March 27, 2008
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I figured out a good way to rig up the camera underwater and took some footage. I took some video from a frontal view and some from the side.

Side View: I rigged up the camera so it was hanging down from the side wall. Then I swam 150 yds in the lane closest to the wall, and another 150 yds the next lane over. What you see here is the 2nd half of the film, with me in the next lane over. Even that distance seems too close to the camera…I will try lane 3 next time. Note that I spliced the footage to just show me swimming past the camera, so it looks like I’m doing laps really fast!

I had thought my balance in the water was perfect – but I can see that it’s not: my legs drag a bit. I also see lots of bubbles around my feet…waste of energy??

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_VacdjUddw]

Front View: This is the entire footage of me swimming 200 yards, nothing was cut out. So, you have to watch for about a minute before you see me coming back in toward the camera (sorry!).

I was pleasantly surprised to see what good rotation that I have. I thought that was one of my weaknesses…apparently I’ve come along way in correcting it. (I do lots of the fingertip drag drill, focusing on rotating). I was dismayed to see how much I drop my elbows, and my whole arm appears to sink. Yikes!

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QozCzWJzHQU]

Here is a great link that discusses common swimming errors and how to correct:
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/3257/swimming.html
I plan on going thru each point made on that page and analyzing my video accordingly. So far, I’ve figured out that for dropped elbows, I need to do fist swimming drills. They also talk about rolling over the barrel, as Mark McDonnel describes in this earlier post. I have not yet been able to get the feel for that.

I’m glad to see these errors in my technique. Any time there are errors, it means there is opportunity to fix them and get FASTER – YEAH!

PS: if you are new to my blog, check out this old post which shows a video of superb freestyle.

PSS: if you live anywhere near chapel hill, I’m thinking of offering this underwater filming as a service for a small fee. Email me for details if interested.

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