I actually have two swim coaches at the moment, so I’m getting plenty of advice. Usually they will pick on one thing for me to work on on my own, but it doesn’t mean that I get faster that week.
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First of all what he’s really trying to get through his head is that thinking of yourself as a bad swimmer is counter productive. Secondly he is actually improving, and lastly he’s trying to become world champion!
For us the first two points are still valid, the last not so much. I take a look at the competitors finishing around me and see how their swim split is, their bike and their run.
For example, my short little race on Sunday was won by a guy 30s faster on the swim, 1min30 faster on the bike but 6mins faster on the run. So to become “local champion” Its fair to say I need work on my run more than my swim.
Have a look at CoachCox for race stats, I think you’ll be surprised how many people are in the 2:00 or 2:10/100m category but have lightening bike and run.
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My last race, international distance with a 750M swim (November 2020)
Bike split
- 1:05:46
- 1:12:12
- 1:10:40
Me: 1:08:26
Run split
- 40:54
- 44:03
- 42:07
me: 42:42
If the race would have been a duathlon, I would have gotten 2nd over all…
now… the horrible part… SWIM!
- 14:30
- 12:14
- 16:46
Me. 24:32
That was enough to push me to 11 OA. Its actually quite pathetic my swimming…
So for me, I would have to become a top 3 person I would have to swim 8 minutes faster… and I can’t see that happening unless i can “feel” the water… and thats it something i haven’t achieve yet…
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Move to a desert island where you have to swim to work 
But seriously, 2:00/100m gets you 15:00 for 750 so you’re not that far off with your 2:10s. Consistent swimming - and coaching I’m afraid - and you could be at 15:00 by November.
My masters classes are costing me about £15 each.
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Then I see people on my feed who are just freaks of nature and make me sad…
Guy a superb runner… But he gets injured a lot… on a bad day, with 4 weeks of training off the couch… he can drop 16:30 5k.
Trying to stay healthy he takes on cycling and swimming…
His cycling is as strong as his running…
(he did a 65 mile bike ride and then did a 19m brick 5k)
his swimming is getting there now…
now he is swimming 63s 100s…
I would keep my focus on the speed sessions but would introduce the gadget supported long interval session in your training week.
What you described is consistent with some lack of quality in your breathing.
We are all endurance trained stubborn like hell people, right? So we can handle efforts without proper breathing for quite a long time as a result. However, reaching a certain distance, we cannot fake lack of technique with grit and we hit the wall. It is either stop or adjust the pace by A LOT.
It happened to me for years and it comes back when I return to the pool after being away for more than a couple of weeks.
So try to focus a little more in your exhaling process while swimming at a slow pace and do it 25m at a time.
The air needs to start to be released (mostly by the nose) as soon as your face returns to the water. Then just before inhaling but still under water you sort of do a final puff with your mouth. Vocalize the puff if needed to generate a rhythmic feedback to your brain.
I always need to remember to recover this practice when I do the first laps of any session unless I am swimming almost daily (then it becomes natural).
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I can’t swim without nose plug. Otherwise I would not be able to breath through the nose AT ALL for 2 days…
This problem is new-ish (late 2019?).
But I get what you are saying…
I think you mentioned something similar a while ago, and Ive been trying to forcefully push more air while exhaling underwater…
When done right it feels much better when I breath…
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Got in my pool last night and the part of the main set was 7x 100s. Kept the paces very consistent +/- 1s on the first 5. (My pool is only 10m, so i avoid pushing off the wall). For the last 2 i wanted to see the difference in my normal lower stroke rate/more glide vs. higher stroke rate which would be needed if the waters are choppy. As I suspected, both times were a second apart, but boy did my form fall apart with the higher stroke rate and felt so much more fatigued. both were about 10s/100 m faster than the previous 5. So…I guess I have to work on stroke rate a bit.
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Mike, swimming efficiency is measure by stroke count ( or Distance Per stroke) matched with Stroke Rate. To swim faster you must improve DPS and or maintain SR. Most people will increase SR and Decrease DPS to do this. This will make u slower work harder and fatigue sooner. As you discovered it comes at a much higher metabolic cost.
When working with a higher-level swimmer this is what we are avoiding in the closing stages of a race.
I have never heard anyone suggest or recommend increasing SR due to swell or choppy water. I would be even more focused on maintaining your optimal SR and DPS at this time. Any Open water swimmers I’ve coached we have found this to be the best practice.
as for training focus on maintaining your DPS and make small improvements to SR. You will get faster and become more efficient this way.
