After you have developped good stability and propulsion in your swimming, you can begin to work on the body control element of yoru stroke. This includes thsi following elements;
- open turns
- flip turns
- buoy turns
- deep water starts
- beach starts
- beach exits
- navigating
- drafting
- passing
- lost more we can’t be bothered to remember at this time
Here are some drills to help you with some of these;
DRAFTING: in pool or open water swim right behind some else
VARIATIONS
- INTERVAL DRAFTING: swim a set of 4 x 100+ m at a consistent but fast effort (1500 m pace or faster). Start off the set leaving 15 seconds behind the lead swimmer, on the next interval swim the same effort but starting 10 seconds back, then again 5 seconds back and lastly one more leaving as close as possible to the lead swimmer
- PACELINE DRAFTING: swim in a line with 2+ swimmers. Change the lead with either a) the lead swimmer dropping back or b) the last swimmer sprinting up to the front
- PACELINE HEADS-UP: adapt the above drill to have the lead swimmer or swimmer moving up the line swim head-up freestyle before settling back into the group.
AUSSIE FLAG SPRINT STARTS: lie down on the beach with your feet towards the water / swim course. On go, get up, spin around and run into the water. The added disorientation of this beach start makes normal starts feel super easy.
VARIATIONS
- AUSSIE- MASS START: in a group of 3+ repeat the above drill but lying 1-2 apart. To make it tougher, reduce the space between people lying down.
more to come soon
