Swim III, Spring 2013, Class 3

Swim III

Class 3

As Larry Lewis so eloquently posted to FB, “I need a personal assistant to keep track of my strokes per length.” Or was it distance per stroke? I can’t recall. But he’s right: you need to keep track, and sometimes it can be daunting. This is especially true when you try to increase or reduce strokes per length every 25 yards. It takes a lot of careful thought and patience. Probably more patience.

What’s the point of practicing steady increases or decreases in stroke count?

1 – Practicing lowering your count while holding (or increasing) pace makes you STRONGER so that you can MAINTAIN low counts for longer distances. It means you are EXPERIMENTING with the many variables that affect distance per stroke: reducing movements against the line of travel, streamlining, kick effectiveness, etc.

2 – Practicing increasing stroke counts (while holding or increasing pace) gives you a sense of what stroke RATES you can maintain and still swim as fast as you desire. More strokes per length to go the same distance in the same time means your arms turned over at a faster RATE.

3 – There is an energy cost associated with keeping counts low as well as raising them up. You will never be able to hold your best velocity for a given distance at your lowest stroke count – can’t happen. But there will be an OPTIMAL stroke RATE and COUNT  for you at any goal distance you choose. Some of you may be surprised to find out that if you turn your arms over faster (that your normal) and add a stroke or two per length, that you can swim longer at a faster pace.

This week was focused on long sets. And of course there was a stroke focus  throughout. Here it is:

Warm-up (500):

5x50 descending, 15sec rest, each 50 is 1-2sec faster than the last

3x50 done as 25 dolphin kick / 25 swim

100 easy

Main Set (1000-1500):

2x 750yd (or 650, 550, 500, depending on your lane) with 1min rest between swims.

First 750 – Every 100, start slow and count strokes. Then increase effort a little each length and ADD one stroke per 25. So if you begin with 19 strokes, you would then take 20, 21, and 22 over that 100yd. And if you do it right, your pace should IMPROVE every 25.

Key: You must start out easy each 100 or you won’t be able to increase pace. You may increase your stroke count by turning your arms over faster, but if you go out too hard you’ll stay at the same pace.

Second 750 - Every 100, start slow and count strokes. Then increase effort a little each length and SUBTRACT one stroke per 25. So if you begin with 19 strokes, you would then take 18, 17, and 16 over that 100yd. And if you do it right, your pace should be CONSTANT every 25.

Key: You must start out easy each 100 or you won’t be able to hold pace while reducing stroke count. Generally, it is more difficult to swim with lower stroke counts – it takes more energy. You’ll either need to pull harder so that you get more glide off each stroke, or kick harder or more times for every pull so you get more distance that way.

Cool Down (200):

200 easy free