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(Continued from page 6)
work output, that is, in the same way the Boeing Sonic Cruiser isn't made to fly below stall speed, these sorts of technical elements aren't designed to help you run 8 minutes per mile or swim 1500 meters in 28 minutes. These are elements of technique exhibited by those who approach supersonic speeds. Teaching someone to swim properly is a bit like teaching the pole vault. You've got to be reasonably strong in order to do it right. Fortunately, you don't have to be quite that strong to swim correctly--but, it makes it a lot easier if you've got a bit of strength.
To use proper technique, then, you have to know what proper technique is. You might say that one cost is mental, and concentrational. But there's more. You've got to teach your body to do
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what your brain tells it. And, you've got to then teach your body to perform proper technique as second nature. After swimming or running for enough years, proper form becomes the default technique. You don't have to concentrate. You don't have to think about it. You just do it. You'll hear this process described as "fusing neural pathways," or "motor learning."
These costs I've so far described are paid by investments in time and concentration, not in sweat. But you have to pay that cost as well. Good form assumes a level of general muscular strength and general fitness. More than that, it requires very sport specific strength and fitness. Take swimming's "high elbow" described above. I've yet to find a named exercise in the gym that prepares one for that
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motion (though I've developed my own unnamed one). By far the best strength-building exercise for high-elbow swimming is high-elbow swimming.
So, where are we? We've established that it's hard to swim or run slow with a technique necessary to swim or run fast. This is why developing swimmers and runners don't easily adapt to using proper form--because proper form isn't yet proper for the speed at which slower athletes travel. "Proper" form is only proper for the speed to which they aspire, not for the speed they're currently at. So, slower swimmers and runners have to take it on faith that the technique necessary for a better performance is necessary to learn and practice even before it can be used successfully.
(Continued on page 8)
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(Continued from page 5)
swim, bike or run next to him! A BIG THANK YOU TO ANGIE RALSTON who prepared tasty and wonderful food and to her husband Jeff Ralston (Our Leader) who kindly provided the funds for a lot of the food. WOW. Thanks to Shosies Family for providing great
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party gifts! And finally, we can't forget Matt Juric and Dave LeFavour who continually provide creativity and organization to the club. The DVD's they provided were not only technically astute but wildly inspirational. And, last of all, to the rest of the people, new (Continued on page 8)
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Party director Mellisa Miller.
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