This is one of my clients. Her name is Ellen. She is 73 years old, and she wants to swim better and faster!
I first started coaching Ellen almost five years ago, when she was training to swim to raise money for Relay for Life. As a cancer survivor herself, she wanted to show that she could be fit at any age. Her husband said, "Ellen, why do you want to swim faster?" Ellen responded, "Because it's good for my heart. It makes my heart beat faster and that's good for my health. Besides, I enjoy it!"Ellen gobbles up information quicker than I can throw it at her. We work on hand entry, high elbows, hip rotation. Most recently, we've been working hard on the "catch phase" of swimming. The "catch" is when your hand enters and you "grab some water" and pull your body along. Our analogy is that of hurdles: with each stroke you grab an invisible hurdle and pull your body over.
This is Ellen's speed workout this month. We did some time trials, swimming 50, 75 and 100 yard distances, getting split times for each 25 yards. We determined that Ellen was taking it out too fast, and we really wanted to work on bringing it in faster, or a negative split. In the end, it is about better pacing, and swimming faster, and getting used to being out of breath.
Here's your Free Workout Friday and it's all about swimming faster! Enjoy your workout! Happy laps!
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