Whenever I go to the pool to swim, I focus on improvement. I pick one aspect of technique that I would like to improve, and focus on that.  I do this because of a couple of things. Swim speed improvements almost always come from improving technique.  Therefore I will only get better by focusing on technique.  I choose only one thing for each session’s, because I want to get it right.

Today’s swim session included a lot of 200 yard intervals.  With this length of interval, it is easy to get sloppy. A focus on improvement keeps me engaged for whole swim.  I chose to focus on my head position while breathing this afternoon.

I know that I have a tendency to rotate my head too much, when I breathe.  This causes my body to get out of alignment. Also, the arm on my non-breathing side drops too deep in the water.  To breath correctly, it is only necessary to turn your head slightly. You should be able to keep one eye completely submerged in the water and still breathe efficiently.  I found out this afternoon, that this is true.

Obviously in rough open water, I may have to rotate my head more, but in the pool, I should be able to minimize rotation.  I got better at doing this during my swim today, and immediately noticed that my non-breathing arm was in a different position in the water.  It felt like I could get a better catch with that arm.

The key now is to ingrain the limited head movement into the way I always swim.  One session in the pool isn’t going to do that, so this singular aspect of technique, will be all I work on for the next week or so. 

Will this gain me some speed?  It should, but only if it doesn’t compromise other aspects of my stroke.  Time will tell, but I did feel ‘good’ when I got it right this afternoon.