Seemingly trivial things that cheer you up
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Getting back mobile connectivity having lost it on my UK mobile on our penultimate day in France... new sim, and number transferred to it. All done in a couple of hours. You realise how integrated the darned things have become into everyday stuff when you lose connection. It also cheered me up having the back-up French sim in its own phone that kept me in touch with the world, though sadly that's no back-up in the UK.0
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The silage crews were in the fields behind and to the side this pm. Very efficient use of BIG kit. The cheer was from a close up watch of a buzzard, the raptors follow the silage machines, doing the full speed dive swoop right in front of me. 3 metres away...0
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Cat by TKOpinno said:
Noisy too I expect.ddraver said:Tell you what a Main Event Clash of Stoat (weasel?) vs Cat is a truly epic brawl. Especially outside the bedroom door at 3am...
😶
Who won?
My last cat brought back numerous Stoats, all dead.
(Mr Weasel had to come outside and meet Mr Shovel. It was rather traumatic...We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
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How well the Planet X Podsac did on our four-day Brittany jaunt... got the 9L version, and was ample, as we were staying in hotels. Takes a bit of practice to get it at the right angle and the straps tight enough to stop it swaying, but it was lovely to be able to sling it on the posh bike and ride off into the sunset.
Ideal for a lightweight tour, if you can wash stuff en route so you don't stink too much.
I took a photo when I got home...
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Why did you feel you had to wreck a lovely picture of a nice chateau with an odd looking bike?seanoconn - gruagach craic!1
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Last minute drop goal to maintain 100% win record for the season with one game left. Played 25, won 25 with try bonus from 24 matches. Likely to get a try bonus win in the final game on Saturday. Damn that away match to the second place team where we only scored 3 tries in beating them!0
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Perk of being at my firm for 4 years is free gym membership.
My shoulder is now sufficiently recovered that I've gone for a swim for the last 3 days before work.
Ideal. 30 mins swimming and I'm still at my desk by 8:40am.
Now just to sort out my technique, which disappointingly, has not improved over the 20 years of not swimming with my face in the water.0 -
I started doing some swimming recently and it is really nice being in the early phase where you see quick results (mainly due to form not fitness)rick_chasey said:Perk of being at my firm for 4 years is free gym membership.
My shoulder is now sufficiently recovered that I've gone for a swim for the last 3 days before work.
Ideal. 30 mins swimming and I'm still at my desk by 8:40am.
Now just to sort out my technique, which disappointingly, has not improved over the 20 years of not swimming with my face in the water.- Genesis Croix de Fer
- Dolan Tuono0 -
Worried you will ruin your shampoo and set.🧑🦱rick_chasey said:Perk of being at my firm for 4 years is free gym membership.
My shoulder is now sufficiently recovered that I've gone for a swim for the last 3 days before work.
Ideal. 30 mins swimming and I'm still at my desk by 8:40am.
Now just to sort out my technique, which disappointingly, has not improved over the 20 years of not swimming with my face in the water.0 -
I find swimming frustrating, I can swim a reasonable breaststroke and find the motion works well with breathing but when I swim front crawl I just can't get my breathing right and invariably end up swallowing water and panicking. I'd like to do a proper triathlon but it really doesn't work swimming breaststroke (I've done a couple of 'try a triathlon' things with a 400m pool swim where I've done it breaststroke but even then I lose a lot of time before I get out of the water).0
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Yes I struggle with front crawl breathing - not so much swallowing it, but struggling to get enough air in and out so I'm gassed after a couple of 20m lengths.
It might be that I have to kick harder than is efficient to keep my legs level because of my weight/density distribution, can't quite work it out.0 -
I keep telling myself I should sign up for an adult improver class and finally learn how to do front crawl properly. I'm pretty good at it right up to when I need to breathe0
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Probably more to do with technique, possibly core strength.rick_chasey said:Yes I struggle with front crawl breathing - not so much swallowing it, but struggling to get enough air in and out so I'm gassed after a couple of 20m lengths.
It might be that I have to kick harder than is efficient to keep my legs level because of my weight/density distribution, can't quite work it out.
I can front crawl horizontal without using my legs at all.The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.0 -
A lot of swimming technique is about flexibility, in your shoulders and ankles. With the kick being able to get your foot horizontal will help, however with distance swimming you tend not kick that much.0
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I suspect it's a lot of things going wrong. I think i also just need to get used to holding my breathe whilst exercising.pblakeney said:
Probably more to do with technique, possibly core strength.rick_chasey said:Yes I struggle with front crawl breathing - not so much swallowing it, but struggling to get enough air in and out so I'm gassed after a couple of 20m lengths.
