Underwater swim analysis with Base2Race

{jcomments off}By Steven Moody 

Ever since I have gotten into triathlon – I have struggled to overcome the most technical of the disciplines …. the swim…

So being a complete tri geek i am always looking for new ways to help me overcome my swim handicap… hence why I jumped at the chance to try out the underwater swim analysis from Base2race.

This is how I got on…

 So it was just like any other Sat for me – I ran in the morning with the club …. and then I headed off to be caught on camera ….

Ok this time it was not the usual TV interviews or cameo appearances in the latest Hollywood blockbuster – I had booked an appointment with a new trishop (www.Base2race.ie) for an underwater swim analysis….

The shop was easy to find after some good directions from the lads (basically take exit 10 from M50 and it is behind the Honda garage). The first thing that struck me is the layout of the shop, with a wide array of tri gear, bikes, food and nutrition needs, was fairly funky. The best bit was the number of bikes suspended from the roof. Nice touch!

However, the most impressive part of the shop is the endless pool at the back of shop. For those of you that do not know – an endless pool looks like a jacuzzi but has a inbuilt motor that allows a person to swim full strokes without moving anywhere, due to the flow of the water created (basically could describe a lot of my experiences in races!).

In layman’s terms – it is a threadmill for swimming

This set up allows the lads to video tape you swimming from a variety of angles – so they can work out what is going on with your stroke under the water – obviously a key part of the whole process.

I must admit I was very nervous about how it would work but it was easy enough to get going – and the lads adjusted the speed of the motor i.e. the resistance – so that I would not be squashed at the back of the pool! Initially felt weird swimming towards a grill with bubbles coming from it – but I was easily distracted by the strategically positioned mirror at the front of the pool …. so not for the first time – I found myself admiring my own reflection but this time it was me in motion ….. class!!

So after a brief warm up – Eanna stopped the pool and started to talk me through my good points (yes lads/lassies there were positives) and the key things that I needed to work on….  and when doing so – they replay the DVD that they have just recorded of you swimming … so literally they point out exactly what you are doing …

As such, it becomes a lot clearer – as instead of the limitations of the coach trying to demo/describe what you are doing wrong – they show you yourself in slow motion or freeze frame so that it becomes very obvious….

I was happy enough to hear that my catch was good and to even see it in action – all the work with the band and buoy seem to be paying off (cheers Gav) as I was doing things I never realised e.g. the way my elbow remains high under the water….

But then the more interesting feedback started – as Cian and Eanna pointed out what I “could improve” …. they took their time and walked me through the key things that I was doing wrong. Some of these I knew from either Elena’s or Jack’s feedback already e.g. my head moves too much in the water but some of the items were revelations to me – and were a direct result of being able to view myself from all angles.

For example, under closer scrutiny, it became obvious that I roll correctly on one side and only half as much on the other. I had been working on getting more of a roll in my stroke this year and I thought I was bang on – but that was until the camera showed me what I was doing incorrectly…. 

I found this to be an excellent and rewarding experience as not only would the guys point out things I need to improve – we would do 15 mins working on correcting the issue. Then, after some further camera work, I could review whether what the guys told me to try in the water was translating into the desired effect.

Some of the time it did and I was very happy – some of the time it didn’t but that was my takeaway to work on by my own.

There was a funny moment when Eanna was trying to point out where my head position should be – and I couldn’t get it right for a while. But then after one of the practices for something else – he pointed out that I had self corrected my head and my hips were up high as they should be. I felt a little embarrassed to admit that was due to be spotting another mirror lower down the endless pool and I was trying to check out how my crotch looked like when I was swimming!…

But hey if it works – it works – so lesson learnt is spend less time checking out other peoples crotches in the pool and keep my head down.

To sum up, I found this a really useful exercise and one I was delighted to be able to take advantage (previously the only option to do this involved a trip to London). i have learnt a lot about my stroke and took away a number of things I need to work on. This in itself was worth the €95 price for the 60 min session (also a lot cheaper than London option €130) and I would recommend others to try it especially if they want to improve their stroke before the start of the season.

Hopefully you will see my improvements in the pool and I will start to work myself up the intermediate 1 lane and beyond ;0)

SM

p.s. will be having a DVD night in my house for people to watch me swim …. there will a nibbles and a couple of carefully chosen wines from my cellar …. all invited … anyone? Bueller ? Bueller?