Faster strokes – What is the return on that investment?

Moving your body faster when swimming freestyle does not necessarily equate to a faster swim speed.

The reason is simple. There are two stars of the show when it comes to pace or speed.

Pace or speed depends not only on your stroke rate (how long it takes you to swim each stroke) but also the distance covered with every stroke (how far you travel with each stroke).

When you swim sets striving to get faster it is important to consider both stars of the show. This was highlighted recently with a remote swimmer who sends data occasionally to track progress. He had collected times and stroke counts from a series of 100s, performed at 1.2 mile race pace in September 2014 and February 2015. The first (and often only) data point swimmers look at is pace or speed. Fair enough, we all want to be faster.

The numbers show a one second per 100 improvement. Making any kind of assessment here with just one data point is not very meaningful. Pace is an outcome, it would be wise to look at the next data point, stroke count, to understand how he swam the 100s.

More data, more information, more sense, better judgment. From this data stroke rate can be calculated. It is obvious from the 10 stroke count difference that he swam each assessment at a different stroke rate.

Now we have information that tells us how he swam each assessment. Process data brings meaning to the numbers. By swimming the recent set taking faster strokes (it may feel like you are going faster) we see the speed gain of only 1 second per 100, and an addition of 10 strokes. The impact of randomly making your strokes faster is often a significant loss of stroke length. As we stroke faster, we need to prioritize drag reduction and timing precision to sustain stroke length.

If we extend the process data to a 1.2 mile swim we learn some more:

If he chose to swim at the recent combination of stroke length and stroke rate he would be 21 seconds faster than the September data. But at what cost? And is the increased stroke rate of February sustainable over 1.2 miles?

To achieve the 21 second time improvement, he would have to swim an extra 200 or so strokes. That’s a lot of extra strokes for 21 seconds. Are they worth it? Is the energy consumed best spent here? Or swim at a slightly slower stroke rate, bank the 21 seconds and the energy of 200 strokes and spend it later on the bike or during the run.

Looking forward to his next set of assessment 100s, there are some options he could consider to better spend his energy and gain speed. Using the Finis Tempo Trainer he could try a stroke rate of 1.10 seconds per stroke and sustain stroke length to gain speed. After he has accomplished that, he may try to drop 1 stroke per 100 yards and become even faster.

By managing process data, we can optimize outcomes, improve pace and ensure we are getting return on our investment.

Coach Dinah

Do you wig out in the warm up?

A recent discussion with a Discovery Aquatics athlete led to this post. The discussion goal was to pinpoint the cause of nervousness or anxiety getting into the pool and during the first few minutes of swimming. She describes the feeling as ‘impending doom’ lurking over her as she gets in the water and begins swimming.

Once we had talked about what was happening physiologically during this time, we were able to connect her emotional response to the sensations and then develop some strategies to make the transition from deck doom to swimming success. Here is a summary of our discussion.

Humans are a finely tuned and balanced organization of complex systems. Broadly speaking and in relevance to this discussion, the brain and nervous system, cardiovascular system, respiratory system, endocrine system, musculoskeletal system and energy systems are all working together to maintain harmony. This harmony is particularly disrupted when you begin exercise, going from inactivity to activity, creating demands on the body and on the organization of these systems. These complex systems function to meet the demands of the increased workload of exercise which, broadly speaking, is the delivery of nutrients and oxygen, and the removal of waste and heat.

One waste product, carbon dioxide (CO2),  can create some unpleasant sensations during the first minutes of exercise.  During this time, a huge increase in demands on the body is occurring and matched by an increase in CO2 production.  CO2 is harmful to the human body and the body works hard to transport it to the lungs where it is exhaled and exchanged for oxygen.

It is fascinating to look at how the body knows CO2 is on the rise. When CO2 rises, the pH of the blood changes. It becomes more acidic. There are special receptors located in the brain and heart that are sensitive to pH. When these receptors sense a deviation from normal balance and harmonious conditions, the lungs are stimulated to increase breathing rate and volume, with the end goal to remove the CO2.

This is a wonderful system. On land. Where you can easily allow the increased rate and depth of breathing to occur.

How about when you are swimming freestyle? The moment to inhale oxygen is brief and delicately timed.  Finding a harmonious exchange of CO2 for O2 can be challenging for many, even once the body has adjusted to the increased workload. The first few minutes create extra challenges with the steep rise of CO2 and lack of freedom to breathe in when you would like.

This sensation of not being able to regulate the amounts of CO2 and O2 can lead to panic, fear, anxiety and in this case ‘impending doom’.

Here are some strategies we discussed to help the body adjust to the initial CO2 rise that occurs during the first few minutes of swimming:

• warm up on land to get the gas exchange happening in an environment where you can breathe in and out as you like – light jog, elliptical, dynamic stretching, stationary bike
• make your warm up swim pace easy and comfortable, ease into your practice
• keep exhalation soft and gentle through mouth and nose, sense if you are holding breath, release it
• breathe more often during the warm up – perhaps every 2nd stroke to your favorite side
• use a swim snorkel during warm up until you are confident to try without
• learn about your reaction to unpleasant sensations, acknowledge and accept, try not to react

Giving this athlete the understanding of what is happening during her warm up has been a wonderful light bulb moment for her:

‘You said something in Tuesday’s swim instruction that helped me out a bunch: “feel the co2 build up as you begin moving, accept it, release it gently”.    This has been something I fight during the first 100 and I didn’t know what it was before.  It’s like a feeling of impending doom for me.  And, after about 100 or 150 it goes away.  Thank you!  Now I know what I’ve been feeling!’

Coach Dinah