Swim Training with The Worm

Do you remember The Worm?  If you grew up in the 80's like I did then I'm sure you saw The Worm in music videos and on the dance shows that still were around then.  It involves lying on your stomach and then moving your upper and lower body in a wave like fashion...but you all already knew that I'm sure!

So yesterday after spending the afternoon visiting dog shelters with my brother in law and niece we were hanging out at my sister's house.  They have a rug in their front hallway that is the official dancing rug.  I don't know why but it is the perfect spot to get your dance on.  And for some reason yesterday I thought that I could do the worm.  I should have watched the video above because now it looks so easy.  My brother in law Scott proceeded to die of laughter and tried to get me to do it again on video.  I'm smart enough to say no to that one since my version of the Worm had no wave in it whatsoever!

Well it all connected today when I headed to the pool to get my swim on.  The workout that I had planned had lots of variety in distances and so I planned to mix in stroke when I could.  I have been trying to work on my butterfly for the last few months and I'm just not making progress.  Tonya was on deck for an indoor triathlon the fitness center was sponsoring so I talked her into filming my butterfly.  She is a certified coach and has given me tips before on butterfly. 

Clearly from the video...I don't have the right body rhythm and kick going on.  My sad attempt at The Worm is a perfect demonstration that I need to work on the wave rhythm to improve at this stroke.  I think I need to try and slow down too and get more of a glide.  I feel like I sink myself when I take a breath so my solution has been to take fewer breaths. 

It takes time to learn a new skill and that's what this will entail for me.  I'm determined to improve at butterfly and now I know that for my dry land training I just need to turn on the music and work on The Worm!

In other swimming news, I'm super excited to announce that I will be working with SBR Sports in 2013 as a sponsored athlete.  I love the entire line of products...TriSwim is always in my swim bag, TriSlide is always in my race bag, and Foggle isn't just the way I feel after a hard swim - it's what I use to keep my goggles clean!