How to actually get faster at swimming can get terribly complicated when you look at all the factors involved. The list includes – but is not limited to – body position, strength of a multitude of muscles, coordination of those muscles, flexibility to use those muscles, training regimen, health, nutrition, sleep, staying injury free, dealing with injuries (all athletes have them), race planning, execution on race day, finding a coach who can help, finding a coach who will listen, being mentally tough, being emotionally sound…you get the idea. It all can seem overwhelming at times.
But is it really that complicated?
We give you the tale of two swimmers who have very different events. Each of these women is after the same thing – excellence. Each of these women has different challenges. In our minds however, by looking at the challenge – the goal – it seems rather basic. At the very least the main factor(s) for each is straightforward.
Sasza is a collegiate sprinter. Tyler is a professional Triathlete. Sasza has a spinal disc challenge. Tyler is a world class cyclist and runner. They are very different as is each person. They are very similar in that their quest is a high level one. Sasza has been 50.5 in the 100 yard free and wants to go 49.5. Tyler has won several international events and wants to win this year’s Ironman in Hawaii on October 9th.
At the risk of oversimplifying Sasza needs to be at her best for less than 50 seconds while Tyler needs to swim 2.4 miles in the ocean without using very much energy so she can ride 112 miles on her bike and then run a marathon (26.2 miles).
So how do we assess what each swimmer needs? We look at the task, find the critical elements relative to where each swimmer is today and then develop a training regimen that addresses those needs. Pretty simple from where we sit☺.
Sasza takes about 16 strokes per lap so figuring the dive lap at 12 or so she needs to be able to go full bore for 60 strokes on a total body energy basis but only 30 for each arm. She also needs an incredibly strong core to support her back. Her start will be critical as well as her turn speed and push off strength from the three walls.
Tyler needs completely different things. Her main skill to work on is body position. The less resistance she offers the water the faster and easier she will swim 2.4 miles. She needs to raise her head pretty regularly to keep her sight lines but do it in such a way as to minimize the impact on body position. Her core is very strong yet she needs to connect it to her feet to keep her lower body in line with her hips and torso.
Both women need sound biomechanics so their strokes are efficient. Sasza needs a higher tempo for a much shorter duration than does Tyler. So if you were the coach for each of these women how would you design their training?
At the risk of oversimplifying we offer this snapshot. Sasza needs lots of easy laps with perfect body position and stroke technique – she needs myelin wraps. She also needs a ton of dry land including Pilates. She needs as much high intensity speed work in the pool as she can tolerate. She needs a ton of leg strength work plus as much explosive work with her legs as her back can handle. She doesn’t need any real aerobic work.
Tyler also needs a ton of core work to be able to maintain body position for 2.4 miles. She needs stroke work as well – she needs myelin wraps. Dropped elbows will be a major deficiency for her. She needs very little speed work compared to Sasza. She needs more of the speed play or fartlek type of training plus lots of smooth “steady as she goes” swimming to groove her stroke.
Tyler needs to be efficient and still be able to race for hours after her swim. Sasza has to figure out how to empty her tank precisely at the 49 second mark. Anything left over has been wasted.
This is why swimming is so intriguing to us. The racing options are as varied as the swimmers themselves. We encourage you to boil down your goals to the basics, saving the more complex issues for the rocket scientists.
It could even be as basic as setting your alarm so you actually get to the pool! See you there soon!
Showing posts with label strategy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label strategy. Show all posts
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Here We Go Again - Time vs. Effort
It is the beginning of the competitive swim season and all across the country, indeed the world, swimmers and their coaches are hitting the first couple of meets to see what is going on.
So, what do we see? What exactly is going on?
Coaches see swimmers doing the following:
1 - Attempting new techniques
2 - Struggling with new techniques
3 - Doing the same old routines
4 - Being dissatisfied with results
5 - Wondering if they are in shape
6 - Wondering if they are out of shape
7 - Asking familiar questions
8 - Asking new questions
9 - Eagerly trying new racing strategies
10 - Frustrated by results when using new racing strategies
You can see this list is nearly endless, or so it seems to us.
What is very clear to us however is that to improve upon previous performances, swimmers must look to gain new insights to swim more effectively. If you want to swim faster you must embrace change...and know what to change and what to keep the same but do more efficiently or effectively. The difference between these two is a subject for another time.
Today we want to reinforce the need to look at the difference between times achieved when racing and the effort or improvement achieved when racing. Our sport is wonderful in that we require zero subjective input – namely, no judge determines the outcome of a race based upon how we look while we swim. The clock tells the story, period. And this is often the bane of our existence, especially as coaches. Extended improvement occurs when new skills are learned. For the sake of simplicity we will say today that those skills fall into two categories: technique and pacing.
