AEROBIC TIME TRIAL SWIM - 16122010

Dear Team, here is your Aerobic TT result. =)

200warmup, 20laps swim at Aerobic Effort TT with no rest.

Now, I know there will be some banging here and there and probably change of direction that caused a couple of seconds to be lost but it really doesn't matter yup. The way I am deciphering the swim times is according to how I know you and your swim style. We can clearly see some patterns here that we can learn from. It was all in all a very good Aerobic Time Trial, all of you went very easy at it and that is the whole point, to set a bench mark on how fast you can swim 20 laps when doing it easy. With proper training, we're aiming to see a drop in timing (together with a drop in stroke count for some of us) before we go for our Biathlon and our ultimatum OSIM Tri. =)

Calvin

This is a very very good consistent Aerobic effort swim. I believe you have always been doubtful or less than trusting to what you can achieve in your swim. This time around, great Thanks to Take's mistake in counting the laps, you did 2 more laps after the TT. And the timing from the extra 2 laps are more than pleasing to see that stroke count did not increase a lot and the timing was well within a couple of seconds from the average time per lap!

This shows that your swim technique has really stabilized and you're able to hold it that way almost automatically! That is awesome news for you! The only hiccup is at lap 12 onwards, your stroke count started to increase and so did your timing, indicating a slight lack of core strength or general endurance to maintain your stroke integrity at the normal level when you're fresher. Other than that, it is all good! WELL DONE! =)

Take

After watching you swim for a few swim squads, I realized you have a very smart way of doing things. You know that you have limited amount of energy and you always try to ration it properly according to the distance/amount of work you have to do. It is very evident in this Aerobic TT that you're trying to do a 100 moderate push, 100 moderate easy kind of pace. I believe it soon became a constant effort in the middle because you were feeling unsure about how that type pacing will result in what kind of timing and thus the middle portion of red.

Your smart pacing also resulted in a successful negative pace set. That means you started strong and finished strong even though you have to give and take in the middle. That is exactly what we want to happen in a race... however, that is NOT what we need in a Aerobic Time Trial where we need to set a bench mark. To set a bench mark, we have to try to maintain a consistent pace like what Jaslynn/Hong Jun/KH is doing (check out KH swim and comments below regarding his Time Trial). That way, we can learn more by seeing how much our body can tolerate before technique or endurance starts giving way.

Even though calvin didn't manage to take a lot of your stroke counts, I was watching the four of you swim and your stroke rate are very rhythmic and rather consistent. You're definitely one of the better skilled swimmers in our team so keep up the good work and work on the head position! =)

Lastly, One thing I like about your style of pacing is that you're never afraid to take a step back and slow down so you can push harder in the next one or many more future laps. This is one thing we youngsters should learn and not be overwhelmed by our ego to always compete and go hard and harder when things get tougher. =)

Teck Beng

The lack of experience in TimeTrialing caused the first 3 laps to be rather fast instead of easing into it. This is something we have to prevent in future because if we were to do an anaerobic 20laps TT, you'd have been VERY VERY worn out by the 4th lap if you were to go hard in the first 3 laps because of adrenaline. =)

I understand that you were thinking about your strokes throughout 20 laps and I believe in this team, perhaps only you, myself and my brother KH have the ability to concentrate at that level. However, I still highlighted the middle portion as yellow because I roughly remembered that those few laps are when your body position is at its worst. I was concentrating at my own swim but I can't help take a peek once in awhile when we pass by la...

What we can learn here is that your mental aspect can be still thinking about what is correct and what should be done, however if the muscle is weak, there will be a "disconnection" until you "force connect" them again by flexing the associated parts harder than the current effort you're putting in.

I don't know if you get what I'm trying to say here but basically its like when you go at a constant effort for 20 laps but your core endurance level is not there to keep the hips up at that easy effort then if the effort maintains at easy, the core will not be able to hold unless you up the effort by flexing harder a little bit lor. Longer people like you and Hong jun have to work harder on the core activation part la.

