Having singed up for my first Triathlon, I decided I needed to learn to do the front crawl.

So I booked a session with Swim for Tri, and Keeley Bullock spent an hour taking me through the basics of the front crawl. I left feeling quite pleased that I had at least understood what makes a good front crawl, and been able to put in something a bit more sophisticated than my very poor crawl from the outset of the session.

Turns out Keeley does not miss a trick, and I still have loads to learn.

Here's her notes from my session.

Hi Sean,

Well done on your session, here are my notes from your session:

Body and Head Position and breathing

Your head should be looking diagonally downwards about 2 metres in front of you. The water should be breaking on your hairline. You should be exhaling all the airunder the water before taking a new breath. Keep the breathing regular, aimingfor every 3 strokes (bi-lateral) in training. The head remains stationary andonly moves to pivot to the side when taking the breath. Look no higher than the gutter at the side of the pool.

You are turning your head too high to breathe, remember to breathe no higher thanthe lane rope or the gutter in the pool. 

Breathing Pattern

Breathing to alternating sides will develop a symmetrical and streamlined swimmingstroke. We recommend that you practice bi-lateral breathing (every threestrokes) in all pool-training sessions. If this is tough to start with trybreathing one length to your right and one length to your left until your fitness enables you to breath bi-laterally

Dominantly breathing to left side. Intraining aim to breathe bilaterally. This will help balance the stroke. When in a race you may need to breathe to either side. For example sun glare or seaswimming. Never rely on breathing to just one side.

Upper Body Rotation

The shoulders ideally roll from one vertical plane to the other (left shoulder to chin then right shoulder to chin). This will minimise frontal resistance and increase the reach at the front and back of your stroke. It also aids in a safer more powerful stroke utilising the major muscle groups of the back rather that just the shoulders and arms. 

You are swimming flat at present. Really work on upper body drills so you are swimming with increased rotation. This will help incorporate the stronger muscles of the back. As the stroke becomes stronger you will be swimming more efficiently making you more streamlined in the water. 

Timing

The arm cycle for longdistance swimming is essentially swum with one arm working while the other arm is extended in front of the body. As the recovering arm passes by the head and begins the entry phase the extended arm will begin the catch phase of the cycle. This is referred to as ‘catch up minus 1’ or ‘near style catchup’. This is the timing for full stroke freestyle we are strivingfor. 

Timing is out on your stroke. At present your arm pull is swimming at opposites andyou are losing balance at the front of your stroke. This will also distribute the body weight over a greater area making you more streamlined.

Legs

Theleg kick is generated from the hip. The toes should be slightly inverted, with loose floppy ankles. The legs work closely together and the depth of kick should be no deeper than the depth of your own body. A two beat leg kick is sufficient for long distance swimming. 

At present you are kicking from your knees. Focus on achieving a straighter leg kick generated from the hip. Toes should be slightly inverted, with floppy ankles. 

Your legs are scissoring, especially when breathing. Legs must work closely togetherto stop drag being created.

Your leg kick is too deep. The leg kick should be no deeper than the width of yourown body depth.

Hand entry

The hand entry should be in line with the shoulder entering mid range between the head and full extension. Your upper body rotation will then travel the hand tothe central bodyline. The entry should be with the palm pitched outward sentering thumb, fingers, wrist then forearm. The arm extends under the water in a forwards motion parallel to the surface of the water. The elbow enters last.

Your elbow and hand are entering at the same time. By allowing your arm to enter atthe same time you are making it more difficult to gain full extension andacquire a good position to start your catch.

Extension at front of stroke

Your arm should be straight and extended in front of you under the water parallel tothe surface of the water, pausing before you start the catch. The thumb should be lowest point with the palm, wrist and forearm at a slight angle.

You are missing the extension at the front of the stroke. Once the hand has entered the water really make full use of your upper body rotation and wait for atleast a second. The arm should be extended in front of you and parallel to the surface of the water before the arm moves into the catch. 

Catch

Develop an early catch to be in a better position to continue the rest of the underwater phase. After full extension and slight pause the hand then sculls sothe palm is facing the bottom of the pool. Catch the water keeping the hand and wrist firm and the elbow high and wide. Think of the hand and arm as a paddle and the fingers should point to the floor on your central bodyline. Try toimagine you are trying to reach over a barrel/beach ball.