It might be that I have to kick harder than is efficient to keep my legs level because of my weight/density distribution, can't quite work it out.
I can front crawl horizontal without using my legs at all.0 -
Ok, front crawl breathing.
Had all the same ‘how on earth does this work? I’m gasping for breath after two lengths’ when I started back swimming in 2014.
The problem is almost always that you are breathing too often (a nice counter intuitive one for you there RC) and you are not breathing out in the water. The end result is that every one or two strokes, you lift your head, breathe out and in in a very short time period and very quickly find yourself out of breath. Try sitting down and breathing in and out rapidly after holding your breath for a few seconds in between. Do it for a minute and you’ll soon realise why that breathing pattern and exercise are incompatible.
Blow out steadily all the while your head is in the water, tilt your head and breathe in. Ideally every 3rd or 4th stroke rather than every second.
I had sinky legs, once you’re comfortable breathing, start to push your chest down in the water. They will rise up.
I’m still rubbish and slow but can happily swim for miles at front crawl now having always been a breast stroke swimmer.2 -
I do try to breathe out in the water but I will definitely try doing it less often and control the breathing out underwater.0
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I'd guess your issues are mostly technique rather than aerobic capacity. Swimming breathing for freestyle/crawl is about shoulder lift, body rotation, and head position. Almost top of your forehead is the waterline. Rotate body so you get a nice *high* bent elbow coming out of the water, and when your head turns to that side it should stay in the same position. Most people tend to want to look forward, which just means mouth full of water. Think like you are having a look or taking a sniff of your own armpit.... :-)
You actually want your nose to create a mini breakwater pocket for your mouth to breathe in.
Open One+ BMC TE29 Seven 622SL On One Scandal Cervelo RS0 -
It’s also fine to breath every second stroke. Lots of very good swimmers do this.morstar said:Ok, front crawl breathing.
Had all the same ‘how on earth does this work? I’m gasping for breath after two lengths’ when I started back swimming in 2014.
The problem is almost always that you are breathing too often (a nice counter intuitive one for you there RC) and you are not breathing out in the water. The end result is that every one or two strokes, you lift your head, breathe out and in in a very short time period and very quickly find yourself out of breath. Try sitting down and breathing in and out rapidly after holding your breath for a few seconds in between. Do it for a minute and you’ll soon realise why that breathing pattern and exercise are incompatible.
Blow out steadily all the while your head is in the water, tilt your head and breathe in. Ideally every 3rd or 4th stroke rather than every second.
I had sinky legs, once you’re comfortable breathing, start to push your chest down in the water. They will rise up.
I’m still rubbish and slow but can happily swim for miles at front crawl now having always been a breast stroke swimmer.
What wheelspinnners says is right on the mark.0 -
Not disagreeing with any of that. But it’s immediately into a lot of detail about technique. For novices it’s an incredibly technical sport so I was trying to address the key issue of being out of breath.webboo said:
It’s also fine to breath every second stroke. Lots of very good swimmers do this.morstar said:Ok, front crawl breathing.
Had all the same ‘how on earth does this work? I’m gasping for breath after two lengths’ when I started back swimming in 2014.
The problem is almost always that you are breathing too often (a nice counter intuitive one for you there RC) and you are not breathing out in the water. The end result is that every one or two strokes, you lift your head, breathe out and in in a very short time period and very quickly find yourself out of breath. Try sitting down and breathing in and out rapidly after holding your breath for a few seconds in between. Do it for a minute and you’ll soon realise why that breathing pattern and exercise are incompatible.
Blow out steadily all the while your head is in the water, tilt your head and breathe in. Ideally every 3rd or 4th stroke rather than every second.
I had sinky legs, once you’re comfortable breathing, start to push your chest down in the water. They will rise up.
I’m still rubbish and slow but can happily swim for miles at front crawl now having always been a breast stroke swimmer.
What wheelspinnners says is right on the mark.
For a novice swimmer of reasonable fitness, regardless of technical ability, there can be a ‘why on earth am I totally off breath after so little distance question?’ that’s definitely something that can be independent of stroke mechanics. Was there myself. It often about the rushed breathing process which you can fix independently of a good or bad stroke.
I’m not going to give any technical swimming advice because I’m not good myself. But I can address a point a lot of good swimmers may take for granted.