Last but not least, stroke count for your height should be 40-45 MAX. Right now, it is really too high because of the sinking hips... and your overall aerobic endurance level only last until 17th lap and then stroke rate started increasing together with time per lap. Need to up endurance and core strength quite a bit if going for Olympic Distance ya... JIAYOU! =)

Hong Jun

I am very very impressed that you could maintain such a consistent effort level of swim. The timing and stroke rate are so consistent, it is almost hard to believe! You're definitely on the right track in terms of mind and total body connection in the swim versus your pacing skills. I believe having gone through a set of triathlon training with the kids and myself helped you quite a bit with the pacing skills eh? =)

Only thing I see here and it is REALLY CRITICAL is that being a 1.8m++ person, your stroke count should be same as what I suggested for Teck Beng at 40-45. Right now it is so high largely due to your snaky hands and also super hard entry plus VERY discounted pull (til stomach only, should end at hip!). Please work on that at this moment.

I was very concerned about the 3.2km you swam, if they are all this type of stroke then you're practicing Good Pacing BUT LOUSY STROKE leh... please take note ar...

Last but not least, your question to why you can't swim straight, that one, i really feel it has to be a problem with your concentration on looking where you're going, and seeing the blue line and adjusting your body back to be following the line. I believe the problem is when you're breathing on the right side, you couldn't see what is on your left and how you were pulling your left arm. Thus, the left arm is causing you to move A LOT SIDE WAYS! Try correcting and let us know... do seek the others' opinion on your swim too because I am quite at wit's end for this to be honest..

Keep up the hardworking attitude! I love the way you work as a motivated young sportsman! =)



Jaslynn

I felt that this is a very enlightening swim for both you and myself as your coach. I saw very clearly the points you needed to improve (that's why I chose to partner with you.) and I correctly predicted you'd come to me and tell me "I felt like I can go faster". The answer is definitely a no because even after 20minutes of rest (watching me swim and counting my strokes), you could not do a 100m with consistent stroke rate and timing.

Diciphering the swim you have, the stroke rates indicates you have a very poor stroke technique. I shall not touch on the details here and I will share with you when I meet you in 4 hours' time.

Your energy level, which directly affects your endurance level, dropped from the 10th lap onwards as we can see an increase in stroke rate and timing per laps consistently from then on. For your case, this is NOT an indicator that you are not fit. This increase in  stroke rate and timing is a result of your inefficient stroke wasting too much energy and not propelling you forward.

It is not an embarrasing fact that you are slightly shorter than the people around you but you put people like HongJun and Teck Beng to shame because they're taking just 8-10 strokes lesser than you per lap and they are at least 30cm talling than you. However, you should still be doing about 50 strokes per lap at max at that Aerobic effort.

I could tell you are trying very hard to glide, that - is a good thing. However your inefficient pull and push phase robs you of your frontward propulsion. You got a strong kick which sort of compensated for your high head position but that isn't going to work very well in triathlon because you're gonna need those legs to bike and run later.

For your information, from lap 1 - 10, you're doing 30 strokes for 1st 25m of every 50m and 50 strokes for the 1st 37.5m of every 50m. From lap 11-20 onwards, you're doing 34-36 strokes for 1st 25m of every 50m and 54-56 strokes for 1st 37.5m of every 50m.

That in itself explains the bad streamlining is complicating matters with your effort to pull with an inefficient pull. As you put in more effort to move forward, the fact is you're just creating more resistance to negate your propulsion effort.

For the last lap, you pushed harder and you got a 4seconds reduction from the 19th lap.. But, you took 74 strokes as compared to the 1st lap at 56. That is a wooping 32percent or 1.32 times increment of stroke count! Very inefficient neh...

Nonetheless, I like that stretch you have in the entry. You got it immediately after I explained to you and that is Impressive. =) Also, you are very good at sustaining a certain effort level of swim. I could tell you pushed harder than aerobic pace because you got a little bit of difficulty talking after the swim. Personal trainers like to use Talk-Test to see what effort level their client is at.. if after a workout session the client couldn't talk in full sentence immediately, it is more than just moderate. However, I will take that as an indicator that you are very very good at working at a consistent effort level, and that is very important for triathlons where you have to keep hammering the race at a same effort and pace. I see a great triathlete in you. =) 

We'll see what we can work on tomorrow. For now, if you ever do your own swim, slow it down and count your strokes. Find out how you can improve on stroke rate. I'll help you out definitely. =]

Vince

A very very impressive swim! With an empty stomach and tired mind, you could still focus quite a bit and regain the focus after losing them during the swim! I understand a couple of laps you got banged into and slowed down to sort of regain equilibrium but it didn't rob you off too much time la cos your swim are really pretty consistent after you finally settled down into a pace that you find it to be just right (13th lap onwards). Next time, aim to start the swim at that effort. =)

I felt that the first 3 laps was not properly controlled and then you suddenly remembered that you have to ease into the swim which results in the next 3 blue highlighted easy effort. I guess that after that you realize it seem to be too easy and thus you decided to push it a little and your body probably felt a little bit of hard breathing and thus your mind asked it to ease off again to totally remove the hard breathing.

