathe every time on one side. We did 50 yards with right side breathing every stroke, followed by 50 yards on the left while breathing every stroke, and then 50 yards of bilateral breathing. He asked us to count our strokes for each 25 yard segment. I was at 20 strokes for my right side, 22 for left, and 21 for the bilateral. However, while left side breathing I truly felt like I was drowning!! I was really surprised at how challenging left side breathing felt.

Waiting to Exhale

And then there’s the timing for releasing the breath. For some reason, the moment I grab air, I expel it. I sometimes wonder why I bother to get it in the first place! We discussed slowly releasing our air, keeping enough to stay buoyant until the next breathing opportunity. I find that I’m able to do this when I really focus on it. If I forget to focus, the air leaves right away. Thinking more about it, it is very much like the patient lead arm. When we first started this journey, we all struggled with leaving our arm out front and staying patient. Now, unless it is a breathing stroke we’ve all nailed this, and we’re even getting it 90% of the time on breathing strokes. It is truly all about imprinting.

The Video

There were six of us in class this week. Our actual class has 4 members, but Shane also offers a Monday evening session. There was a snowstorm on Monday, and two members from the Monday class joined us. We took 2 lanes, and in the lane I found myself swimming next to Deidra for part of the evening. At first this caused me great stress. I wasn’t able to swim next to her without trying to keep up. As a result, my form was sloppy, and my head was thinking, “You’re losing ground! You can’t keep up.” But, as time went on, I calmed my thinking, reminding myself that this was class #5 of 8. I couldn’t waste the valuable learning opportunity from one class because I was trying to “race” with my classmate when she didn’t even know I was racing her. The cool part of swimming next to someone for me is that I pick up bits of their stroke. I noticed how “fishlike” Deidra was looking. She was achieving the snap from the core and the glide much better than I was. She was very streamlined. The video Shane captured this week clearly shows that difference. I was rather happy to see that my video had both of us swimming. (Of course I got Deidra’s permission before posting it).

Baseline Mile

After 13 classes (between level 1 and 2) I decided it was time to swim a mile (or as much of a mile as I had time for before yoga). I started by sharing a lane with another gentleman, and he promptly got out after about 5 minutes. Then, I saw Shane appear at the end of the lane. He hopped in next to me. We exchanged quick hellos and he started to swim. I really enjoyed the opportunity to watch him swim. He had mentioned during class that my arms were lifting really high out of the water. I watched his arms and focused on keeping my arms as much like his as I could. I found it easier to focus on my poise point and snapping while in the lane next to him. I ended up completing 60 of the 70.66 lengths needed for a mile. When I worked out the pace it was 43 minutes. I was originally VERY impressed with myself, even emailing two of my classmates to share how much faster it was than my old swimming. However, when I went to check my Daily Mile data, I discovered that it wasn’t my fastest swim. In fact it is similar to many other half mile swim times. BUT, when compared to the one time I swam a mile back in November it was 7 minutes faster. Shane likes to remind us that our first priority is to improve our stroke and efficiency so that we’re not exerting as much energy while swimming. Later we can focus on also improving our time. With that metric for success, I have really succeeded. I was not a bit tired after this swim, I just ran out of time.

Week 6

23 Strokes

I must have gotten into some bad habits during my training this week. After what felt like a super successful baseline mile attempt, I felt really confident. But, a couple days letter when I was dying to go back and see if this was repeatable I had a terrible swim. I blamed it on being tired, fighting a cold, and having just returned from downhill skiing, BUT these challenges lingered as class started on week #6.

We started with 200 using a Tempo Trainer Pro. Shane asked us to count strokes. My typical average is 18-21 strokes with 17 and 22 being outliers for me (22 more than 17 in truth). Tonight my number was 23 for EVERY length. This set my morale on LOW to begin. I knew something was off. I wasn’t snapping from the hip. My arms felt incorrect. But, I really wasn’t sure exactly what was off. Shane told me I was going too deep with my stroke and that was causing me to lose speed. A diagnosis. Now I could move forward.

Swim Relaxed

As we worked with our dry land routines, Shane reminded us that we need to stay relaxed.

Unnecessary muscular and connective tissue tension affects balance. The critical element of integrating breathing with freestyle is to minimize disturbance to balance. Keep your head and neck relaxed.

