Swimming is all about Newton's 3rd Law of Motion

I'll try not to become a bore about swimming....I promise, I don't want to loose my loyal armchair explorers. Having just got back from a coaching session specifically on technique. I feel I have to say something about just how very difficult swimming really is. I am not talking about doing a few lengths in the pool, I am talking about doing hundreds of lengths or miles in the open water. I am actually a complete beginner where swimming is concerned but I like to believe I know how to become relatively good at something, if I really put my mind to it, so I am happy to start from scratch, set myself a goal and then learn...fast. But this swimming lark is so way out of my comfort zone it makes the task I have set myself seem very nearly.....out of my reach!

I spent an hour this morning with my new coach Mandy, I have switched coaches as the last one wasn't pushing me hard enough, Mandy is your archetypal 'Sport Bully'. As soon as I had done 2 lengths for her, she said my kick was terrible and causing most of my lower body problems - she said I had 12 major issues with my technique, but today we were just going to work on the kick.

So in the hour, all I did was kick, no arm strokes at all. It was exhausting work but she explained very carefully why the kick was important and how the position of my hips, knees and feet were critical to ensure I didn't create any drag through the water. The key to efficient swimming is making yourself as slippery as possible, swimming like an arrow through the water and so if your feet hang down below your waist they act as anchors stopping you in the water.

In comparison to the sports I feel comfortable with, running, cycling, sledge hauling etc. the key difference is the water. In all my other sports I get a propulsive action from my feet pushing off the ground or pedal - its really rather easy - get fitter and you can run faster or cycle faster. There is technique involved but not at the same level as swimming. The key difference is water is lot more dense than air and so the usual laws of motion do not apply - even the best swimming coaches and physicists still argue about what is actually the correct theory of Swimmer Propulsion.

I'll give you one simple example (this is what I spent my time working on this morning - if you are a good swimmer you'll know this!) Kicking whilst in the crawl (freestyle) position is about moving your legs from the hip and keeping your feet floppy and relaxed, imagine lying face down in the water and bending your knee so your heel starts to move towards you bum (this is the way most people kick (I know because I have seen them underwater!) If you do this your heel and calf are pulling at the water and acting as mini brakes, I always sort of knew this but didn't think I did it too badly...until I was shown on the underwater camera - I was shocked. Also you can't push your feet too deep i.e. kick too hard as then your feet will move outside of you bodies profile in the water, another brake!

So after 30 lengths of just kicking (that's half a mile) and getting pointers along the way...from Mandy. I could feel the improvement. In fact in just my normal swim stroke I reduced my strokes per length to 18, just by adjusting my kick slightly. One stroke is not much I hear you shout.... cynically - it bloody is over 21 miles!

My bedtime reading is now an 787 page book on the physics of swimming.....yawn!