I’ll breathe every second stroke at the start of a mass swim as it’s a high stress time but in a pool, learning to get control, slowing it down is hugely important Imho.0 -
bizarrely I had a breakthrough when taking the kids swimming. Try holding a float and only powering yourself with your legs you will soon realise how little you are using them compared to what you should be.0
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I don’t disagree with what your saying especially learning to get control but the bit wheel spinner said about where the water line is on your head is important as as he said it creates the bow wave in which you can breath without needing to lift your head.morstar said:
Not disagreeing with any of that. But it’s immediately into a lot of detail about technique. For novices it’s an incredibly technical sport so I was trying to address the key issue of being out of breath.webboo said:
It’s also fine to breath every second stroke. Lots of very good swimmers do this.morstar said:Ok, front crawl breathing.
Had all the same ‘how on earth does this work? I’m gasping for breath after two lengths’ when I started back swimming in 2014.
The problem is almost always that you are breathing too often (a nice counter intuitive one for you there RC) and you are not breathing out in the water. The end result is that every one or two strokes, you lift your head, breathe out and in in a very short time period and very quickly find yourself out of breath. Try sitting down and breathing in and out rapidly after holding your breath for a few seconds in between. Do it for a minute and you’ll soon realise why that breathing pattern and exercise are incompatible.
Blow out steadily all the while your head is in the water, tilt your head and breathe in. Ideally every 3rd or 4th stroke rather than every second.
I had sinky legs, once you’re comfortable breathing, start to push your chest down in the water. They will rise up.
I’m still rubbish and slow but can happily swim for miles at front crawl now having always been a breast stroke swimmer.
What wheelspinnners says is right on the mark.
For a novice swimmer of reasonable fitness, regardless of technical ability, there can be a ‘why on earth am I totally off breath after so little distance question?’ that’s definitely something that can be independent of stroke mechanics. Was there myself. It often about the rushed breathing process which you can fix independently of a good or bad stroke.
I’ll breathe every second stroke at the start of a mass swim as it’s a high stress time but in a pool, learning to get control, slowing it down is hugely important Imho.
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I thought it was the reverse - unless you are doing short distance, your legs shouldn't be doing much of the propulsion.surrey_commuter said:bizarrely I had a breakthrough when taking the kids swimming. Try holding a float and only powering yourself with your legs you will soon realise how little you are using them compared to what you should be.
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Yeah, I wonder if my legs are just sucking up a tonne of energy for minimum propulsion.kingstongraham said:
I thought it was the reverse - unless you are doing short distance, your legs shouldn't be doing much of the propulsion.surrey_commuter said:bizarrely I had a breakthrough when taking the kids swimming. Try holding a float and only powering yourself with your legs you will soon realise how little you are using them compared to what you should be.
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I only properly tried to learn to swim with my head under water in my 30s. I found it a bit like a golf swing - everything needs to work in synchronicity, but if you try to think about more than one thing at once, it all falls apart... It's not possible to think about breathing, arm extension, rotation and kick rhythm all at once.rick_chasey said:
Yeah, I wonder if my legs are just sucking up a tonne of energy for minimum propulsion.kingstongraham said:
I thought it was the reverse - unless you are doing short distance, your legs shouldn't be doing much of the propulsion.surrey_commuter said:bizarrely I had a breakthrough when taking the kids swimming. Try holding a float and only powering yourself with your legs you will soon realise how little you are using them compared to what you should be.
My breathing on the side that initially felt unnatural is still better than on the more natural feeling side, because I naturally lifted my head out of the water to breathe on that side rather than just rotating. The revelation to me was that you should never be holding your breath, always either breathing out or in.
I went to an improvers day course, and they filmed me in the water - the difference between what I thought I was doing and the evidence of how much unnecessary movement I was making was very revealing.0 -
hold a float out in front of you and see how much propulsion you are generatingrick_chasey said:
Yeah, I wonder if my legs are just sucking up a tonne of energy for minimum propulsion.kingstongraham said:
I thought it was the reverse - unless you are doing short distance, your legs shouldn't be doing much of the propulsion.surrey_commuter said:bizarrely I had a breakthrough when taking the kids swimming. Try holding a float and only powering yourself with your legs you will soon realise how little you are using them compared to what you should be.
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A day off teaching (they are all doing school exams) coinciding with a cracking day, so getting to do a favourite 83-mile route that I've not done for ages, complete with a splendid lunch-breakfast that included roast potatoes. Not only that, but despite recent health wobbles, managed a vaguely OK 17mph average, which is better than expected. And not only that, but my supper is already cooked and ready to be zapped in the microwave. A good day (well, at least so far...)
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New blur single being pretty good.0
