Working on Starts

I briefly considered taking a day off after a long morning of racing Sunday.  However, I was excited to get back to work in the pool and carry that momentum into a new week of training!  We started this week with a dryland and weights endurance circuit.  This one was in the format of 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off, 20 seconds on.  Meaning you do the exercise for 20 seconds, rest for 10 and do the same exercise for another 20 seconds.  It was very challenging for me since we've historically done so little with muscular endurance.  These exercises were generally with moderate weight and constant movement for the entire 20 seconds.  We only did one round of about 20 exercises, I don't think it would have been beneficial to try another round, we were all pretty tired after only one round.

Afterward we jumped in the pool, did a quick 5 minute warm up (lets face it, we were already warm from all those weights), and moved on to starts.  They had the new "fins" setup on the blocks.  These "fins" are a vertical extension to the starting blocks positioned at a 45 degree angle.  All FINA (international governing body of swimming) meets are now using these "fins".  On a side note, I hope there is a more technical term for these attachments since we already have a piece of swimming gear called "fins".  I'll try to find out.  Anyway, we spent 30 minutes on starts.  The recent addition of side handle grips on the blocks as well as the new fin have changed the way swimmers start.  To my knowledge FINA meets do not require side grips like U of M and IUPUI have, it's just an option.  So far I don't feel comfortable with them but statistically they better starting speed when used properly.  I didn't do a single backstroke start this morning, I focused entirely on my freestyle/butterfly start.  I was among the worst starters in the group but I'm learning quickly and making progress.