Saturday, August 19, 2017

Swimming Downhill

I've been using the spring theory and focusing on my obliques.

Today, a change happened several times during breast stroke.  My hip angle must have tilted somewhat, because my glide felt like I was going downhill!?!?

Granted, what really happened, most likely, is that my normal glide was pushing with vertical drag, as if going uphill.  Therefore, a change towards horizontal FELT like I was going downhill.

Regardless, it was pretty cool.

Another little taste of progress during the close of summer desperation.

Saturday, August 12, 2017

Spring Theory

I've been swimming like mad as the end of summer pool hours approached.  I don't remember the last day the pool was closed for a swim meet, but that was the last day I missed, easily 2 months ago.  I am tired.  Some good(ish) days, some very tough days.

That said, I had a new thought today, and I laughed while swimming at the thought of naming it Spring Theory, a play on String Theory, but anyways . . .

I need to flush it out, but the basics is a meditation technique, using mindfulness, which imagines the body as a number of springs.

For some time, I have been getting a "spring feel" in my legs when I kick while my hips are at an angle I believe is superior to my baseline.  It feels like pulling in the foot, as if a spring, curleyquing around the leg.  It does not compress, per se, but maintains a bit of the helix position to it.

Well, thinking much on this, I played with the idea that the whole body was like this, but how would my arms work under this approach?

I mean, the reality is probably similar, with my arms both springs that have been overstretched, and therefore not wrapping around the shoulder currently.

Almost just as the thought occurred to me, I was able to "pull in" one arm, then the other.  It was not perfect, but it was real, a real improvement.

Again, much to flush out, but now that I have written this entry, even if forgotten, I will return to this at some point, and possibly make more progress.

:)