The Perishing Waters of Box End

I often wonder why I do what I do. Why was I up at 6am today, why was I even considering a dip in a lake when my car thermometer was telling me it was 4 degrees outside! Why are we considering this an improvement on the weather lately (today being dry and still and cold, rather than windy, rainy and cold!) This is May, isn’t it? Well, I thought it was!

First open water outing of the season!

Normally I would not be dashing to the shores of Box End Lake the moment it opens in April, due to the incredibly harsh water temperatures involved with early spring in this wonderful isle of ours. BUT, due to the fact that I fly to Israel next week to compete in the European Triathlon championships, I figured I had better get in that wet suit at least once before my incredibly high profile first race of the season!

NLP visualisation: How to keep count of your lengths!

I was in the swimming pool the other day, nothing unusual really, I go regularly. But this time, I managed to stumble upon a visualisation technique that helped me keep count of the laps. Yes, really!

Want to know what it was?

Guest Blog: Lumie Competition: Hurry - only 24 hrs left!

WIN tickets to the British Gas Swimming Championships!

As an Official Supplier to the British Swimming team, Lumie has been given fantastic VIP tickets to the British Gas Swimming Championships taking place 3 - 10 March. This is a big pre-Olympic event at the new Aquatic Centre so if you're a swimming fanatic, mad about sport in general or just fancy savouring the buzz as some of the country's top athletes warm-up for Olympics, then here's your chance. 

'Catch' Swim drills progression

Here is a series of swim drills I was given a while back, the purpose is to develop the catch phase of the freestyle stroke. It is a progressive set of drills, which should be done in succession.

Usually I do drills progressions sets like this:

200-400m warm up easy

drill - 25m, easy 25m (repeat x 2-4 times)

repeat this with all 4 drills in the progression

400m good strong tidy form, employing the techniques you have been focussing on

200-400m cool down



Catch 1 - Glide practice kick with elbow bend

Catch 2 - Side kick rotating into a catch

Catch 3 - Side kick, elbow bend plus a stroke

Catch 4 - Six kick with correct catch

Have fun, and any questions, just ask :)

Fingers apart or fingers together – which makes for more swim propulsion?

Just before I set off to the pool this morning, I took my rings off. My husband asked what was I doing? I said I can’t get my fingers together to swim with all the rings on. He asked me why I would want to, because all the Pro’s on the television don’t, they spread their fingers.

He had a point. So the whole time I was swimming up and down I wondered which was better, fingers together or fingers apart. I set about finding out the answer to the question!  

I had always assumed your hand acted like a paddle, therefore fingers together must have been better. I was amazed with the results that I discovered.

You may well be aware of swim smooth? Well their forum was the top of the search list when I asked google my question.

THE VERDICTS:

1.      Fingers together may create tension in your arm – tension is not good, and will prevent you performing at your best.

Maybe so, but I need science!

2.      Slightly relaxed gently spaced seems to be the preferred consensus.

This seems to produce a greater surface area, therefore creating greater propulsion and there is very strong research to back this up too. Here’s the evidence:

 ‘It was determined with 95% confidence that a finger spread of 10°creates more stroke force than a fingers-together configuration across all pitch angles tested.’

‘ Here we show, through computational fluid dynamics(CFD of a 3D model of the hand, that an optimal finger spacing (121,roughly corresponding to the resting hand posture) increases the drag coefficient (+8.8%), which is ‘functionally equivalent’ to a greater hand palm area, thus alowerstrokefrequencycanproducethesamethrust,withbenefitstomuscle,hydraulicand propulsive efficiencies’

I am a picture person, and this picture was what made it clear for me.

‘Large vortices develop at the closest finger spacing, resulting in a strong back flow increasing the pressure on the dorsal surface of the hand, thus decreasing the pressure differential on the hand and the overall pressure drag. At the optimal spacing, water jets produced between the fingers prevent the formation of the vortex and contribute, via a reduced backflow toward the dorsal side of the hand, to create a stagnation region with the consequent increase in the drag force.’

Therefore, they conclude that the mid spaced fingers are the best, back vortices are created with closed fingers, and too much water escapes between wide spaced fingers.

Who’d have thought eh?!

I think I might have to try the slightly spaced fingers approach and see what happens!!

THE EXPERIMENT:

I decided to try this out in a swim session. This week is recovery week, and the set i was due to do was a 45 min steady swim, no stopping. I decided to experiment with finger position, and see what happened. I wear a lap counter, and am usually quite good at steady constant pace. I have done this set regularly during recovery week, so i know how many lengths i usually get into 45 mins.

I took a random sample of lengths, every occasionally, when i felt like it. I did some fingers together, some fingers spread, and some with hands gently relaxed. Then i worked out the average of the lap results.

Fingers together felt harder. I imagined that therefore it was faster. In fact it wasnt. At first it was no different. When i got the hang of the correct finger sprtead, fingers together was in fact slower, by a fraction.

