Letter from Coach Simon

 

Hi to all you “Tridents”   You’ve got very good coaches  led by my friend and excellent Coach Cody.  So, best of luck to all of you in the future.  Here is a short article on a subject that I thought important for your development, so here goes.

First, success in competitive swimming comes through discipline.  The D word can be described in many ways, but most important is self discipline------------------doing things correctly day in day out.  Those that do that and have both patience and persistence are the ones that will be rewarded regardless of winning a gold medal in the most important competition of you life.

Stroke rate, stroke control, and distance per stroke!  You’ve probably heard all three at one time.  Which is most important?  Well, since most of you are still at the beginning levels of the sport, let’s start with

Distance Per Stroke from here on out called DPS.  DPS leads to stroke control and DPS leads eventually to learning stroke rate.  Control is obvious, going out in a 100 meter race taking your strokes wildly out of control will only cause you to ‘drop dead’ in the last 25 meters.  Even the 50 meter freestyle has to be controlled. After all the world record holder in the 50 only takes about 20 strokes.  Stroke rate can best be defined as the number of strokes you are taking each minute, but---let’s not worry about that one right now.  Once you can maximize your efficiency in the water, then we start learning more about stroke rate.

What is stroke efficiency?   Going the fastest time possible with the least number of strokes.  Imagine yourself being 6 feet tall and your racing another swimmer of fairly equal talent who is also 6 ft. tall.  You’re taking 28 cycles per 50 and the other swimmer is taking 22 cycles per 50.  Who has the best chance of winning the race???  The person taking less cycles of course.  Why?  Because that person has minimized their energy output at the beginning of the race and has a lot more ‘fuel’ coming home than you.

So, how do we get to DPS and control?   Very simple!!  Personal self discipline every practice.  COUNT YOUR STROKES!!!!!  Learn how many cycles you are averaging for each 50 and what times you are swimming.  Example, you swim a 200 meter freestyle and take 105 cycles and your time is 2:20.  Well, divide your four 50’s into the 105 and you have approximately 26 cycles per 50 with an average time of  35 seconds per 50.  So, we take that information back into the practice pool.  We most certainly are not going to improve by doing cycles slower than 35 seconds per 50 or swimming with a cycle count above 26 cycles.  So, using 35 seconds as a base time, do your 50’s starting at 26 cycles and then try to reduce the cycle count each 50 while still holding 35 seconds.  (Hint:  this is easy if you swim relaxed)  So, let’s say you reduce your cycle count down to 22.  Now, let’s reduce the time down to say 33.5 and try 24 cycles.  When you can do a few of those, then start all over again reducing the number of cycles.  After a couple of months of doing that, I can just about guarantee that your time in the 200 will be substantially faster than 2:20.  Why?  Simple--------------you’re covering more distance easier per cycle than you were before.

This can be done in every stroke and every stroke drill.  EFFICIENCY COUNTS!!!!!

Take the above examples to the 1500; the difference in cycles between 26 and 22 is 4.  Four times thirty
50’s = 120 less cycles or 240 less arm strokes.

Good luck in your next practice and next meet.

Coach Simon