When you race using a different technique you are challenging your brain enormously. Old habits are tough to overcome. When you race using a different pacing strategy you are challenging your brain enormously. Old habits are tough to overcome.
No, you didn’t read that incorrectly. The brain and its wiring are extremely powerful in regards to how we swim and how we race. The same old strategies and techniques that yielded the same old results make it challenging to make change.
This is the same for all swimmers, from the slowest to the fastest. When you think of the fastest swimmers in the world they too must continually challenge their preciously held beliefs about what works and what doesn’t.
The message today is that while you are working on change focus on your effort. Time improvements occur when more effective technique blends with more efficient pacing strategies. Those two items require time for the brain to make the change and for you to become comfortable with that change.
For now, focus on improvement and let the time take care of itself. When we were in sophomore history looking at the clock, waiting for the period to end, the teacher remarked, “Time will pass, will you?”
Enough said. Enjoy your week at the pool! Let us know how it goes.
So, what do we see? What exactly is going on?
Coaches see swimmers doing the following:
1 - Attempting new techniques
2 - Struggling with new techniques
3 - Doing the same old routines
4 - Being dissatisfied with results
5 - Wondering if they are in shape
6 - Wondering if they are out of shape
7 - Asking familiar questions
8 - Asking new questions
9 - Eagerly trying new racing strategies
10 - Frustrated by results when using new racing strategies
You can see this list is nearly endless, or so it seems to us.
What is very clear to us however is that to improve upon previous performances, swimmers must look to gain new insights to swim more effectively. If you want to swim faster you must embrace change...and know what to change and what to keep the same but do more efficiently or effectively. The difference between these two is a subject for another time.
Today we want to reinforce the need to look at the difference between times achieved when racing and the effort or improvement achieved when racing. Our sport is wonderful in that we require zero subjective input – namely, no judge determines the outcome of a race based upon how we look while we swim. The clock tells the story, period. And this is often the bane of our existence, especially as coaches. Extended improvement occurs when new skills are learned. For the sake of simplicity we will say today that those skills fall into two categories: technique and pacing.
When you race using a different technique you are challenging your brain enormously. Old habits are tough to overcome. When you race using a different pacing strategy you are challenging your brain enormously. Old habits are tough to overcome.
No, you didn’t read that incorrectly. The brain and its wiring are extremely powerful in regards to how we swim and how we race. The same old strategies and techniques that yielded the same old results make it challenging to make change.
This is the same for all swimmers, from the slowest to the fastest. When you think of the fastest swimmers in the world they too must continually challenge their preciously held beliefs about what works and what doesn’t.
The message today is that while you are working on change focus on your effort. Time improvements occur when more effective technique blends with more efficient pacing strategies. Those two items require time for the brain to make the change and for you to become comfortable with that change.
For now, focus on improvement and let the time take care of itself. When we were in sophomore history looking at the clock, waiting for the period to end, the teacher remarked, “Time will pass, will you?”
Enough said. Enjoy your week at the pool! Let us know how it goes.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
It May Be Time To Change
We went to the races this weekend and did we ever learn some stuff...as in a ton! As coaches we are a lot like teachers. If there were never any tests we wouldn't know how much the students were learning. Racing is the absolute best feedback mechanism for measuring our effectiveness as coaches and swimmers.
When we finish a training block with a series of meets that matter to the swimmers we really get a chance to evaluate our progress. When things go well it is tempting to think we have it all figured out. And conversely when they don't go well it is equally tempting to toss everything out the window and start from zero again.
As is often the case, we believe the answer lies somewhere in the middle. The additional challenge as coaches is that we must evaluate for an entire group of swimmers. The easiest way for us is to make lists...what we did well so that we keep doing those things and what we need to improve upon so we can look for solutions. We issue a "report card" to each swimmer and that gives them specifics they can work on in the context of the general workouts.
As an example, the following are two case studies from swimmers we train with a focus on the need to change what they are doing. (They do many things correctly but in the interest of space and time we will limit this discussion to the changes we want).
George (not his real name) swims the 200 and 500. He swam lifetime best times in the just concluded training block. When he races he swims with his head too high which means his body position is not as flat as we would like. Also, off each turn he pulls first with his breathing side arm which means he gets very little forward pull on the first stroke.
Solution: We will have George swim more in practice with a snorkel so he and his body learn what it feels like to swim flatter in the pool. While swimming with a snorkel he will get more aerobically fit in addition to having his correct body position reinforced. We will have him pull of each turn first with his non-breathing side arm so that his muscle memory knows that he pulls first with his left arm (non-breathing side arm) and then with his right arm (his breathing side arm). We will allow him to swim with fins for added speed assistance so he can make more challenging intervals and still swim correctly. Laps swum incorrectly are not only a waste of time; they build more poor muscle memory.
