Ken's comments for today

Kelly-
Excellent job this morning - really. You did very well. I WANT YOU TO WATCH THE ORIGINAL VIDEO I GAVE YOU...... Study all the aspects of the stroke (separately) through this video. Keep mindful of your SPL (strokes per length) as you monitor your real progress - which is efficiency, not the clock.

Today, we began dialing in your stroke. You are now balanced, if you only get to 5" deep and not 18+.....! Reach OUT with your power and feel the force pulling you toward the END of the pool, not the bottom. I believe you felt this spot today - on more than one occasion? Swim slower at the YMCA and feel that nice fluid pull down the pool more than how fast you can cycle your arms.

We added the finger tip drag drill to last weeks catch up drill. Currently, your hand exits the water near your hip and the hand propels skyward - this takes too long and robs you of power. The finger tip drag drill keeps your hand near the water, but your elbow high - WATCH THE VIDEO !!! You are now coming to the front much quicker and able to keep a continuously LONG FRONT END. ***This is a goal.

Feel a smooth transition now between both drills and full stroke swimming. Make it smooth and seamless.

A last point I would like to make is make sure your hands stay DIRECTLY OFF EACH SHOULDER JOINT and 5" deep. As you progressed this morning, your hands were trying to come into the middle in front of your head too much.... Leave them out on your corners and lean onto the low side in creating the high side. This cannot be done effectively if you have your arms running in the middle of the body line, as you will snake down the pool. STRAIGHT as an arrow, baby !!!!

The last thing we did was open your left side up - which had to feel as good as it looked ! I placed my canoe paddle in the water to your left and asked you to look at it. You IMMEDIATELY lengthened out your stroke by engaging your left side better. This will feel really good at the Y if you just look at the black line on the bottom to your left. Don't rush. Feel the glide after the power gets applied......

Keep up the good work. Today was really good.

SwimStrong. SwimSilent.

ken rocks...let me know if you want his contact info for training...and here is the video he was referencing: