Kick For Sprinting

It is interesting to note that Sun Yang, when he set the 1500 meter world record in July, did so holding an average of 58 seconds per 100m for the entire race, using a 2-beat kick for all of it except the last 50 meters or so. 15 consecutive 58 second 100 sprints! We may consider that there may be more long-term benefit by developing a whole-body synchronized stroke with 2-beat and using that skill to get down to a much faster pace before falling back on the much higher energy consumption (and drag increasing) 6-beat kick.

When analyzing elite swimmers swimming a certain style stroke (and kick) at world-record pace, that may not be the best role model for a stroke aiming for a slower pace. In a blog essay I argued once that we might consider learning to swim slow like Phelps before we try to swim fast like Phelps (or name your favorite swimmer). The forces of water opposing a swimmer at 48 second pace are far greater than at 60 second pace, or 80, etc. The water pressure in front increases, the body is lifted to a higher plane in the water and other changes affect the effectiveness of the stroke. Therefore the stroke choreography and power application need to be adjusted accordingly.

6-beat kick is very powerful, when complementing a well-designed stroke, rather than covering up its weaknesses, or worse, working against it.

PS- listen carefully to the comments made by the commentators on that video clip of Sun Yang. They are acknowledging how ‘slow’ and relaxed he looks while clearly crushing the competitors- how misleading his appearance is. It is the classic misconception of TI- a beautiful but slow stroke! They might think that until they actually try to swim along side a well-developed TI swimmer.

Sprint Training Strategy

Here is some of my understanding and the considerations I design sprint training around:

There are two ways to work on the solution for speed in water-

1. increase power to overcome water resistance, and/or
   
2. decrease water resistance.
   

It is my conviction that as a smart swimmer I should will do everything possible to develop skills that reduce resistance throughout the whole stroke cycle, then work on applying just the right amount of power just where it is needed- in that order of priority. Undermine the enemy’s strength before trying to overpower it (didn’t Sun Tzu say something like that?).

One Amazing Stroke

When pursuing a new PR on my [insert your favorite distance here] why would I crank out more and more mindless yards, going harder and harder, hoping that improvement will magically appear one day? When does quantity ever lead to quality?

My amazing 1500 (for example) must first be preceded by an amazing 500 meters. That amazing 500 meters must be preceded by an amazing 100 meters. That amazing 100 meters must be preceded by an amazing 25 meters. And that amazing 25 meters must be preceded by just 1 amazing stroke.

If I don’t ever experience even one amazing stroke in my practice, how I can I expect that one day I will spontaneously throw 1500 of them in a row to make up that amazing swim I have been wishing for?

If I want to experience an amazing swim, then I need to start with the quest for the most amazing stroke that will get me there. I need to study every detail of what will compose that amazing stroke, and seek out that magical moment when each of those details slide into place with each other with such powerful synchronization that I slice through the water like never before.

If the approach I have taken to pursue my amazing swim has not been producing results proportional to the effort and time I have been putting into it, I should consider that my methods and mindset could use an upgrade, or better, a total transformation. Perhaps I have not been working on the solution to the more important aspect of my swimming problem. Under-developed fitness rarely is the problem for those who swim regularly yet struggle to make improvement. Under-developed skill and mindset often is.

When I get desperate enough to consider a change in my stroke and a change in my thinking this is the time I am ready to break stroke and body positions down into their component pieces, and be willing to let my values- what is important and what is not- be challenged and adjusted. I need to consider looking at my swimming problem from new angles, new perspectives, both in terms of physics and in terms of philosophy.

By allowing myself to let go of old ways of viewing my swimming problem and the solutions I have (intentionally or ignorantly) applied to it, I open myself to the opportunity to learn something new, something better. I begin to grow as a swimmer and as a person. My swimming improvement challenge may very well become the workshop in which my perspective and attitude toward other challenges in my life get shaken and unstuck.

Why settle for any part of the stroke as ‘good enough’ when the magic I seek, the jump in performance I long for, will only be derived from the excellence I have trained into every part of every single stroke? Excellence in the whole is made up of the excellence within each and every piece.

When the mindset changes from performance to precision, from endurance to excellence, boredom and suffering disappear. Instead practice become the playground where I am engaged in a tantalizing quest for the tiniest thrill of precision, when one amazing part of my stroke leads to the next, and one amazing stroke leads to another- time disappears and exhaustion is replaces by energy. Following the focused mind, the body will fall into the rhythm of excellence, where improvement becomes more frequent and more easily foreseen. Each practice becomes laden with discovery and reward. More than a PR I will seek out and acquire an intimate knowledge of my relationship with the water, and develop a loyalty… no, an addiction to excellence, being thrilled by each amazing stroke, each perfect slice through the water. From this my amazing 1500, my new PR even, will simply become a consequence of the attitude I have taken on for my practice. It will be the icing on the cake of what is already a rewarding practice in excellence. What seemed like the ultimate performance goal not so long ago, becomes but a historical marker of interest along an increasingly satisfying journey.

How do we achieve our most amazing swim? One amazing stroke at a time.

 

Slide, Don’t Hammer

I had a great practice set in the pool early this morning- 1600 yards broken into 16 x (4x 25 yard sprints), with a rest interval based on my heart rate*.

The objective- holding SPL (at 16) while increasing tempo from 0.95 to 0.83 seconds, using a Tempo Trainer.

In the winter I like to work on my sprint skills. I have in mind to break 60 seconds for 100m. Something I could not do 20 years ago at 18, but very much within my reach now because of TI.

Following that Speed (Pace) = Stroke Length (SL) x Stroke Rate (SR), I know that I need to achieve 17 SPL x .80 tempo (in a 25 meter pool) to reach 64 second 100m, and 17 SPL x 0.75 tempo to reach 60 second 100m. So I am simply building practice sets to incrementally improve my SL x SR combination until I reach my goal.

Though the word sprint tends to conjure up the image and sensations of hammering (powering through the water) I was not, in fact, hammering. My goal was to find the path of least resistance- to increase speed without increasing effort. This is smart swimming. I do this by continually refining my form and timing of movements, finding the most slippery pattern and and most precise timing to every aspect of my stroke and body position. Specifically, I did this by increasing the precision of each stroke- applying the exact amount of power at the perfect moment in the transition of the arms through the core body rotation, so that I could SLIDE my whole body through the water, rather than shove against it.

It works. Precision is powerful.

Review- Finis Positive Drive Fins

Here’s one of my three new Finis tools- the Positive Drive Fins. When I looked at these on their site and considered buying a pair to test I wasn’t sure if I could expect that much performance difference from my standard zoomers. But the moment after I slipped these on and took my first kick, I immediately felt a much  more effective and more realistic thrust and kick pattern.

These are an instant winner.

Here’s the short analysis:

- They permit great ankle flex, better than my zoomers.

- The ellipsoidal blade does permit a much tighter kick pattern, much more like my barefoot one, and in all four strokes. I love these for especially for dolphining because I can turn my feet inward just slightly.

- The thrust of these is snappy and full, but allows an even faster kick rate and more thrust per kick than my zoomers.

- They are much lighter and more compact than my zoomers, and fit more nicely in my swim bag because of it. I never take my heavy, bulky zoomers when traveling, but I would be tempted to take these along.

I love them.

They are so effective in producing thrust from a compact kick that I need to redesign how I do my kick sets with them.  I grew accustomed to the weight and extra load placed on my legs using the standard zoomers, and used them at slower speeds for leg conditioning. The PD Fins are light and zippy, and I have to go faster to get the same loading, but I can use a much more compact kick with higher cadence, which is more suitable to the kind I am trying to develop- both in 2-beat and in 6-beat for sprinting.

The one thing I found slightly uncomfortable is the closed toe slipper- the heel strap, though suitably adjustable, pushes my big toe all the way to the front of the slipper causing my big the toe to become a little sore ( I am sensitive there because of an old injury from a lead-climbing fall many years ago.) I loosened the heel strap and that helped- the straps don’t have to be tight. My pair of zoomers have an open toe and hug the foot between heel and top of the foot allowing the toes to be free, while these snug the foot between the heel strap and the toe pocket. Everyone has a different pattern for their toes so each will experience this part of the design differently.

I have a 7.5 to 8 US size foot, or about 39-40 in Euro sizing- so I ordered the size L according to the Finis sizing chart. These are just right for my foot, except for the pressure on the big toes. With the perfect amount of pressure on the sides of my feet I am not sure I could squeeze into a smaller pair though that might remove the pressure from my toes. Since they are held to the foot between heel strap and toe pocket a bigger size would actually make that discomfort for me even greater. Just a personal issue though.

I think for many, once you try these, you may not want to go back to standard zoomers unless you have a special reason to use them. I didn’t expect this kind of satisfaction from a new design in fins, but this did it.

** ** **

Simple Math Can Swim Fast

It is the basic math of SL x SR that tells us where we are at and where we need to be in order to reach our goal.

If I set a target of 17 strokes per 25m, starting with 1.20 second tempo, and I find that is it easy for me to hold optimal stroke overlap, the challenge then is for me to see how much faster in tempo I can go while still holding that stroke count. When I get near my limit of being able to hold that SPL and Tempo combination I have to approach it in smaller steps, concentrate more intensely on each detail in my stroke, and problem-solve with my own body to improve my skill past that limit.

We can work with these SL x SR variables in increasing levels of challenge:

Online Swim Metrics Calculator

I have been working building an online swim metrics calculator that you could use to calculate different variables in your swim goals.

Based on the equation Speed (Pace) = Stroke Length (SL) x Stroke Rate (1/Tempo)

I set these on Formstack forms, which are not ideal, but make the basic features available to you, while protecting the equations behind the form. I would be pleased if you would test them out and give me any feedback on the concept and any errors on the forms.

I have created the first three forms for PACE, TEMPO, and STROKE LENGTH for Open-Water Events. Once these are tested I will build the same three calculator forms for Pool Events, which are slightly more complicated because we need to factor in the Glide Distance and time off the wall before the first stroke is taken on each lap.

Ultimately, I will embed these into our new website.

The links:

OW Pace Calculator
http://www.formstack.com/forms/?1151382-RPjCbUff4t

OW Tempo Calculator
http://www.formstack.com/forms/?1151386-RPjCbUff4t

OW Stroke Length Calculator
http://www.formstack.com/forms/?1151386-RPjCbUff4t

Thanks for taking a look, and sending me your feedback.

Coach Mat

mat@mediterraswim.com

Be Slippery When Wet

For the last several practice sessions in the sea I was working on improving my ability to hold a long stroke at higher tempos. For me, my goal is to take the long-stroke I enjoy effortlessly at 1.20 tempo, down into my race level tempo range of 1.00 to 0.90.

Here was my open-water set from a week ago: 12x 250-stroke cycles (approx, 275m each at these tempos), using a Tempo Trainer to incrementally increase tempo while holding stroke length. I did this in the sea, swimming approximately 1700 meters in one direction along the coast, then turned around and came back.

The objective is to increase tempo but keep the exact same stroke count for the second half of the swim as I did on the first. In this way, by the pure math of SL x SR = Speed (actually, Pace) I am guaranteed to swim faster. In order to accomplish this objective when I increase tempo each cycle I have to resist the tendency to shorten my stroke in order to compensate for the increased in rate. This requires knowledge of what skills produce my long stroke and knowledge of how to protect it. It requires my complete concentration on best technique in order to achieve it.

Overlap For Length

I was inspired to write a few essays on this topic of stroke length because of my open-water swims last week. I was working with a Tempo Trainer, concentrating on my stroke-lengthening skill over 3km distance- increasing tempo, while holding stroke length. Stroke length is perpetually being attacked by water resistance (which increases with speed), fatigue, distraction, waves, chilling water, etc. It is a skill that can never be practiced too much and I felt the need for some tuning myself.

Let me return to the question: how do we build a longer stroke length? And not just a longer stroke but a longer stroke at higher tempos?

Here’s the quick answer: create stroke overlap.

Here are some tips:

• Keep a patient front arm, one that is reaching farther forward, lengthening the body line while the recovery arm is coming all the way forward.
• To fit the stroke into a faster tempo don’t shorten the front half of the catch to gain time, quicken up the recovery instead. Keep that catch steady and strong, not fast.
• To gain even a little more time shorten the back half of the catch, pull out sooner, and get it back up front as soon as possible. If you have a high elbow catch you’ll have already gotten your best thrust accomplished in the front half. Just protect that front half of that catch- higher elbow with steady hold on the water.

We can speed the whole sequence up LATER. But in the beginning weeks and months we simply want to build the neuro-muscular connections that will make it EASY to execute an overlapped stroke at higher tempos, rather than muscling our way through it from the beginning. Our whole goal with TI is to swim faster and farther with ease, so that there will be no limit to where we can go.

How much overlap? That depends on several things, though we’ll work on one that fits our chosen SL x SR combination for our desired pace. We should aim to get as much overlap as we can in that SL x SR combination- done well there is no danger of a ‘dead spot’ in the stroke. Sprinters, cranking at extreme tempos, will be working down near (what might appear to be in normal speed video) a zero-overlap, while distance swimmers will be better served by a more obvious overlap and moderate tempo. Of course, ‘fast’ and ‘moderate’ are relative to each swimmer’s conditioning. Take a look at what Finis found for tempos of elite level swimmers.

Here’s a demo of me swimming at about a 1.12 temp0. A warm-up tempo for me. You can see a dramatic overlap. I practice a long overlap at slower tempos which gives me room to spare at higher tempos. I am very challenged below .80 second tempo but working on it.

Stroke overlap is fairly easy to work on at lower tempos, and we start there. But it becomes very tricky at higher tempos, near our personal tempo-limit. This is defined, not by the maximum tempo a swimmer can spin the arms, but at what tempo the swimmer can just maintain best technique. This is most easily measured by stroke counting.  At what tempo the stroke breaks down (when stroke count starts to jump) is the current limit.  This is where we need to work. (More on stroke counting and tempo in the next essay.)

A Tempo Trainer becomes a great tool for working on this skill. Instead of synchronizing the beep to the catch and thinking about driving water back, synchronize it to the moment the recovery hand is poised at the head ready to spear into the water and forward. Think about driving your body’s force forward through the those fingertips. It’s an amazing psycho-somatic technique: the change in focus will change the response of the whole body to the forces involved. And then require your front arm to hold it’s position reaching forward until that recovering hand is poised to spear forward and take its place. This is what we mean by ‘Patient Front Arm’. At the moment of the beep, the recovery hand drives forward AND the lead hand dips into the catch as the elbow turns up, and core body rotation empowers both actions at the same moment. This is the perfect timing we are aiming for- where the whole body from toes to fingertips is synchornized, all bodily force being transferred forward.

Start slow and work in smaller steps as you get near the tempo limits of your best-held technique. The closer to the limit, the more incremental your steps should become so your brain has time to adapt. As you get near your limits the tendency is to set the catch earlier and earlier (while the recovery arm is farther back in the cycle). This will make your stroke count go up. This is what you want to prevent for as long as possible. Water resistance, fatigue and loss of concentration will keep working against the long stroke, trying to break it down- so maintain full concentration and best relaxation.

Let’s stop there for now and in the next essay I’ll share what I did in my practices last week to develop stroke length working with a Tempo Trainer in open-water and give more detail on how to do it in the pool.

Don’t Burn Rubber

Anyone can crank their arms around wildly in the water. You don’t even have to try to go anywhere. You don’t even have to be a swimmer! Yet the swimmer who increases his stroke tempo* without maintaining a long stroke is like a hotshot who’s spinning out his car, burnin’ rubber on the asphalt. Without a long stroke to go with that fast tempo, a swimmer becomes merely a wave and bubble machine… that tires quickly.

Why do those special swimmers, those elites, those gifted ones seem to move so much faster, even with a slower tempo than the rest of us? Surprisingly perhaps, it is not superior strength, it is superior form.