Hi Andrew,

Could you let me know what your thoughts are regarding head position in freestyle? Do you advocate “eyes down” or do you have more variation in your swimmers, with some looking more forward? I am personally finding the eyes down position is slowing me down and am wondering whether to try “pushing through” in hopes of longer term gains, or to stick with the head position that seems to be faster for me at the moment.

Thanks for your help.

When you say 'straightening out your pull', do you mean that you began pulling with a straighter arm (less elbow bend), you started pulling back straighter (less lateral movement), or both?

Thanks,

Andrew

Swimming more often will always help. The water is foreign environment with different 'rules' as to how you move. The more often you can get in the water, the better. This is true even if the total volume/time for the week is similar.

One day at a time! Get little wins and will eventually add up to something big.

Andrew

I got rid of any 'S' in my stroke relative to the pool. Definitely like setting my hand and pulling my body past the "stationary" hand. I'll even look on occasion at the path my hand is taking to ensure that I'm not reverting (I can feel it slip when I get fatigued). From above, my hand should trace a straight line from the catch through to the end of the pull. Important to distinguish "straight relative to the pool" from "straight relative to my body," as my body rotation ensures that I'm engaging the important lat muscles throughout the pull.

Completed the TSS assessment this morning and am proud to report I am faster.

I knocked 38 s. off the 400 (I think I could have done better but I didn't pace very well) and then I knocked 29 s. off the 200.

I think I've eliminated about 90% the little head lift I had in breathing and the slow swimming has really helped with my rotation.

Curious if I can get some video if you will do an analysis for my next couple of things to work on? I don't mind it being public on this thread and I'm happy to pay you for your time. Not sure if that would be good for the thread or a distraction.... totally up to you.

Thanks so much for the help! I'm happy to finally be making some progress.

Thanks for the insight. Where you actively taught to the 'S', or did you just acquire it over time? The 'straight relative to the pool' vs. 'straight relative to the body' differentiation is an important one, that trips people up.

Andrew

Pretty sure that was the accepted thinking when I started swimming in the mid-1980s. So when I and others would do that (probably due to fatigue causing the hand to slip water during the pull), nobody thought twice about correcting it.

Makes sense. I appreciate it. I thought that was the timeline, which was why I asked. It's interesting to see how thinking changes over time.

Makes one wonder what we're doing now that will be totally different in 30 years!

Andrew

Hi Andrew. Thanks again for this thread. I have a question for you.

A typical workout for me is 30 x 50 on 1:15. I usually come in :45-46. This is significantly faster than it was even six months ago and I am swimming at 60spm. At 75spm, I can hit :40, though I can't make the interval more than a time or two. If I try to, I find that I slip and my times start to climb back towards :45 over the next several reps.

Recently, I have been experimenting with resistance training. Usually I'll do some 100s with paddles and dragsox with or without the pull buoy mid workout. After a few sets, I'll return to my 50s and I find that I am dropping as much as four seconds per interval. It feels like I am flying. Over the next few reps, I return to my normal interval time.

My question for you is how much resistance work should I be doing? Is there a ratio of normal swimming to resistance work that you would recommend? Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks again.

Somewhere back in the middle of this thread someone asked "what if I want to get really fast, as in a 16:00 1500 m", and you replied that he/she need to swim a lot of yards but also to swim fast 25s and 50s every day. Since 25s and 50s are the staple diet of young swimmers learning to swim faster in a competitive swim clinic, I am curious as to why you only recommended the 25s/50s to this one fellow and not to everyone trying to get faster. Thanks, Eric.

Working on getting some video, hopefully this week.

Quick pacing question...

TriDot gave me this great workout this week, best possible average of 7 x 50y on 2:30 with a middle recovery set and then another of the same.

It took me a couple 50's to realize this is basically a sprint at my ability. So, my fastest 50's were 1:32/100y - what would be good pacing to aim for in the 200 and 400?

Also, I was reading about how faster swimmers turn their arms over at a rate of 60+ spm - this some times confuses me because I don't know if they're quoting one arm or both, but I was comparing my swim to a good swimmer's workout and I average a distance per stroke of about 2 yards swimming slow and 1.5 in a sprint with a stroke rate of low 20's cruising and mid 30's at my fastest. The more accomplished swimmer turns over 65 times per minute and a DPS closer to 1.25 yards. Should I be focusing on faster turnover and less glide?

It took me a couple 50's to realize this is basically a sprint at my ability. So, my fastest 50's were 1:32/100y - what would be good pacing to aim for in the 200 and 400?

