After having too much fun over the holidays, now is the time to start getting back into training mode. I am strong believer of the 80/20 rule and read this article about an efficient way to train for an Ironman, Minimalist Ironman training. Also found this 13 weeks Ironman training program.
The only thing that is fair to mankind is time, everyone has 24 hours. Ironman training is something that takes up a lot of time, since time is limited, hopefully I can train efficiently and try my best not to let training disrupt my daily life.
My weakest link is in swimming, so for the passed 2 days, I have been going to the pool. Because swimming is all about technique, it’s important to get it right from the start. Like Abraham Lincoln said “If I have to spend 6 hours chopping down a tree, I will spend 4 hours sharpening the axe”, something like that. Went to Barnes & Nobles at Union Square and read “The Art of Swimming” which is about the thing called Shaw Method and Alexander Technique which emphasizes the movement of head, neck and back while swimming. Another book I read is “Total Immersion” which talks about how to swim with the least resistance, like a fish. The max I can swim right now using front crawl is only 50 yards, so I am not looking good.
Some takeaways from those books are:
-While swimming, feels like you are swimming downhill
-Lengthen the whole body as much as possible, extend the hand and make sure one hand is always in the front quadrant
-Turn body sideways while swimming to minimize resistance, rotates shoulders and hips
-Don’t use too much arm muscles, utilize the chest muscles
-Minimize the stroke required, keep distance/stroke ratio high
-Water resistance affect 70% of the speed and muscles only 30%.
-In swimming, drag trumps power so always try to minimize drag/resistance.
-Swim like you are going through a small tube to reduce drag
-Don’t pull your head up, just rotate the head, try to create a small pocket in the water while you pull the water and use the pocket to breathe. It’ll be better to rotate your body to breathe instead of the head.
-Your chest is like a fulcrum, if your legs are sinking, push your chest lower and towards the front.
-Point your hand downwards, beneath your head if your legs are sinking
-Keep the head, neck and back streamline
-Don’t push all your breathe out, some air will help you float, breathe naturally
-Relax
This is a good article/Videos, Total Immersion: How I Learned to Swim Effortlessly in 10 Days and You Can Too by Tim Ferriss, the author of 4 hour workweek on how he learned to swim in 10 Days.
My way of learning how to swim is to watch some good youtube videos with high ratings, read some good books about swimming, get this free lessons from the NYC Parks & Recreation and observe and talk to people in the pool, some people are really friendly and eager to teach. I keep reminding myself, swimming is all about technique.
