Swim experts, help me understand why I went faster with less effort!
I have been fooling around with my swim stroke lately trying to drop a few seconds off my 100 times. Yesterday, I figured I would try to enter my hand into the water closer to my goggle line/forehead. I overexaggerated the feeling because I know that due to perception versus reality it wasn’t that drastic. Normally, I reach out and enter well in front of my head. At the very end of my 3000 yard workout, I did a 500 using the new technique. I came in about 10 seconds faster than what I have been seeing lately and my PRE was lower. Fantastic! Why?
My guess is that you really have not chaged your underwater work. But most likley simply cleanup your entry a bit. It sounds like before you may have been more of windmill slapper type entry and now a bit cleaner. I’d also guess that you might have by accident added a higher elbow recovery in order to get the hand into this new entry point. That might have eliminated a bit of side to side hip motion if you had any.
Or you really did not change a thing and are in better shape or had a good day. 10 seconds in a 500 really is not that much of a drop for a slower swimmer. Of course that all depends on what speed you are at right now. But I know from experience that I can easily vary 10-15 seconds in a 500 from day to day with the same perceived effort level.
2 possiblities; you most likely shortened your stoke a bit and stumbled onto the fact that by shortening the stroke, you are spending more time in the higher power part of your stroke, hence over time you are putting more power towards forward motion. If this is what is going on, you should work on lengthening the stroke while maintaining that newfound speed. Another possiblity, less likely, is that by entering closer to your head, you were extending your hands underwater and still had the same stroke length. In some cases this can make some swimmers faster since it has the effect (along with additional drag) of getting air bubbles off the hands before you catch, thus making your catch more effective and also results in more power being applied over time.
Whatever happened, your result reflects a fundamental fact of swim training that gets missed by most triathletes. It is always better to swim faster than slower and gains in improvement are made a few seconds at a time. Your experience is a classic example as to why you should train against the clock rather than by trying to look pretty. Fast if fast, slow is slow and there are no style points in swimming. If you are faster, it is good. Don’t screw it up by thinking too much.
I have been a year-round swimmer since I was seven years old, I am now twenty. What you are describing to me sounds like really bad technique. While it may be faster this one time, there may be other factors. One of the major things that could have lead to a faster time is the mental edge that you had. By believing you can go faster you actually did. The optimal stroke is a very long stroke, rolling you hips and shoulders together and using not just your hand to push through the water but also your forearm. If you take a look at Olympic swimmers or even just swimmers who have been swimming for a long time you will see this. Just as an indication I am 5’8" with about a 6’ arm span. I can get across a 25 yard pool in 11-12 strokes. When I do Triathlons esp. long races I will not kick my feet at all and use my long reach to get me through the water. I come out of most of my swims in high ranks and expending very little energy. Another point being for every stroke you take you will have to lift your arm against gravity and move it around, the slower you move it the less strain on your shoulder. Finally taking short strokes on a open water swim means you will have to break your stroke longer to spot. I am able to spot in one fluid motion with just one stroke being slightly altered.
I did a 500 using more “normal” stroke early in my workout yesterday and then the second one with the new feeling right before my cool down when I was starting to get tired. I agree that over the course of 24 hours times can very by a good amount, but this was same day and under normal circumstances, the second 500 would have been slower due to being tired.
FWIW, when I swim longer distances - 1000 yards or more straight I average 1:25-1:30 per 100 pretty consistently.
Your experience is a classic example as to why you should train against the clock rather than by trying to look pretty. Fast if fast, slow is slow and there are no style points in swimming.
Are you kidding, Sloppy swimming could lead to a loss of energy in the portion of a triathlon that may not be a deciding factor for how your race turns out. The secret is to learn to swim correctly then develop the muscles around a correct stroke that will lead to a faster time. When I was much younger I was always smaller than my competitors, but I could come away with a win because I had a clean stroke and wasted no energy on slapping the water.
It actually sounds like you didn’t shorten your stroke, you just shortened the RECOVERY above water. You should count your strokes per length in both your “before” and “after” style. If you truly shortened your stroke, then you would be taking more strokes per length.