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Very true. I have very ingrained slower rate from my old days of swimming, except on 50m races. Body composition has also changed alot from my teens to mid-40s, plus don’t swim often. WIth such a short pool length, it is quite comical a couple of long pulls i did and be halfway through! Wont comment on my paces yesterday so @Joelrivera doesnt put crying emojis 
But then you would outrun me everyday .
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I like this graph that helps illustrates @Willie76’s point.
SOURCE: Swim Smooth
I have heard a few tri focused swim coaches mention the higher stroke rate and a “front quadrant” stroke (shorter pull) for choppy OWS with the thought being it is more stable than a long gliding stroke. I don’t know if that theory “holds water” but I do know that unless to are keeping your form AND have the strength and fitness to increase the stroke rate, your DPS will go down and then you will suffer the consequences Willie76 mentioned above.
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I’m working on a higher stroke rate at the moment.
It seems to me that you take it in turns to work on all of the things, one at a time. If you are working to increase your stroke rate and you don’t go faster (yet) that is fine - you are fixing the slow stroke rate part of your flaws.
I need a bit of advice…i swim 3x per week…
Monday is swim only…
Wednesday i have a run after
Friday i have a ride either before or after …
How should I split things up?
My plan was longer easy reps on Monday
Set focusing on form Wednesday
Speed sets on Fridays…
Thanks for sharing this! Really neat. Looking at the chart, though I didn’t quite count strokes but I know historically, for my 6th 100 was just inside the blue close to the cross over from blue to white, which is also where I felt very comfortable with some speed. I think the 7th set might have been pushing into the red. Next time out will do a couple counting strokes and add correction factor given my short pool.
@SteveM the concepts your talkingabout are based around sprint vs mid/distance events. You will find sprint orientated swimmers will have higher SR, Lower DPS and focus more on an immeadiate catch vs glide at the front.
This is due to the high force generation within this style of stroke. The high metabolic cost relates directly to the distance its swum.
For Tri’s the Latter is by FAR the better option. I cannot stress highly enough to learn to swim with greater efficency vs speed. I can gaurentee you will have a faster time over 1500+m if you swim at the same speed but with a lower metabolic cost.
Also consider it as your already fast enought to cover 100m in 1:30 but canot maintain it for more than 200m. IF you can maintain this speed for 1500m thats a 22.30 time.
@JoeX I’m sorry mate but your statement doesn’t make sense.
You need to be working on these concepts at a race pace. Yes, you do take turns in working on various areas, however, swimming is SO skill-specific that this is the #1 thing to focus on. I don’t care how FIT you think you are if you’re inefficient its not going to work.
Working on swimming with a higher SR needs to be in the context of your event, Skills, and training phase. I would NOT focus on SR specifically I’d be more inclined to focus on holding a specific count at a specific Speed. e.g complete 4 x 400’s holding 6mins leaving on 7min holding 38 strokes every 2nd 50m.
the progression from this may be 4 x 400m holding 5:45 leaving on6:30 same count.
Mike I would do the follwing set to address this
8 x 100m decend with 30sec rest Hold SC (stroke Count) yes count every 50m or 2ns 25yards etc decend times every 2nd 100 ie 2 @ 1:45 2 @ 1:40 2 @ 1:35 and 2 @ 1:30 hold same stroke count for all.
( Times etc are just a geuss IDK how u swim but u get the idea.)
Hi @Willie76 I’m afraid I don’t understand what you are disagreeing with?
I’m also not sure I understand you when you say you have to work on these things at race pace?
Your focus on form needs to be in every session In my opinion of course.
I tend to agree with SwimSmooth that you don’t need to be going hard in all your main sets, but some lengths at a high RPE in every session’s warm up helps you get your form together for your main set.
Your main set needs to be at distances your can hold your form. If you try to swim easy but get worn out at 200m then there is little benefit spending much of your time on 400s.
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Make sense…
so this morning I started adding a bit of longer intervals…
75 yards - “fast”. It was a good distance where I could push the pace while keeping the correct form. 100 at the same pace would have been with broken form at 75 mark…
I also added few 25s for good measure.
Been feeling much better with my right side swimming…
I feel so much faster breathing right…
not sure why since I feel much smoother breathing left…
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