Fingers spread apart: I definately felt the water slip between my fingers and this method was definately slower, by 1 second or more, on average (per 25m lap)

fingers gently relaxed, small gap: Eventually i concluded that this simply means relaxed hand, fingers slightly apart. This was definately the best method. It felt like a lot less effort to pull the hand through the water, and overall, it was at worst, no slower, and usually, faster, by a second at least.


Overall, I still covered the same distance that i usually do, however it definitely felt like a lot less effort, and i imagine, once i get the hang of it and do it consistently i will be able to cover more distance in that same amount of time.

Very interesting!

GB Triathlete Melanie helps launch SWIMFIT

Thursday 27 January saw Waendel Leisure centre in Wellingborough launch its new SWIMFIT programme. 

In assiciation with the ASA, Waendel Leisure centre hopes to engage and enthuse local recreational swimmers back into swimming as a form of fitness.



Melanie and Bernice introduce SWIMFIT to new swimmers

 Developed by swimming experts at the ASA, Swimfit, powered by British Gas, Swim Fit can be your FREE online and pool-side club, providing you with a gym style work-out programme for the pool.

GB age group triathlete, Melanie Ryding, was in the main pool introducing the programme to enthusiastic swimmers. Many had never tried this kind of structured programme before, and after some coaching, saw the clear benefits from a properly structured pool training sessions.

British Gas Swimfit engages you in swimming based on your motivation for working-out, whether you are seeking to maintain your health, shape up and tone your body, reach your peak fitness level or compete at swimming competitions.

 

If you have any doubts as to the benefits of swimming as a form of exercise, here are a few reasons:

Its a great form of stress relief, it is easy on the joints, it's a perfect low impact all body workout and water is denser than air, therefore you can work harder!

Feedback from the participants was very positive. Many had not tried a structured swim session before, some thought that this kind of thing was only for 'proper swimmers' and some thought they simply weren't 'good enough'. With a few more barriers broken down, hopefully more people will come to realise the benefits of structured swimming, and the beauty of SWIMFIT is it is accessible to everyone of all abilities.

Waendel Leisure centre SWIMFIT sessions and information can be found here. Look out for the cards next time you visit your local pool, pick one up and have a go! You can even register online and track your own progress. Find out more information about that here.

Does a swim cap make me faster?

I had a bad morning today. I rode into 2 fences on the way to the pool. I also forgot my swim cap. I have NEVER done this before, and I must confess had a mini crisis when I realised. I NEVER swim without it, how on earth was I going to cope?!?!

So, with no choice but to get on with it, I did the set. I found I was distinctly average. It felt very odd swimming without a cap, and I felt like my stroke was nowhere near as neat as usual. Thankfully I had clips, because with long hair and a fringe, I wouldn’t have seen a thing otherwise!! As I got used to having hair flailing around, I settled down a bit and I think the stroke improved. The whole time though, I was wondering, ‘am I slower because I have no hat?’ So, I set about finding out the answer to this question!

It seems the common thought is a cap reduces drag and therefore makes you faster.

The first article I found says  ‘The difference in drag between a closely cropped head of hair and a cap is minimal at best. Furthermore, that cap acts like an insulator keeping all the heat your head is trying to radiate away from your body, while highly exerting yourself, trapped. Most of a body's working fatigue comes from the heat generated by the muscles in the act of working’  http://www.real-competitive-swimming.com/swimming-caps.html

Short hair?

Seems logical, a man with very short hair probably won’t gain anything by wearing a cap. I hadn’t thought really about the heat thing. I guess this may be an issue for pool competitive swimmers, but as a triathlete, a cap in open water is essential so that’s not really something I will concern myself over.

The article goes on to say that fatigue caused by overheating if you wear a hat, is accumulative, so over a short time you probably won’t notice. It does point out the effect it will have on stroke, something I alluded to when I described my swim session this morning.

Long hair?

Obviously, if you have long hair, and you can’t see because its flowing all around, then it stands to reason that your stroke will be altered, aerodynamics affected, therefore speed will it seems also be affected, if you applied logic to the scenario.

Frictional drag?

There are three main types of drag on a swimmer, Frictional, pressure and wave.

You might also consider the frictional drag of hair, compared to silicone. ‘According to Ernest Maglischo's book, "Swimming Fastest", hair is a source of frictional drag.’ http://forums.usms.org/archive/index.php/t-15247.html

Several sources seem to suggest that this could in fact be true:

‘Swimmers often attempt to reduce drag by using swim caps, special suits, and shaving prior to competitions’ ‘http://library.thinkquest.org/06aug/02165/physics_of_swimming.htm  

For the same reason that swimmers will wear a body suit, the hair on the body causes drag in the water.’ http://www.topendsports.com/sport/swimming/science.htm

Conclusion:

It seems swimming without a cap could in fact have made me swim slower for two reasons: frictional drag caused by my hair, and altered swim mechanics due to the hair being in my way, rather than tucked under a cap.

Phew, I thought I was just having a bad day, now I can blame the lack of cap (in part at least!)