Today started out with some warm weather, 36 degrees. It was a pleasant bike ride to the Y.

Paul and I had a little coffee and conversation before we got in the pool. He did his regular workout, swimming circles around me. lol And I did mine.

I laid out my book, Triathlon Swimming Made Easy by Terry Laughlin, founder and head coach of Total Immersion swimming, at the shallow end of the pool. This way I would be able to review the drills I would be working on today.

I have been using my finis zoomer fins. I am a very poor kicker, actually when I started this slow process of learning to swim I would go backwards.  I learned that is not all that uncommon with beginning swimmers.

Terry says in his book that if you are a poor kicker then it may help to use fins when you are doing the drills. Now that is for drills only,when you start swimming the full stroke you need to drop the fins.

Chris McDougall demonstration Hundred Up

Well, I have been doing the drills with the Zoomers, the one where you are at the side of the pool and you extend your leg straight and flex and extend your foot attempting to move the water.   Then when I would get to the deep end I would do a few vertical kicking drills.

Today, after I drilled for a while I took off the Zoomers and found that I could actually move forward when I was just kicking. I would lay face down in the water and kick and I moved forward. I would not push off from the wall, because I wanted all my forward movement to come from my kick. That made me feel good.

After I finished my swimming drills, I did the hundred up exercise. I increased from 100 reps to 130, 65 per leg. The image on the right is one of Chris McDougall demonstrating the Hundred Up exercise. Click here to see his video.

Jumping back to Terry’s book, Triathlon Swimming Made Easy,  you may be wondering who this book  is written for and could you benefit from it.  Here is what Terry has to say on the subject.

Novice Swimmers You‘ll learn a foolproof way to master essential foundations of comfort, confidence, and ease by finding harmony with the water and experiencing the transforming joy of weightless gliding. Once you achieve that—quite likely in your first pool practice–-you‘ll have an inspiring sense of future possibility.

Frustrated (or Failed) Swimmers If previous lessons have left you high and dry, or you still feel uncomfortable, or tire too easily, you‘ll learn the problem isn‘t with you, but with flaws in traditional instruction. When you learn the right way, you‘ll feel the difference—and a new sense of optimism–during your first pool session. Read the rest of this entry

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