1.8 to .95 Tempo in a 102 seconds video

[ananthaditya]

After watching Coach Suzanne's vid, I thought I'd record my stroke at different tempos to see how it's affected. Like I've said before, 1.8 is my 'zone.' I love the glide and I enjoy swimming at that tempo, which most here consider remarkably slow. So I decided to start out there and go all the way down to 0.95. This is how it looked: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsAYEC30fBw

As always, feedback is much appreciated.

The one big thing of note was that as I swam at progressively faster tempos, my kick got shallower and less effective, and I ended up wearing out my arms by pulling. I'm wondering how to develop that precision chop that is seen in the best TI videos so that my kicking can be effective even at faster tempos.

Please shed some light on this, if you can.

[tomoy]

Fascinating video. I have to try that! You look silent in the water up to ~1.3. Things that might help you go further uptempo: less rotation, faster recovery, streamline the kick.

There's a point when instead of harnessing the power of rotation, we spend effort forcing it. I think the faster you go, the sooner you're kicking, which means it's all going towards rotation and not helping you drive forward.

Focus on wide tracks and a wide recovery. The time your recover arm is out of the water, gravity will help your rotation, so keep it wide to help that along.

Straighten those legs out! Your knee bend is like a parachute out there, just slowing you down. In fact, you could do well to focus on not kicking at all. I think you'll find it won't slow you down. It will definitely reduce drag, but also force you to focus on rotation without aid from your legs. Seek out the feel of rotation happening when you're not kicking.

How did going that tempo feel? From the outside, it looks like your 1.3-1.2 pace is a nice optimal point where you're not creating too much noise in the water, but moving much faster than before. Very nice!

[CoachSuzanne]

Originally Posted by ananthaditya

After watching Coach Suzanne's vid, I thought I'd record my stroke at different tempos to see how it's affected. Like I've said before, 1.8 is my 'zone.' I love the glide and I enjoy swimming at that tempo, which most here consider remarkably slow. So I decided to start out there and go all the way down to 0.95. This is how it looked: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsAYEC30fBw

As always, feedback is much appreciated.

The one big thing of note was that as I swam at progressively faster tempos, my kick got shallower and less effective, and I ended up wearing out my arms by pulling. I'm wondering how to develop that precision chop that is seen in the best TI videos so that my kicking can be effective even at faster tempos.

Please shed some light on this, if you can.

Super! Thanks for posting. I agree it looks quiet & stable upto about 1.1 to me. 1.3 looks smooth & fast. 1.2 looks like you are "on the edge".

As you go to the faster tempos, you'll need to harness your forward momentum a little sooner with the leading hand. Think of it this way...you are moving faster, having compressed the arm stroke underwater into a shorter time period...more power there. You are nicely streamlined so you are moving faster than at 1.8 in terms of speed in the water, not just speed of movement.

So with faster speed, the timing of the patience in front changes a little. YOu are in no danger of swimming "catch up" and getting too flat. Try beginning the stroke in the front with the lead arm just a little earlier and see if you can take advantage of forward momentum with the lead arm so that you are no longer doing the same LONG pull at the faster tempos.

Great job though. If you spend some time training/practicing at the 1.2 to 1.6 range you'll find that those become quite comfortable and you can nudge things down a gain.

if you have a standard lap pool to practice in you can count strokes and see how they change with varoius tempos.

[CharlesCouturier]

clap clap clap clap clap clap clap

[dougalt]

I'm relieved to see someone else, besides me, whose "zone" is 1.8. But, Hey! Better than not doing it at all.... Plus, I am ENJOYING my ocean swimming time.

[ananthaditya]

Originally Posted by tomoy

Fascinating video. I have to try that! You look silent in the water up to ~1.3. Things that might help you go further uptempo: less rotation, faster recovery, streamline the kick.

There's a point when instead of harnessing the power of rotation, we spend effort forcing it. I think the faster you go, the sooner you're kicking, which means it's all going towards rotation and not helping you drive forward.

Tomoy, those are some great focal points for practice when I gain a sense of ease with these tempos. What you said next might take me there:

Focus on wide tracks and a wide recovery. The time your recover arm is out of the water, gravity will help your rotation, so keep it wide to help that along.

Straighten those legs out! Your knee bend is like a parachute out there, just slowing you down. In fact, you could do well to focus on not kicking at all. I think you'll find it won't slow you down. It will definitely reduce drag, but also force you to focus on rotation without aid from your legs. Seek out the feel of rotation happening when you're not kicking.

I saw this video by Coach Dave where he explains that a non-optimal head position causes 'kicking that fixes a balance problem temporarily.' This could be quite relevant in my case, because my head position is unduly primed for ease of breathing and I tense my neck to keep it such. (CoachBobM noted this in my previous video and said to keep my head lower. It turns out this one point might just help streamline my kick as well. Keen insight!) I'm going to focus on breathing with a lower head position to help my kicking!

Wider tracks are a go, for sure. Gonna actively work on that, no questions.

I did seek out the feel of rotation while not kicking and it was... kinda unimpressive because it wasn't accompanied by much forward momentum. I wonder if I'm kicking so hard at the lower tempos just to experience the long glide and body roll it sets in motion. This feeling I get when I'm gliding with one arm out and body inclined is so addictive that it might be compensating efforts to seek a better 'flow' at higher tempos.

How did going that tempo feel? From the outside, it looks like your 1.3-1.2 pace is a nice optimal point where you're not creating too much noise in the water, but moving much faster than before. Very nice!

Everything under 1.4 was difficult to stay on top of, to be honest. 1.3-1.2 was optimum, yeah, but wouldn't have been for more than 200m max.

Thanks for replying!

[ananthaditya]

Originally Posted by CoachSuzanne

Super! Thanks for posting. I agree it looks quiet & stable upto about 1.1 to me. 1.3 looks smooth & fast. 1.2 looks like you are "on the edge".

Thanks for your reply, Coach Suzanne. The reason I did this vid in the first place was coz when I was watching your swim my untrained eye kept thinking your stroke had something missing from a TI perspective. I knew this analysis was not right, either, though I didn't know why. That's why I asked your tempo. For me TI swimming is like a little kid going 'whee! whee!' with every stroke. I guess that's not the case when you wanna swim hard, and I verified it first-hand :)

...you are moving faster, having compressed the arm stroke underwater into a shorter time period...more power there. You are nicely streamlined so you are moving faster than at 1.8 in terms of speed in the water, not just speed of movement.

I take it you mean that ideally, stroking at higher tempos translates to speed gains more efficiently than stroking at lower tempos?

Great job though. If you spend some time training/practicing at the 1.2 to 1.6 range you'll find that those become quite comfortable and you can nudge things down a gain.

Thanks again for the encouragement! I think I'm gonna bid farewell to the glorious 1.8 and start with 1.6 now. (dougalt, I'm leaving the zone with some trepidation... but I gotta seek the flow at 1.6 :))

[ananthaditya]

Originally Posted by CharlesCouturier

clap clap clap clap clap clap clap

Charles,
A precise description of how my stroke felt at 0.95 :)