General Discussion Triathlon Talk » How Do I Swim Faster? Your Favorite Swim Drills? Rss Feed  
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2013-07-17 8:50 PM
in reply to: blbriley


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Subject: RE: How Do I Swim Faster? Your Favorite Swim Drills?
As someone who went from 2:30 plus to currently 1:35's, for me it was all about volume. Anytime I was putting in more than 9k yards per week, I improved. Masters swim helped push my yardage up. I also used fins for about a third of my time in each session for swimming and kick sets. Swimming with the fins helped me with my form.

No drills, no coach, just swam a ton. And also, I don't swim exclusively freestyle. In fact, I doubt I swim more than 65% of my total yardage in freestyle. Even in open water I'll bust out some sets of IM. It wasn't until I started doing all four strokes that I got substantially better. Maybe because it wasn't so darn boring at that point.


2013-07-17 10:59 PM
in reply to: brigby1

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Subject: RE: How Do I Swim Faster? Your Favorite Swim Drills?
That would not be a bad set for that ability level. 10-12 seconds to recover and go at it again. Maybe take an extra rest after 15 say 30 sec.
2013-07-18 8:07 AM
in reply to: blbriley

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Subject: RE: How Do I Swim Faster? Your Favorite Swim Drills?

Originally posted by blbriley Here's what I found: To swim fast, you have to swim fast. In every one of your workouts you need to swim some ALL OUT sets. Start with 4x25 with about 1 minute rest, AS HARD AS YOU CAN. The beauty of swimming is that you can really push yourself and recover much faster than the run or bike.

 

x2 on everything this guy says.  I am not the fastest swimmer in the world, but my times have improved dramatically since I started swimming HARD.  Low risk of injury and a great way to improve in the water.  Do shorter sets as mentioned above, but go as hard as you can.  You want to reach the end of the pool huffing and puffing for air.  Take some rest and then do it again. 

2013-07-18 8:15 AM
in reply to: sbsmann


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Subject: RE: How Do I Swim Faster? Your Favorite Swim Drills?
I still think there's def room for drills, particularly for beginners.

Yes, swimming hard helps a lot and is crucial for continued performance, but I'm sure you've also seen more than a few very motivated hardworking swimmers who diligently crank out hard sets in the pool every day but never change their form, and don't get any faster than even a late beginner swimmer as a result.

The errant pull + scissor kick compensation is the biggest one. Unfortunately, swimming hard does not seem to automatically fix this one. I've even swam in masters with some guys who seem to have a lot of swim power, but can't go sub 1:45/100 because they still haven't fixed this issue, and they swim more volume+intensity than I do. (Becomes very obvious when they completely flail when the masters coach asks us to swim sets with no kick, feet pinned together.)
2013-07-18 9:13 AM
in reply to: yazmaster

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Subject: RE: How Do I Swim Faster? Your Favorite Swim Drills?
Originally posted by yazmaster

I still think there's def room for drills, particularly for beginners.

Yes, swimming hard helps a lot and is crucial for continued performance, but I'm sure you've also seen more than a few very motivated hardworking swimmers who diligently crank out hard sets in the pool every day but never change their form, and don't get any faster than even a late beginner swimmer as a result.

The errant pull + scissor kick compensation is the biggest one. Unfortunately, swimming hard does not seem to automatically fix this one. I've even swam in masters with some guys who seem to have a lot of swim power, but can't go sub 1:45/100 because they still haven't fixed this issue, and they swim more volume+intensity than I do. (Becomes very obvious when they completely flail when the masters coach asks us to swim sets with no kick, feet pinned together.)