Not answering for the OP, but you can do your 50s with varied speeds, and that will help. I do a set a bunch - 20x50 on 1:00 (1:05 would be ok at your speed) but doing them as 8x50 with every 4th FAST, 6x50 with every 3rd fast, 4x50 with every 2nd fast, and 2 fast. You begin to develop both feeling easier at the slower speed and learning to recover while swimming. Just a thought on the 50s workout!

Hi Andrew. Thanks again for this thread. I have a question for you.

A typical workout for me is 30 x 50 on 1:15. I usually come in :45-46. This is significantly faster than it was even six months ago and I am swimming at 60spm. At 75spm, I can hit :40, though I can't make the interval more than a time or two. If I try to, I find that I slip and my times start to climb back towards :45 over the next several reps.

Recently, I have been experimenting with resistance training. Usually I'll do some 100s with paddles and dragsox with or without the pull buoy mid workout. After a few sets, I'll return to my 50s and I find that I am dropping as much as four seconds per interval. It feels like I am flying. Over the next few reps, I return to my normal interval time.

My question for you is how much resistance work should I be doing? Is there a ratio of normal swimming to resistance work that you would recommend? Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks again.

Forgot to answer this fully. It's hard for me to know definitely. If you want to get a good sense of what you PROBABLY could hold, do something like the following-

200
2x5x50 with 20-30 seconds rest between each 50; active recovery in between

400
10x50 with 10-20 seconds rest with recovery in between

Whatever you do on those sets, you could probably do straight up for 1 effort if you were excited about going for it on the individual swim. As you can tell, those sets are pretty different than the 50s on 2:30. It would likely be several seconds slower per 50.

Didn't you do a fast 200 and 400 recently? How did those times compared to the 1:32/100 average from the 50s? That's a pretty good indicator of how many seconds you'd need to add to the 1:32 average. Do those comparisons, and you'll get a sense of how predictive any set is for YOU.

Hope that helps.

Andrew

Speaking to a 16:00 1500m, my assumption (perhaps incorrect) was that this individual was already a pretty competent swimmer and reasonably close to achieving this target. Perhaps they can swim 19:00 for 1500m or something similar. Someone like this probably has pretty decent skills and a pretty decent base of fitness. Most people tend to neglect the speed aspect, particularly in longer swimming events, and when they start to get pretty good. Everyone focuses on the volume and the fitness aspect. However, it's still a speed event and they need to work on that.

To your point, I think doing short sprints is beneficial for anyone, provided they are focused executing their skills as fast as possible, rather than just swimming hard. The reason I hadn't discussed or made that suggestion to anyone else was that's the only real question that's been directed my way about training. Everything else has been mostly about technique, so I haven't really gotten into training prescription for anyone else.

I am NOT a fan of just doing 25s DRILL and thinking that doing so will magically change your skills. Technique has to be integrated into everything you do. If you're referencing that advice, I see doing 25s/50s FAST and repetitive 25s drill, I think that those two strategies are very different.

As a basic approach to training, with technical development in mind, there are three types (all of which have nearly infinite sub-variations)

1. Slow training- Sub threshold, doesn't have to be continuous, the focus is on building volume over time. You should be executing your skills to the best of your current ability. Strict technical work can and should be a part of this process.
2. Fast training- very short and fast, larger recoveries, swimming as fast you can with a reasonable standard of technique based upon your current abilities. You can do some technical work FAST here.
3. Hard training- threshold type work/VO2max type work/etc. This can encompass a range of activities, most requiring effort and creating fatigue. Again, executed with a reasonable standard of technique.

Over a season, you build a 'base' with 1 and 2, and start layering in and eventually focusing on 3.

To clearly answer your original question, it does have value for everyone. It will be more valuable to the individual that is already working on their technique and doing a decent amount of solid swimming. This is especially true when covering longer distances. If someone just focuses on the short stuff, it's probably not a winning combination to swim well over longer distances, so it's not something I emphasize immediately in my communication.

One of the big values for ANYONE is NOT swimming at the same speed every time they get in the water. The should practice swimming slow, fast, and somewhere in between. Swimming the same speed all the time is not a great strategy.

If anyone has questions about the training side, happy to answer them as well.

Hope that helps. If you have follow up questions, please let me know. Speed matters.

Andrew

Hi,

I’d like some feedback on my stroke. I’m new to triathlon and used to swim when I was a kid but haven’t swam in 40 ish years. Attached video is my first laps of warm up. This is typical low endurance pace for me. Thanks!

Will put your plan to work and will report back.

Thanks so much for taking the time to respond.