08/17/04 Practicing Front-Quadrant Freestyle

Tonight at Masters, only a few swimmers showed up (good weather and Olympics on TV), and they are triathletes who are new to swimming and need a lot of help with front-quadrant swimming, i.e., keeping the lead hand extended during the breath. So I scrapped the practice we did with the morning group, and did the following, to help them with staying extended during the breath.WARMUP: 400400 your choice on your own.MAIN SET: 1800Swim three rounds of the following:4 X 75, swum as 25 drill/25 drill/25 Free4 X 50, swum as 25 drill/25 Free4 X 25Don't worry about sendoffs, just take 10 to 20 seconds rest after each effort.1st round: Wear fins and small paddles. On the 75s, the drill is "Click," which means you swim freestyle, but must click your paddles together before you start each pull. The CLICK happens with arms extended out front. On the 50s, the drill is Single-Switch Freestyle, focusing on anchoring the hand before starting the pull.2nd round:Wear pull buoy and small paddles.On the 75s, the drill is Freestyle, breathing to your less comfortable side. Keep lead arm extended during the breath.On the 50s, the drill is breathe every 3 strokes.On the 25s, the drill is breathe every 4 strokes.3rd round:Wear fins.On the 75s, the drill is LA Combo (alternate 4 strokes Backstroke and 3 strokes Freestyle, keeping the lead arm extended as you switch from front to back...and back to front).On the 50s, the drill is 6-Count Backstroke.On the 25s, just let go of any focus points and swim FAST. The swimmers raced each other.WARMDOWN: 150150 EZTotal Yardage: 2350