After Shane I learned that I was diving too deep, I modified my stroke and was back to my 18 strokes across the pool. However,this didn’t feel sustainable for me today. I struggled with keeping a high poise point and working on the tipping point. Shane asked me about my stroke count and while I was happy to be back in my “acceptable realm” I told him it was hurting my brain to think about the proper form. He chuckled and said that was a good place to be.

We worked again on single side breathing, taking a breath every stroke. This was not nearly as challenging as it was last week. It could have just been that it felt more familiar, or perhaps it was just clicking a little better. While I still struggled on my left, I didn’t feel like I was drowning the entire time. My stroke counts were similar to last week.

“Yin Yang”

Our last drill was called the Yin Yang drill. Shane asked us to swim 25 yards with as much “force” as we could while striving for the lowest possible SPL without being glide junkies and asked us to maintain our great technique. For our return 25 we were asked to swim with as fast a cadence as we could manage.

Shane reminded us to be aware of our elbow bend at the pose point. He reminded us to avoid reaching too far forward above the water with a straight arm. He also suggested we shorten the recovery in the back to help keep our cadence quick. This action encourages a more patient lead arm. To keep a quick cadence, we also needed to strive for “minimal air time” for the recovery hand, while keeping maximum front quadrant time. The final piece. It all comes down to the shoulder shrug.

I struggled with this. On the “yin” portion of the drill, I was able to hit 18 strokes, but it was through a mix of glide and pushing. He was clear that we were to avoid glide as the technique for hitting minimum strokes, but I am so used to this strategy that it felt foreign to push hard on the water. On the “yang” portion, he advised us to keep a quick cadence, while avoiding the “washing machine” feel. I definitely felt like a washing machine. It took me 23 strokes to get across the pool, and I felt like I was in a perpetual state of panic. By the time we hit the 3rd time through this drill, I was physically exhausted.

Sometimes when I give my 11 year old son several directions, he will just spaz and not be able to function at all. He’ll say, “but Mommy you are asking me to do too much at once!” With this drill, I felt like I had just been given so much to focus on that my brain and body just freaked out. I don’t feel like I did anything that Shane asked, other than get from one end of the pool to another. However, as with any new drill, week #1 is the most challenging. I look forward to practicing this and trying it again next week.

The Final Sustained Swim

To conclude the evening, Shane asked us to swim for 5 minutes continuously with no pausing at the end of each length. This should have been a piece of cake after my mid-week full mile practicing. I set my tempo trainer at 145, and started swimming. While swimming, we were to focus on keeping our stroke count in the 3 stroke range from when we started and work on a sustainable breathing pattern and rate of exhalation.

This went surprisingly well considering I had to work hard with myself to stay for it. 2 member of the class had to leave early due to commitments, and it was 8:30 already. I was cold, tired, and figured, “really what will happen if I don’t stay?” But, true to form, I worked to be my best self and suck it up and swim the 5 minutes to the best of my ability. This was a good decision. I settled in, calmed my head and stopped feeling bad about struggling with so much this evening. This process has its its ups and downs, the fast progress and plateaus. The important part though is that I’m always working hard to improve, become more comfortable and push my body.

After I finished the swim, I decided I would sign up for the Tri for the Y at the YMCA in Ithaca again this year. I have only done this race once, back when I truly couldn’t swim (I finished right at the time cut off for the swim, and ended up either last or 2nd from last in the overall results). This race will be good because the pool has a deep end. I tend to panic in deep water, so it is a good step to practice before hitting the lake. Also, it is early in the season. I may have not had a chance to be outdoors on a bike very much before the race. It will be a good test of baseline bike fitness. It also has a long run for a Sprint Tri - 5 miles. The run is challenging but is likely to be my favorite part of the race!!

The Video

This video is from our final 5 minutes of swimming. I need to work on keeping my legs calm behind me so that I don’t break the water with my kick. I also need to work to start my kick with my left leg and my right leg vs always using my right leg. And then there’s the poise point, staying in the front quadrant etc.