Yep. As per my previous post, I would say anyone should be hitting 1:30\100 yards has evidence that there are no *major* issues with the technique. Id' say those major issues are a poor kick, poor front\back balance, poor head position, poor roll, poor breathing, poor streamlining, and a poor catch and pull. From there on in, it's just putting in the work and building. Are there form changes you can make to get faster without just swimming lots and lots and doing it hard? Sure. The freaky Shinji guy from TI has the closest thing to 'perfect' technique I've ever seen and he glides along at about 1:15\100 without doing much of anything. He also apparently spends a couple hours per day in an endless pool and has been working on this OCD style for years. If that sounds appealing to you, go for it. I have no problem with swimming hard to get faster. The whole TI approach has this sort of new age thing with it, like 'Hey man, you don't need to swim so hard, you can work on your technique and swim just as fast without doing as much work', and to an extent it's true. But that extent gets smacked around at some point, and I think it's because you can't get from 'good technique' to 'flawless technique' without spending ungodly numbers of hours picking and refining, assuming you even have the coordination and focus to do it, which I don't think most people do. I think Terry Laughlin and Shinji are at the very pointy end of the stick in terms of that approach working. I would venture a guess that the vast majority of TI students get to the ballpark of 1:30\100 and move on or simply say 'this is good enough'. As triathletes, we simply don't have so much time (or money) to dedicate to attempting the TI path, when we can get faster in a shorter period of time by getting to 'good technique' and then becoming beasts through pounding intervals. Is it more work? Yes. But we're trying to get faster, not answer some zen riddle about smooth form and not upsetting the water.
2013-07-18 11:52 AM
in reply to: fisherman76


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Subject: RE: How Do I Swim Faster? Your Favorite Swim Drills?
The funniest thing is that I've been amongst the last to advocate the idea of 'swim easy' to speed from TI!

I do think even beginners have to crank up the intensity and volume somewhat, but until you fix major form issues, you shouldn't be spending the bulk of your time hammering as a slow beginner who's slower than 2:10ish/100.

You gotta fix the major form errors first, even if you're sprinkling in the intensity as a beginner. (I don't think it's even possible to do a correct EVF catch without the proper endurance and strength in your rotator cuff, so you do need swim fitness for some of the technique, possibly a lot of it.)


2013-07-19 9:27 AM
in reply to: fisherman76

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Subject: RE: How Do I Swim Faster? Your Favorite Swim Drills?
Excellent post Fisherman76. I agree with all of your points and am in the ~2:00/100 mark and am going to focus on eliminating my kick for awhile so I can focus on my upper body stroke techniques. I did 20 x 50 sprints today and it felt great and my muscles felt more tired then they have in a long time. Thanks everyone for this thread - some excellent information in here.

Steve
2013-07-19 8:53 PM
in reply to: smallard

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Subject: RE: How Do I Swim Faster? Your Favorite Swim Drills?
I agree with those who said you have major technique flaws to fix. And good on you for aiming high! (1:30/100 is hella fast) You're getting some good feedback...

Best techniques for rapid speed gain:
1. swimming volume and frequency--you need to have some swim-specific fitness to pull off a good stroke. Get in the pool as often as possible. 3x/wk is good, but progress might be slow.
2. keep your front arm near the surface. It streamlines your body and gives you a better catch/pull. Think of it as streamlining off the wall carried down the length of the pool.
3. kicking. It's not that you're building kick speed, it's really a body position drill. Feet near the surface = hips near the surface = good position and speed. Play around with it. Faster kicking is mostly better positioning.
4. be like a rotisserie chicken. Keep you spine and head straight, like a pole runs through them and you rotate around it.
5. early vertical forearm (EVF). The more of this you do, the more water you "grab" and move for propulsion.

Some drills--
One arm pull (just keep one hand in front and pull repeatedly with the other). Keep the front arm straight ahead, spine straight, EVF, and rotate to breath. Do 50s by 25 L and 25 R arm.
Kick, w/ or w/o a board. Keep feet up! Do 25s or 50s. Breathe to the sides, not forward.
Semi-catchup. You want to slightly delay your catch until your recovering hand passes your shoulder, but not wait until both hands are in the water. This helps maintain better balance b/c your weight will stay forward. And helps with EVF.

As many others have said, working the 25, 50, 100, up to 200 is your meat and potatoes. Alternating a 50 drill with a 50-200 swim should help you focus on a specific area and refine it.

G'luck! -J
2013-07-19 8:59 PM
in reply to: karlaj

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Subject: RE: How Do I Swim Faster? Your Favorite Swim Drills?

Just got this one from Macca he and Crowie do this - it's a set to do weekly.

 

600m warm up

Main set (up to three times through)

3x100m freestyle, rest 15-20secs.  Slightly above race pace

4x75m freestyle with paddles, 20-25secs rest.  Slightly above previous pace.

8x50m freestyle with fins (no paddles) - 25-30secs rest.  All out pace

 

When changing equipment paddles/fins etc, ensure to only take the allotted rest period.

600m cooldown

I did this for the first time yesterday just once through - it hurt.  Seems easy to start but the 50's smashed me.  Note your 100m pace at the start and it should improve each week.

 

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