Straight-armcatch. By pushing down with a straight arm you are creating more upwards lift than forwards movement and not utilising your stronger back muscles. Remember that you are trying to reach over a barrel/beach ball.

Underwater Pathways

The arm should pull to the central bodyline with the full use of your upper body rotation incorporated into your stroke. The majority of forward propulsion isprovided by the upper body and arm cycle. The fingers should remain closed throughout the stroke providing the hand with a wide surface area. 

The under water pull is not being as efficient as it can be. Remember that the hands and arms are what directs’ the water underneath you. At present your armsare free falling and not moving a lot of water. Use your palm of hand and forearm as a paddle to direct the water. 

Propulsive Phase

The last third of the underwater phase. The hand travels down the central bodylineand accelerates changing pitch and moves in an outwards, backward and upwardmotion. Keep the hand close to the side of the body and finish the pull withthe arm fully extended by the hip. Aim to push the water to your feet. This isthe most propulsive part of the stroke 

Exit of the stroke is finishing under your elbow. This part of the stroke is themost propulsive phase of your stroke. By finishing early you are losing power.Really focus on a straight-arm finish. 

Recovery

The elbow exits first, keep the elbow high with the hand relaxed and traveling under the elbow. The recovery should be the relaxed part of the stroke. Upperbody rotation will assist high elbow recovery

Arm recovery is wide. Try to think of trailing the fingers through the top of thewater when swimming to really allow the hand to travel underneath the elbow.

Here are the drills that you practised along with the drills and Pilate's exercise:

Kickingwith Arms Outstretched: Kick initiates from the hip, legs working closely together upward and downward. Floppy ankles with toes slightly inverted, kicking no deeper than thedepth of your own body. Practising legs only will allow you to bring fullattention to them. Practise this with your face in the water, focuson a controlled outbreath.

http://pilates.about.com/od/pilatesmat/ss/Swimming.htm

Basic Extension drill: This is the first of the drills to develop full upper body rotation.  The swimmer practices the fully rotatedposition whilst only using their legs. The position is one arm in front of them and the other is held at theside.  The shoulder of the leadingarm is fully rotated under the chin, which gives a fully extendedposition.  The legs should bekicking in a downwards plane at all times.  No scissoring should be occurring.  The swimmer breathes every 6 kicks.

Catch-up with a float: Toisolate one arm, to practice a long stroke and develop timing. Just likeregular catch-up, only your front hand is holding a pullbuoy or float for addedbalance. Start with both arms extended in front of you holding onto the float.You will be flat in the water at this point. Perform one full arm cycle withyour right arm and meet back at the float. Then perform one full arm cycle withthe left arm. Repeat. Breathe every arm cycle to one side only if you findbi-lateral breathing a struggle to begin with due to the extra hold time. It isbest to attempt to practice one length breathing to your right and then onelength to your left to encourage the symmetry of your stroke. You cansubstitute a pencil or anything else that will keep your focus to touch thehands.

I would suggest moving from the fitness course to the technique course. 

Get this course out of the way and then work on your fitness !

Kind regards,

Keeley

So not much to worry about eh? (and I have now switched from the fitness course to the technique course - I love it! 6 months left to become a dolphin - C"MON!!)

• Swimming
• Technique
• Triathlon

Tomorrow I'm back to school, running school to be precise.

Well, I say back, but the truth is I've never been to running school. I've never been taught to run. (Who has?)

At the recent London Running Show AudioFuel's stand was right opposite the London Running School, and I was facinated to see the before and after videos they were showing.

Knowing my running gait is poor (whenever I catch my reflection as I run, I think how upright I look) I had a really quick analysis at the show and I learnt that I'm a "Swinger" and a "Shuffler".

Swingers move their arms in a way that make the hips swing, and this has an impact on rotational movements at the knees and ankles.

Shuffers keep their feet close to the ground, and don't make full use of the glutes. If I remember what I was told correctly, Shufflers use (or over use) the muscles in the front of the legs.

So I'm going to be really interested to see what difference Performance Director and Running School founder, Mike Antoniades can help me make as I prepare for next years Berlin marathon.

Having watched Mike's lecure at the Running show, I have to say I have a good feeling about this.

Here's a before and after of a runner called John:

Watch this space... I'll do a quick report here after each of my 8 sessions.

• London Running School
• Running Technique