Week 7

Mid Week Practice

While practicing this week I decided to use the lap counter and swim the 400 distance for the Tri for the Y. This is a distance I’m very comfortable with and if Shane asked us to start class with a 400, I would be fine (for reference, he normally starts us with a 200). I had finished going through the entire progression, and even completed 3 rounds of the “yin-yang” drill before starting this 400. Immediately upon starting the first 25 my stomach revolted. I felt like I was going to throw up for the first 300, and then I remembered that I had options for breathing. I could continue to breathe bilaterally, or breathe every stroke. I switched to breathing every stroke on my right, then my left and after another length I had calmed my head. I finished the 400 in about 10 minutes.

Competition

It was a holiday week, so our normal group of 5-6 turned to 3. We started class with sharing our thoughts from the week. I shared my tale of anxiety from my Tri for the Y practice, and we talked about competition. Shane shared that one way to think of the word competition was to think, “I’m petitioning for companionship” instead of thinking of it as a challenge between me and the person next to me. Then, my classmate admitted that she wasn’t all that interested in racing. The discussion that ensued was SO fascinating. This is one of the many reasons that I LOVE this class. Shane gives his classes what I consider a weekly does of Zen. He’s part swim coach and part life coach and there hasn’t been a week that I haven’t left class with some wisdom to take back to my every day life.

He shared his philosophy for fitness. He’s an endurance athlete and he runs, bikes, and swims to find flow state. He is a self proclaimed “flow state junkie” and this is his way of finding flow. He sees the racing as an opportunity to enjoy the fruits of his labor, see friends, and just enjoy. More conversation followed about triathlon culture, endurance athletes, and the marathon and half marathon scene.

Soon it was time to swim!!

The House of Cards

The evening started with our familiar set of drills; dry land and focal point swimming. Our first 200 was a lazy swim where we count our strokes per length followed by specific focuses added for each lap. The most helpful focal point for me during this class was the shoulder shrug. If I focus on the shoulder, other things that are often out of whack sometimes fall into place. It is during this focus that I find my lowest spl count every time. It is also the time when I swim with the most ease.

Eventually we got to the “yin-yang” drill. After one pass through, I felt like Shane may as well have been speaking Arabic for what I could get from the drill. But then, he demonstrated the recovery arm again and showed us that motion. It clicked and the next 3 times we did the drill I really started to understand. I still work on breathing properly (not releasing air the moment I take it in or holding it 100% and becoming out of breath) and not breaking the surface with my kick (less knee action) but I felt this drill was coming along ok for me.

The final 300

To end class, Shane asked us to swim a continuous 300. The pool had emptied out, so we each had our own land. We were free to choose our tempo with the tempo trainer. He asked us to focus on a sustainable breathing pattern. I started with the trainer set at 146. This is my typical “comfy swimming” setting (but Shane reminds me that for my short body I need to be striving for a much faster tempo). Halfway into my first length I realized I was hanging out waiting for the beep for awhile. I stopped to re-set to 136. I know one of my classmates typically uses this setting and thought I’d give it a go. To my surprise I was able to keep up with the beeps. Shane’s YY drill had really helped me move more into the front quadrant. That meant my turnover was quicker, so the faster tempo felt comfortable.

The End Conversation

When we finished, one of my classmates shared that she really struggled with the last 300. She panicked a little, and we had a short discussion about even seasoned triathletes panicking and needing to resort to backstroke in a race. I suddenly felt a lot better about my need to backstroke in the CLT this summer.

One of the things Shane had told us about competition and training in our earlier conversation was:

When I head out the door on a cold day to run, I know I’m choosing to be cold. I may come home with my knees hurting, but I know that this is good for me. However, in life you don’t always get to choose what happens. Sometimes frustrating things happen and you can only choose your reaction. I find that training helps me choose a good reaction.

I had spent much of the evening with my teeth chattering. I am always extremely COLD in the water, sometimes so much so that my hands and feet are blue and I have no feeling in them. During our last 5 minute discussion, I would normally be chattering away, hopping up and down and praying for class to be over as soon as possible. During this time though, I remembered Shane’s discussion about training and reactions. I was standing in the water, and was suddenly fully present for the conversation, and I was not cold. It was fleeting and it may not happen again, but I felt like I was choosing my reaction to the situation. I chose to be fully present in the conversation instead of thinking ahead, thinking about my comfort. The result; I was warm, and I was really engaged in the discussion.