The total strokes per length is too high for both, but roughly the same for both as well. Same # of strokes, but slightly faster with the new style. The length of stroke really is referring to the recovery above water. My hand is re-entering the water earlier and going forward through the water to roughly the same point that I would if I was to take my normal stroke.
Another thing that might have happened (dang I wish there was video) is that when you altered the entry, you reduced or eliminated some unnecessary glide on the front end. Too much glide in a weak kick swimmer can cause a loss of speed because you lose a bir of constant propulsion.
As for optimal stroke count, the range for elite distance freestylers per LC 50M is between 32 and 51.
In a 25 yard pool, I do about 40 spl, but I don’t know what that would equate to in a 50 m pool. More than anything, I would love to be more efficient. I feel like I burn a lot of energy in the water during a race.
Sorry, I should have clarified. The post before mentioned 50 meters and I was referring to my spl for 50 yards (which is why I mentioned that I swim in a 25 yard pool). That way, some fudge factor could be applied to the fact that I am swimming yards and that I push off a wall every 25 yards. I think the proper way for me to have said it would be that I take 40 or so strokes for every 50 yards I swim in a 25 yard pool.
yeah i am a little better than that at about 17 to 18 per 25yds. And my coach says that is way too many strokes. But i don’t kick much. i am sure if i kick more it will go down. i have gotten them down to 14 but it is inconsistent and doesn’t last. The form goes away.
you need to get video taped, or maybe you are not catching correctly that is my problem, my hand slips too much, But i am working on it and it is getting better.
Also if you swim more(just practice drills like catching) you will get faster. At least it works for me.
Too bad i have to work, because if i didn’t have to work i think i would be in good shape, and bringing it in all 3 disciplines!!!
Your stroke is not shorter: if you are taking the same number of spl, your stroke distance has not changed.
You are quicker because you have increased your stroke rate. IMHO, this is because you corrected your hand entry technique and compensated for a poor catch - obviously I can’t be certain because I haven’t seen you swim.
However, it appears to me that your new entry is the standard way with a good recovery. If you hand enters near the head, you are forced to have a higher elbow, which reduces energy use and is more efficient. In addition, a hand entry like this permits better feeling for where to initiate the catch. Your previous entry style probably kept the kinetic energy of the recovery in your hand/forearm, which was lost when you slapped the water, making the catch trickier.
It sounds like you may have a poor catch as well: if you are catching deeper, it suggests that you can’t catch well higher up in the water. This could be possible due to several reasons. You might have poor mechanics such that in the higher catch position your elbow and shoulder are below your hand, preventing you from applying any power. Alternatively, your body roll may be inadequate, and this coupled with poor flexibility can lead to the inability to catch high in the water. Or you may be reaching across you midpoint with your arms, disturbing your rhythm and velocity and inhibiting the speed gained from a good catch.
If I were you I would maintain your new entry technique but I would work on your catch. Your spl is still higher than average, so it is unlikely that increasing that (ie shortening stroke distance) will make you faster.
“It actually sounds like you didn’t shorten your stroke, you just shortened the RECOVERY above water.”
I agree. I’m definitely not a good swimmer, but I’ve done some reading, analysis, and personal experimentation on this subject. I try to get my recovering arm into the water relatively quickly, because the effect of holding my arm over the water in front of me is very similar to that of raising my head high above the water level: it makes my feet tend to drop, which in turn increases my drag in the water.
OTOH, I’ve also discovered, experimenting with a Tempo Trainer, that if I shorten my stroke by starting the catch too close to my body, I get a lot less distance per stroke from the same stroke rate. So these days I try to enter my hand into the water pretty close to my head, but then allow it to extend forward well in front of me before initiating my catch.
As a swimmer, shorter is not better, otherwise all of the world class swimmers and triathletes would have short strokes, and guess what, they don’t. By changing your stroke, it sounds like you hit the “hot spot” and pulled efficiently making you go faster. Now maintain that “hot spot” and lengthen it.