Jctriguy wrote:
lightheir wrote:
Yep, realizing this was the absolute key for me to getting faster in the water.
I actually also think the level of technique required to swim fast isn't anywhere as near as high as a lot of folks (esp swim coaches) make it out to be.
I wish there was a device that could measure power delivery to the water per stroke in real time, and then put that number right over the swimmers in televised events as they go along. It would dramatically change how people view swim, and put the correct weighting on power, compared to technique.
There are plenty of kenyan runners who run sub-5-min miles for marathons, and look like they're just taking a stroll in the park on a easy day, because they're so fantastically fit as well as genetically gifted with the right body type for the sport. This absolutely also occurs at top swimming. The big mistake people do in swimming is that they look at that 'relaxed Sun Yang stroke' and conclude "wow - its' all techinque because it looks so easy for him!". Note how people NEVER make that mistake in running - you don't look at them and say "wow - if I just get Kenyan technique in running I'll be going 5-min/mile for marathons too!" (ok some of them do, but get a rude awakening when they run the marathon barefoot and don't come close to 5min/mile!" - what most people say is "wow, those Kenyas are so fit that they make a 5min/mile look like a stroll in the park!" In reality, I'm certain that for swimming fast (past the beginner level, at least - a pretty low bar) people should be thinking a lot closer to how we view the Kenyan runners as opposed to Sun Yang and his 'magic technique' - monster fitness = smooth looking technique. (The swim events like the 800 are admittedly closer to sprint-type events, so even Katie Ledecky will look like she's busting rear in them.)
Almost anything in sport that is viewed as binary absolutes will be wrong. Swimming hard will get you to a point. Working on technique will get you to a point. Working on both will get you much further than either approach in isolation. Some of the technique will come as you get fitter, but other aspects must be learned. If you have a shitty catch, you will never swim fast no matter how hard you work. If you drop your elbows and somehow cock your wrist to still catch, that might work to get you faster but will eventually limit your performance.
So, if your goals are to be among the best, you need technique and effort. If your goals are to be a solid mid/front pack age group triathlete, working hard might be all that is needed.
While what you say sounds logical, I still don't think technique contributes as much as people think to triathlon swimming.
For an elite swimmer or even top AG masters swimmer, 0.8seconds may be the difference between 1st and last in a sprint event. You'd better have darn perfect technique in that case - it really matters!
But for AGers I don't think those minute details matter much. Even good AGers lose a lot more than that in sighting and navigation in OWS than from some small technique limiter.
To date, I have NEVER seen a 1:50/100 swimmer who looked clearly powerful enough to outswim me at 1:25/100, and was just limited by technique. Not a single one. I have, however, run into plenty of fast swimmers, like 1:10 and below pace, who look much sloppier and ugly than even I swim, but it doesn't seem to matter for them - they hold way higher turnover than I do, and pull MUCH harder.
Again, if you made JasoninHalifax strap one arm to his back AND made him put on a loose baggy t-shirt in the water, he would STILL beat the vast majority of all typical AGers in a Oly OWS leg. It's hard for me to believe that technique is so key for getting to the FOP of triathlon when he can definitely do it with such messed up hydrodynamics and even technique. You could make him swim a doggy paddle, and he's still have the same result!
Competitive swimming, though is different - the margins of victory are much smaller, and they tend to be already maxxed out on swim volume. I don't think most AG triathletes even come close to maxxing out swim volume while triathlon training.