I can’t believe that next week is the last class of this session!!! I started with this in September thinking I’d endure 8 weeks and hopefully get better. Now, I signed up for the 2nd session eagerly and I’ve come to really look forward to this class and my practice sessions. Shane shared a video of the “Zen Master” Shinji Takeuchi’s Ti Swim Video

Week 8

Mobility

At the start of class 8 we gathered on the deck to being our dry land routine. There were only 3 of us, and I noticed that my arm wasn’t getting nearly as high as the other members of my class. Shane came over to correct my motion and I asked about this. He breathed slowly and said, “yes this is limiting the distance you are getting on your stroke.” He went on to tell me that he was reading a book that was going to help him address things like this. My body is my body. I have to work within my own limitations, but there are ways to help improve my reach, poise point etc.

He went on to talk about how something is going on with my shoulder where it isn’t letting go enough to get that long length, and my arm is kind of caving in, making it more difficult to grip and push in the water. He showed me what was happening and showed me what my arm should look like. It is worth mentioning that he’s been telling me this for weeks, but tonight was the first time I really felt like I grasped that this is a big problem.

18 Strokes

After a warm-up, we began our focal point work. We started with our patient lead arm and then worked with focusing simply on moving our shoulder forward. This focal point ALWAYS helps put me back on track. That helped me with my poise point as we moved into swimming with pausing. As we went through the series, I didn’t count strokes. Usually I’m very focused on how I am doing compared to my classmates (am I falling behind, am I staying close) but tonight I just felt calm. Sometimes I ran into the swimmer in front of me and other times I fell behind, but I was completely zen about this. I felt Shane’s calmness and was able to channel it.

One of the things that Shane talked about last week was how athletic training could help you approach things more positively. I am working on being comfortable in the water, realizing that it is just wasted energy to chatter my teeth away and think about how cold I am. Instead, tonight I stood still in the water as we talked. I wasn’t shivering. I felt calm. When I approached a drill, I approached it with a positive mind frame and with no expectation past that drill. It felt freeing not to worry about my placement compared to others.

So, when we neared the end and Shane asked us to count strokes, it was the first time I’d counted that evening. The first count - 18. The 2nd count - 18. And the third time - 18. I felt comfortable and 18 was my repeatable count for the evening. This is exciting because, while I’d been at 18 occasionally a few weeks back, I’ve been adding strokes in the past few weeks. During my own practice last week I was typically between 21 and 23. So, doing 18 without feeling stressed out or winded felt great.

Dolphin Kick

Soon it was time to work more on our kick. Shane got out fins and off we went to try the dolphin kick. To do this, we kicked with both of our feet at the same time. We had a brief discussion about the monofin (we were using two separate flippers). The benefit of using a monfin or the flippers in this way is to help the weaker leg learn the motion for the kick. This technique brings the “leg of opportunity along for the ride” with drill. I found a video to show the technique we were going for. This was a lot of fun. It was HARD but a cool way to think about kicking.

Once we switched back to the two beat kick, I learned AGAIN that I am using my right foot to begin the kick. Shane asked us to focus on it, and suddenly I was doing the kick exactly backwards; leading with the right for my right side and with my left for my left side. I felt really silly until one of my classmates had the same problem. Then, suddenly it felt a little better. For more about why I felt suddenly ok to be in a “group” with this trouble, check out this podcast about the power of categories from Invisibilia.

Yin-Yang and Level 3

We finished our evening with a last round of the Yin-Yang drill. Shane asked us to use a minimal stroke count with maximum strength for our first 25 and then shoot for maximum cadence while maintaining technique for our return trip. He shared that his stroke count varies by an average of 5 with this. On the “yin” portion he will hit 13 and for the return “yang” his stroke count spikes to 18. This made me feel a lot better about how this is going for me. For the first two weeks, I somehow missed that our stroke count was SUPPOSED to go up. This drill scares me less now, feeling more opportunity focused.

I leave level 2 excited to begin level 3! I’ve been swimming 3x a week since September. I’ve learned that swimming is not going to be a “quick fix” but something that will be a very slow and steady road. I am happy to have made some nice friends in the class and look forward to continuing on in my Total Immersion journey with Shane and my classmates. I’m so grateful to Ian from Finger Lakes Running and Triathlon Company for introducing me to Shane, thus helping me begin my focused swim journey!!