A Nose Clip Just Rocked My World
Jun
16A Nose Clip Just Rocked My World
Posted by Kevin Doak on Tuesday at: 3:16am (June 16th, 2009)
Today I was recruited to create a backstroke lane. It ended up being me, and 4 other swimmers including Lori Morton, the incredible kicker. I was really feeling sore today after 3 workouts on Sunday. Not that I didn't expect that to happen, but I really should have taken it easy with the weights in the morning. The lunges and squats causes me to classify my rear end and legs as "DEMOLISHED". I have a hard time sitting down in cars and walking is fairly painful as well. The swimming seemed to help loosen my leg muscles up a little.
The big news of the day is the fact that I tried a Speedo Nose Clip! I've seen backstrokers wear them, especially at the international championship level. I've tried one before but never got it to seal well, and therefore didn't help at all. Today, I tried a neon yellow model from Speedo. My intent was to take my focus off keeping water out of my nose and focus more on my body position. I put it on and pushed off underwater. I had a moment of sheer panic as my body instinctively reacted to the nasal pressure blockage. It was really odd and kind of surprising. Earlier I put the nose clip on, tested it's seal, tried to blow air out my nose and took a minute to adjust it. After all that, you would think my mind would be ready for the overall sensation... but it really wasn't. I came up to the surface pretty quick and started swimming. I really underestimated how much I breath through my nose while swimming! By the time I finished my first 100 meters I had adjusted and immediately started to see the benefits of training with a nose clip. FINALLY, I was able to focus on my head and body position without worrying about taking in a lot of water through my nose. This helped me tip my head back in the water, and therefore improve my body position. I did about 1,000 meters with the clip on. I took it off for my final 100 meters fast and found that my body position was improved by training with it!
I look forward to testing it more, it's exciting to have a revelation like this so far into my swimming career!
The big news of the day is the fact that I tried a Speedo Nose Clip! I've seen backstrokers wear them, especially at the international championship level. I've tried one before but never got it to seal well, and therefore didn't help at all. Today, I tried a neon yellow model from Speedo. My intent was to take my focus off keeping water out of my nose and focus more on my body position. I put it on and pushed off underwater. I had a moment of sheer panic as my body instinctively reacted to the nasal pressure blockage. It was really odd and kind of surprising. Earlier I put the nose clip on, tested it's seal, tried to blow air out my nose and took a minute to adjust it. After all that, you would think my mind would be ready for the overall sensation... but it really wasn't. I came up to the surface pretty quick and started swimming. I really underestimated how much I breath through my nose while swimming! By the time I finished my first 100 meters I had adjusted and immediately started to see the benefits of training with a nose clip. FINALLY, I was able to focus on my head and body position without worrying about taking in a lot of water through my nose. This helped me tip my head back in the water, and therefore improve my body position. I did about 1,000 meters with the clip on. I took it off for my final 100 meters fast and found that my body position was improved by training with it!
I look forward to testing it more, it's exciting to have a revelation like this so far into my swimming career!