31/03/10 Swim Squad Timing/Stroke Counts

Dear all,

As much as I wish to recollect ALL data available, sometimes there is a limit to what my brain can do especially whilst managing different sets with different timing starting at a different time.. Thus, this training time table recorded will be pretty incomplete for those who could not recollect your own timing and stroke counts. I guess sometimes, we have to take responsibility of our own work and try to remember your own timing yes?

People have been telling me that probably the training is taken for granted because its free.. they said that I train hard when I train with BPM because I paid for their program and thus have a sense of urgency to follow.

I ALWAYS told these people off and beg to defer regarding their ideas of my training being taken for granted. And that's because I know all of you guys close enough despite such a short time and I believe the trust is there when tangible results have shown in the recent training and races (maiden and not). I guess sometimes we tend to forget that a training is done by oneself and your logs will only be valuable to you and be of significance in managing your own progress if you do the thinking and calculation yourself even when shagged out.

Taking myself as example, you see, no matter how tired I am, I'll make sure I know what is happening and what my pace is.. because I always make sure I think and remember, even when I train with BPM athletes, what my timing are and why did my coach tell me soemthing abt my strokes and all the stuff that is happening. And yes even though I'm the faster one in this group here, do know that I was doing the memory work when I was pushing as hard (if not harder than) as you guys last night and definitely almost always the last one person to come back in the squad (yup, they're That fast.). All those training helped me to realize what kind of swimmer I am and how my body tend to form habits in pacing for swim and how to make/break those habits to help myself improve.

Having said that, rest assured I will still try my best to help you out with the memory work while you do the hard brawnie work yup. The above are NOT a rant.. but reminder that we all have to work hard to get what we want.. nothing comes easy!

------------------------------------------



~~~~~~~~~~

From the above timing, we can see 3 things.
1) All of you still doesn't have that individuality awareness in group swim. Jiawei pushed it, and all of you blindly followed. It's the CLOCK you're pacing with. Not somebody else unless its a Race Pace set/trg.
2) Sam has gotten a very good grasp of her own pace. Look at how her hard swims timing drop after every set. Guaranteed strong finish in races.
3) Cross training (Running and cycling) helps in swim timing improvement. Look at Marianne's timing (she's been running and biking even though not often) and Sam's timing (She's been running and biking quite a lot) is almost like mine. --> Made me think about so much for being able to flex a 15cm long Tricep compared to her lean arm.

----------------------------------------



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

General Review for stroke count and swim timing relationship.

Facts:
Velocity of Swim = Stroke Rate (Stroke counts/min) * Stroke Length (Distance travelled per pull)

So to swim faster, its either one of the below:
1) Up stroke rate, stroke length remain the same -=OR=-
2) Up stroke length, stroke rate remain the same -=OR=-
3) Up both stroke rate and stroke length.

Obviously we know that when up stroke rate, it is a very physical affair and it is tough to keep the stroke length due to the distortion of streamline position (weak core to hold body position whilst rotating side to side and increasing the kick rate) whilst turning the arm over and over again at a fast rate.

So to up the stroke length which is more technique/finesse based, is more economical to the energy consumption.. plus, we kind of get some rest during the glide period.

For all of us, we've been able to do the increase of stroke length pretty well... but we haven't been able to maintain the INCREASED stroke length AND the stroke rate (number of pulls per minute) yet.

Those who got lost here.. I meant:

e.g Case study of Marianne's 50m swims (but this applies to everyone in the group).

LAP 1 of 50m

Stroke count = 50 pulls
Timing = 1 min
Stroke rate = 50 pulls/1 min
Stroke length = 1m / pull

---After my advice to glide more..---

LAP 2 of 50m

Stroke count = 40 pulls
Timing = 1 min (NO CHANGE)
Stroke rate = 40 pulls/1 min(Stroke Rate decreased)
Stroke Length = 1.25m / pull (Stroke Length increased)

---------------------------
What the above case study means is that, in order for us to get a faster timing, she has to maintain the stroke rate (not pull slower) but still try to get more out of each stroke she pull (I.E harder pull and/or harder&faster kicks).

------------------------------------------------

Having information like the stroke counts versus timing we have helps A LOT in training especially at the beginning. You can see the "lap-limit" of your stroke efficiency.

E.G Teck Beng's 100m swim in the table above...
His first 100 was fairly efficient doing at 84 strokes for 2:15.
But after 30 secs rest, his stroke count increased to 90, and despite an increased stroke count, the stroke length decreased as he got a 2:22 timing for 100m!

So from that case we know that Teck Beng need to be MORE conscious in gliding and pulling slightly harder than what he perceived to be the "moderate effort" at the beginning in order to maintain the stroke length And the timing (Note: Only maintain.).

To let you have a visual of how a more efficient stroke will be like, below is a rough gauge of what I'm doing:
I'm 1.66m tall with a slightly longer arm than normal ppl.

My hard 100m swim:
Stroke count is 110.
Timing is 1:42

My moderate 100m swim:
Stroke count is 102.
Timing is 1:58

My easy 100m swim:
Stroke count is 90.
Timing is 2:10

-----------------

Before I end, for benefits of lawrence, ryan and whoever is not here... I also shared this with the rest.

QN: How to know how many strokes to aim for to have a consistent stroke count?

ANS: Consistency is Key.

i) Take stroke count for 50m and rest 10 secs, do another, the stroke count should not be more than 5 to 10% increase.
ii) Take stroke count for 50m with 10secs rest TWICE. Add those stroke counts together and that's the number of strokes you should be aiming for a 100m swim without rest.
iii) Timing wise should be the same theory but probably an increment of 10 over secs or more if your arm muscular endurance (ability to repeatedly apply force) is not good yet.
iv) You can also do the same calculation and add 2 to 5% for every 100m increment. I find that roughly accurate for my swim trials. So far, I've only done the test until 500m.. and I'm fairly consistent throughout for all 10laps at a same effort.

That'll be all for now. Hope you guys enjoy your training!

Cheers
KK

ps: Wilson joined us for ride on thursday.. ryan can join us too if you don't mind! Its a fairly fast ride for beginner bikers at about 28 to 34 avg with surges and also consistent TT effort depending on the terrain.