Wednesday, 24 August 2011

800 butterfly

Hello readers,
It's been a goal of mine, on hold in recent years, to swim Henley to Grange butterfly. that's 2 kms, maybe 800 strokes for me.
With my current program, I should be able to do it this year.
It's been suggested that I should fund-raise and donate the money to a worthy cause. hmm...
Why swim butterfly ? it makes you very fit, it reduces your heart rate, it expands your lungs and arteries, it's a very graceful stroke, it's an easy stroke to learn, although requires a moderate to high fitness level to do well.
so... recently I swam 800 butterfly, in 28 minutes, very slow but fairly easy. this was the 21st time I've done 800, and the 1st since last december.
At higher levels of fitness, and resolve, I did 800 in 22 mins. slow really, but got me to 2 out of 2 in Oz, 1 in SA. that's in my old age group, 50 to 54. I did it in 55 to 59 too.
I worked up to the 800 by swimming 400 IM 800 IM and 400 Fly, over about a month.
my speed in butterfly is determined by my kick, quads to be precise, glut max to a lesser extent. lactic build-up in the quads is the number one no no and has to be met with slowing down and breathing more.
But the interesting thing is what I think my swimming has done to my running. my running heart rate has dropped 10 beats a minute for the same distance and time.
I'm thinking that the fly (as well as the rest of my swimming program) has increased the size of my lungs, heart, and arteries. more air equals more oxygen, bigger heart means less need to beat as fast for the same result, and I don't heat up as much.
back to swimming butterfly.
it helps to be tall and lean to be a good swimmer. butterfly needs good shoulders, biggish pecs and lats, good lungs, and a good core.
Here is a big tip. diaphram. get it on board and you will blast off ! in other words breath as much as possible, fly is about keeping oxygen up to muscle requirements.
okay - here's a bunch of exercises to learn butterfly. this style is for long distance graceful and aerobic butterfly, as opposed to sprint fly.
your main aim is to glide.
1 get some short training fins, cap and goggles, shortest tightest bathers possible, or racing bathers.
2 the caterpillar. butterflies were caterpillars once, right?
-get in the water with flips on - hands to the sides, take a breath, kick off underwater from side and start gliding. keep your legs together and start a little dolphin kick. as you move forward, try to stay at a depth of 40 cm from the bottom. keep your head face down and look at the bottom. notice that your head and feet can move up and down at the same time, in opposition to your behind. notice that your body outlines a wave as it moves through the water. you can experiment with this, faster, slower kicks, taller, shorter wavelengths. one breath should get you 10 - 15 metres. stand up and do the same back, or breath and swim to the end of the pool. do this for 50 - 100 metres. really get a feel for your lower spine and pelvis following a wave pattern, as in what a caterpillar does. concentrate on going slowly and listen to the water rushing past your ears as you move your head in a rhythmic motion. there is no gliding - you are moving the whole time.
3 establishing a breathing rhythm.
breathing occurs on a 2 beat kick. hands out in front, arms alongside ears, thumbs crossed and clasped, fingers over fingers. kick off and glide from side, just below the surface. going slowly, kick and raise the head above the water, breathe, head under and kick again. the 2 beat kick is about a harder kick to get your head out of the water and a softer kick after the head enters again. do this for 50 - 100 metres. the harder kick comes out of the quads, abs and core and the softer kick out of the knees and ankles - this will make more sense when we get to the stroke. the sequence is big kick breathe little kick glide. you could try this with the help of a kick board/float. you could get a whip happening along the length of your body, but a whip of the ankles is enough for a glide. this exercise is slow and emphasises glide.
4 one sided butterfly.
this is so easy ! the last 2 exercises are much more important.
hands out in front (kick or dive to position), dolphin kick, one arm pulls through the water and returns elbows locked to front position breath during recovery stroke (arm in air). do this 50 - 100, swapping arms at leisure.
5 I like this one - you can forget 4 when you can do this.
arms out, 1 left or right stroke with breath, 1 other side stroke with breath, 1 butterfly stroke - no breath. repeat for 50 - 100. this exercise emphasises speed, which we don't need atm. the best bit is the glide you get out of the momentum of your arm's speed above the water, combined with a quick flick kick. concentrate on going slowly and gracefully. you should be able to glide for a metre with each stroke.
6 let's make this a multi-part lesson!  the stroke is symetrical. the best flyers have hummingbird chests - it's very easy for them to get their shoulders out of the water. so our first kick is designed to get our behind out of the water, and makes it easier to get our arms out of the water. the momentum of our kick (knees locked, quad and ab contraction) will get our bum out of the water, our stroke will get our shoulders and head out of the water.
strokes - butterfly came out of breast stroke. under water basically the same for the first part, but the fast bit was the above water bit - above water speed up, if you need to. under water, make a key hole shape with your hands, the narrow bit next to your centre of gravity (around navel) then pushing away towards your outer thighs, (feel the water being pushed past your legs). this is timed after your big kick so that you are on top of the water, and it is easier to swing the arms around in the recovery part of the stroke (the above water part). the recovery stroke is initially elbows locked, and a swing of the arms accross the surface and back to a glide position. the head enters the water before the hands. at this point, the small kick will create a glide, our prime aim. also at this point we can relax for an extended moment. the hands usually go in thumbs first, and adopt a skulling position.
other refinements swimming fly include reducing the splash of hand and arm re-entries, and breathing with the head facing at 45% to the pool - not upright and facing the end of the pool.
a critical part of the form is to get your bum out of the water before each stroke. you should be able to feel the water hitting the back of your legs at the end of your recovery stroke. to a large extent, the legs control your speed, as in more kicks = more strokes = more speed. the quads will soon lactate up if you go too fast, a definite no no for 800 fly.
anyway, I hope this post makes sense and provides some tips on swimming butterfly.
cheers dears !

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