I don't know, really.. from the way I review your stroke rate, you're having complete control over your swim and the inconsistency in timing is largely due to seldom doing Time Trials for swim and thus not knowing how to start and not knowing what effort is right.

Overall, it is a fantastic swim which tells us your upper body & core endurance and stroke integrity is falling into place at aerobic level where you can still think.. and deciphering the time sheet helped us learnt a lot more about how you should pace yourself in future aerobic level swim. =) It is a very encouraging workout! =)

KH

I honestly felt that you're the only one in the team other than me who maintained a consistent connection between mind and body control. I have a few issues that I have to mention for your swim which you need to work on.

1) There is not enough endurance. Wayyy too low. Your stroke rate is Deadly Consistent but your timing goes down the drain while maintaining the same easy effort level and I could see your stroke was almost flawlessly intact throughout the full 20 laps. That really is a big indicator that you lack upper body and core strength.

2) Your stroke count is consistent for 20 laps, so is your stroke integrity. However, there is still a lot of flaws in your strokes like dropping elbow in your push phase, the legs opening up too wide after completing the 2-3 beat kick, the arms catching up too much before starting the next pull and this is just to name a few I spotted by peeking at your swim. I could name more if I were to look at your swim closely.

3) There is definitely an improvement in core strength as I could see your streamlining is really good except when you turn from side to side sometimes the body tend to snake a little bit. Try to turn with the area of diaphram down to the thigh. If you focus the rotation to be 45 degrees of that area facing the floor from side to side, then the turning will be more stable and snaking will decrease. Ask me if you don't understand this.

Overall, it is a very very well done Aerobic Time Trial and it gives you everything you need to know about how and what to train for your swim right now at this base period. You need more gym work and general conditioning. Jiayou!!! =)

KK

As spoken after swim training, I was always preaching about swimming with core and not arm pulls, the result of the Time Trial is a very significant display of the fatigue of the legs and abs gym training I did last night. The timing was supposed to be at sub 1:00 for at least the first 15 laps with that type of stroke rate and effort.

My usual 20 laps Aerobic TT Swim is averaging 44-47strokes per lap and the increased in timing per lap and 49 strokes per lap average tonight is evident that I couldn't move my body forward with the hip rotations due to the fatigue I have in my core. This further strengthens the concept and preaches of my swim is done with my core. I walk my talk so you walk yours. =)

Before I reached the pool, my body was aching so much and I met Jaslynn and I told her I wanted to back off from the swim TT because I knew the timing won't be good and it won't be accurate but I still went ahead with it because I wanted to show you what is consistency in stroke integrity.

With the aches I have, 20 laps is gonna be a long way and thus I broke it down to 10x100. I did not purposely pace myself so I go faster on the first 50 of each 100 and return with lesser effort. However, you can see that the lesser effort in the second 100 results in a slight increase in timing AND stroke rate. This is because of the decrease in effort in keeping my hips up. However, having set my mind to know this is a 10x100 sets with no rest, I am always able to feel slightly more ready to go for it when I leave the wall for the next 100m and thus I am able to get a rather consistently lower stroke rate on the first 50.

Personally, I call this mental pacing strategy. When times are tough and you never know when will what things happen in a race. You could jolly well have a migraine like my first biathlon or diarhea problem like my last marathon last week... the race still have to carry on and practicing this type of mental pacing drills in your mind in your swim, bike and/or run training helps a lot when the time comes where you have to "negotiate" with your body to give and take so the race can go on and still be finished.

The only one thing I did well in this swim is my effort is controlled and always remaining at aerobic level plus my stroke counts are Deadly Consistent. I like that but it can still be better. I used to do 3x500 TT with numbers hitting 1:00 per lap and stroke count at 47 happening for 25 times in a row. That is definitely achievable and I hope all of you will aim for that in aerobic swims. =)