Prioper Proprioception

Pretty much everything about swimming (especially front crawl) is unnatural for humans. As Thomas M. Griener puts it:

For us, swimming involves the use of all four limbs in a way that is completely different to how they are used during walking. None of our walking and running skills translate well to swimming. In addition, our mouth and nose faces in the same direction as our belly, so that the mouth and nose are in the water when we swim. Without taking special actions (such as turning our head to the side) we cannot breath and swim at the same time. This means that for humans, swimming is basically a learned activity. It is not a natural extension of our normal behavior.

There's a massive amount of stuff to get right about body position and motion. Working on a swim stroke is an outrageous exercise in prioper proprioception.

Some of the work we can break down. We can start with relatively simple skills and build upon them. We can use drills to help us isolate specific stroke elements. Nonetheless, there's a massive flood of sensory input to interpret and react to.

Back in January I was experimenting with a Christmas present from my sister, the pool toy known as a Tech Toc. The Tech Toc is an enhanced version of a ball-bearing in a tube. Strapped to my back, when I roll to the side the ball-bearing falls in the tube and "clacks" against the bottom. This gives me an auditory (and tactile!) augment to prioper proprioception - I don't just feel my body position in the water, I get additional feedback!

On Monday I rediscovered another mechanism for enhancing prioper proprioception. Effects from my Saturday participation in the one mile sea swim were still with me - some lingering muscle tightness. Muscles that I use and misuse in swimming were registering almost every stretch, flex, and contraction. Several things that I know go wrong with my stroke I would feel going wrong, with no additional concentration required - bonus!

Amongst other considerations in a workout week, perhaps I should try putting two swim workouts two days apart.