The Swim Matrix...

[AWP]

Here's some food for thought in regards to this skill exercise, and it's fun!

At some point I decided to add a deliberate "snap" to my kick, a la Shinji, and instantly made my efforts for holding a low stroke count and a good pace possible.

As the title would suggest I couldn't help but think of an acronym for "Peas", first thinking of "Pretty Efficient Amplitude" but then had thoughts of describing the kick sensation itself as "Pulse, Extend, Amplitude" (or Acknowledge or Acquiesce).

Regardless, this focus was essential in producing the results I achieved and had me pondering how I could manage to incorporate this sensation for longer durations.

I began my exercise at a tempo setting of 1.40 and 13/14 spl slowing tempo by .10 to a setting of 2.0 and 9/9.5 spl.
I then upped the tempo by .05 and when I reached a setting of 1.60 and 11/12 spl, began to initiate SNPs. It was from that point that my stroke count began to decrease as tempo increased, and quiet easily I might add.
I managed a combination of 10/11 spl @ a TT setting of 1.40 and :20 seconds at the completion of the exercise. A pretty good outcome and a new revelation related to the kick, its' importance in the swim cycle and how one can implement it in practice.

[haschu33]

Originally Posted by CoachSuzanne

Hey Haschu, how are you progressing on this type of stuff?

Hi Doc, amazing what you are digging out...

In short, I don't progress at all at the moment :-((

Well, it's Christmas. Then I started to get an ear infection about 10 days ago, it got worse so I ended with taking antibiotics now. It is the second time within one year that I get an ear infection - most probably from swimming. The time right after the first one I would dry my ears with a hair dryer and use some ear drops but then got more and more careless. Is it common to get ear infections after pool visits?
Now in the course of this one I got a really bad cold or flew or whatever it is called and I am far from being recovered and I will not enter any pool until I am really well again without any trace of it left. At the moment on day 6 of the antibiotics the ear still feels quite strange and offers me a soundscape that strongly resembles the sound of the Niagara Falls. Also I have a bad dry cough and so on.

Well, don't want to moan too much ... life is still ok but this is how it is right now - no progress.
Otherwise swimming with TT sets the last I did was more focussing on repeating sets, so do more than just one 25m but try to keep the SPL over several laps. TT times around 1.0 still feel very fast and I don't have a relaxed rhythm yet. But I managed to keep an SPL of 20 at 0.7 and of 19 at 0.8 - at least once. Which is quite something for me. I am always amazed how really fast it feels when swimming at 0.7 but how slow and relaxed it looks when I see others doing it.

Anyway, thanks for asking and a Happy New Year to you, all the other poor docs and also the rest - in short all of you!

It will all get better anyway ... :-)

[CoachSuzanne]

Originally Posted by AWP

Here's some food for thought in regards to this skill exercise, and it's fun!

At some point I decided to add a deliberate "snap" to my kick, a la Shinji, and instantly made my efforts for holding a low stroke count and a good pace possible.

As the title would suggest I couldn't help but think of an acronym for "Peas", first thinking of "Pretty Efficient Amplitude" but then had thoughts of describing the kick sensation itself as "Pulse, Extend, Amplitude" (or Acknowledge or Acquiesce).

Regardless, this focus was essential in producing the results I achieved and had me pondering how I could manage to incorporate this sensation for longer durations.

I began my exercise at a tempo setting of 1.40 and 13/14 spl slowing tempo by .10 to a setting of 2.0 and 9/9.5 spl.
I then upped the tempo by .05 and when I reached a setting of 1.60 and 11/12 spl, began to initiate SNPs. It was from that point that my stroke count began to decrease as tempo increased, and quiet easily I might add.
I managed a combination of 10/11 spl @ a TT setting of 1.40 and :20 seconds at the completion of the exercise. A pretty good outcome and a new revelation related to the kick, its' importance in the swim cycle and how one can implement it in practice.

Wonderful! This deserves a thread or a blog of it's own. Reminds me of one of our coaches, Chris from Paris...his SPL continued to plummet even as tempo increased once he allowed himself to start taking advantange of the momentum he was generating with a flowing stroke and streamlined Snap Pea kick. :)