Rachel (not her real name) had a couple of tough weeks leading up to the big meets and for several reasons did not swim her best times. We think her primary event is the 200 free. She was very disappointed and frustrated. Even more critical, she has lost her confidence. She loves swimming but feels a little lost as many of her teammates had lots of success.
Solution: What we as coaches and she as the swimmer have been doing obviously is not working. It is time to admit that and find a new direction. She has excellent stroke mechanics so we don't need wholesale changes there. We are going to drop her dry land program of lifting and have her work out with a local boxing coach. This will keep her aerobic fitness level high, give her some one on one athleticism work (this coach really puts his clients through the paces in a positive no nonsense way - we already have three swimmers working with him), we will challenge her more in workouts with different sets than she usually uses (this will keep her from being able to compare too much with what she already knows about) and we will have her train with the sprint group two days a week or even three vs. the 200 group. On kicking days will have her use fins and even a snorkel occasionally so she can kick on faster intervals so she knows what it is like to move faster in the water. We also will no longer use her lifetime best times as a reference point. Rather we will use her season's best times and work from there. We don't really know if this will work. What we do know is that our current path is not working. Her confidence will grow from the work with the boxing coach and her faster swimming in workouts with fins. We may find that she needs more sprint work even though her best event is the 200. We may even discover we were wrong and her best event will be the 100 free. She also can swim fly so that may emerge as another event for her.
We encourage all coaches and swimmers to use meet performances as feedback mechanisms. Keep doing what is working well and drop that which isn't. The best coaches - measured by their effectiveness - adapt to their athletes...not the other way around...in our opinion. What is yours?
When we finish a training block with a series of meets that matter to the swimmers we really get a chance to evaluate our progress. When things go well it is tempting to think we have it all figured out. And conversely when they don't go well it is equally tempting to toss everything out the window and start from zero again.
As is often the case, we believe the answer lies somewhere in the middle. The additional challenge as coaches is that we must evaluate for an entire group of swimmers. The easiest way for us is to make lists...what we did well so that we keep doing those things and what we need to improve upon so we can look for solutions. We issue a "report card" to each swimmer and that gives them specifics they can work on in the context of the general workouts.
As an example, the following are two case studies from swimmers we train with a focus on the need to change what they are doing. (They do many things correctly but in the interest of space and time we will limit this discussion to the changes we want).
George (not his real name) swims the 200 and 500. He swam lifetime best times in the just concluded training block. When he races he swims with his head too high which means his body position is not as flat as we would like. Also, off each turn he pulls first with his breathing side arm which means he gets very little forward pull on the first stroke.
Solution: We will have George swim more in practice with a snorkel so he and his body learn what it feels like to swim flatter in the pool. While swimming with a snorkel he will get more aerobically fit in addition to having his correct body position reinforced. We will have him pull of each turn first with his non-breathing side arm so that his muscle memory knows that he pulls first with his left arm (non-breathing side arm) and then with his right arm (his breathing side arm). We will allow him to swim with fins for added speed assistance so he can make more challenging intervals and still swim correctly. Laps swum incorrectly are not only a waste of time; they build more poor muscle memory.
Rachel (not her real name) had a couple of tough weeks leading up to the big meets and for several reasons did not swim her best times. We think her primary event is the 200 free. She was very disappointed and frustrated. Even more critical, she has lost her confidence. She loves swimming but feels a little lost as many of her teammates had lots of success.
Solution: What we as coaches and she as the swimmer have been doing obviously is not working. It is time to admit that and find a new direction. She has excellent stroke mechanics so we don't need wholesale changes there. We are going to drop her dry land program of lifting and have her work out with a local boxing coach. This will keep her aerobic fitness level high, give her some one on one athleticism work (this coach really puts his clients through the paces in a positive no nonsense way - we already have three swimmers working with him), we will challenge her more in workouts with different sets than she usually uses (this will keep her from being able to compare too much with what she already knows about) and we will have her train with the sprint group two days a week or even three vs. the 200 group. On kicking days will have her use fins and even a snorkel occasionally so she can kick on faster intervals so she knows what it is like to move faster in the water. We also will no longer use her lifetime best times as a reference point. Rather we will use her season's best times and work from there. We don't really know if this will work. What we do know is that our current path is not working. Her confidence will grow from the work with the boxing coach and her faster swimming in workouts with fins. We may find that she needs more sprint work even though her best event is the 200. We may even discover we were wrong and her best event will be the 100 free. She also can swim fly so that may emerge as another event for her.
We encourage all coaches and swimmers to use meet performances as feedback mechanisms. Keep doing what is working well and drop that which isn't. The best coaches - measured by their effectiveness - adapt to their athletes...not the other way around...in our opinion. What is yours?
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