I went swimming last night. 100 yd warm up free style stroke count (18 is my normal count by the way). I then did 9 50yd drills. I was practicing keeping the stroke count down (once again 18 is normal). I noticed my first four sets I was around a minute per 50 yds. So I tried to go harder on the fifth set. I came in 54 seconds. I thought I wonder what I could do a 50 breast stroke in. I came in 57 seconds, but I felt better than the 50 free. So I did breast stroke down, and freestyle back on the next 50. I went 52 seconds.
I thought well I only swam harder because I was being timed. So I did 4 X100's to test it:
- 100 yds - freestlye - 2:05
- 100 yds - breast - 2:12
- 100 yds - first 50 free, 2nd 50 breast - 2:09
- 100 yds - breast, free, breast, free - 2:02
I then did 300 yds to gauge my prep for Morgantown. I did it alternating every 25 yds breast to free. I completed it 6:31. I was 3:11 at 150 yds. This is about the pace I did it in last year, but I hadn't swam 900 yds in front of it.
What is up with this? The only thing I can figure is that I am not getting enough breath during free. So I can only handle 25 to 50 yds before I need to get my head up for longer breathes. I breath every other stroke, trying to get oxygen during the freestyle. I just feel better when I throw in the breast stroke.
Heart rate was never over 140. That was after the 300yds. So I got a little to give, but my arms hurt too much to keep up the sub minute 50 yd pace during free.
4 comments:
I am in a similar boat to you, so I can tell you what I think we should do. I also find that freestyle gives me oxygen debt, which is why I did the backstroke for much of my swim. However, when I can do freestyle, especially with my hand paddles, I can really move. Clearly, freestyle is the fastest stroke, as any list of speed records will demonstrate, but that doesn't mean it will be the fastest for us. What we need to do is improve our form, as Matt has been doing under sharp guidance from a knowledgeable coach, and we will find that it will become our fastest stroke too. They make the kids in swim team do this thing I mentioned earlier called "the corkscrew," which is basically spinning around while going down the lane, back to front without any interruption. I did this frequently during the race after I was doing the front crawl and needed more oxygen. The speed records show that backstroke is only slightly slower than front crawl, so if you can spin smoothly, you will not be taking much time off, and you will feel better.
If you can't get expert guidance, then you just need to practice enough to get comfortable doing that distance without getting your HR way up like last time. Whatever stroke you have to do to avoid going into glycogen mode will be fine. The swim is so short that you will only be a minute behind, and if you didn't get worked up you should be able to make that up on the bike. But in the long run I think that good coaching is the way to go and as Matt will tell you (and you can see by his times), swimming the "right" way makes you go much faster. I had lessons for one day from a knowledgeable friend and it was extremely helpful. The "S" stroke was not something I could get from the books, but once I was shown it and worked on it myself with corrective feedback, I was already moving faster. This in turn helps to create the negative wave on the side of your head that allows you to breathe more easily.
So one last time, swimming is all about form, and our best bet is to work toward perfecting our form and having done that our general fitness from the other pursuits should allow us to motor along pretty well.
If I were to make a guess at what you might be doing technically wrong which is tiring you out in your swim, I would say you are probably leading with your hand when you are bringing your hand out of the water and back in front of you. You want to lift from the elbow, carrying your hand to your ear before leading with your hand for the next stroke. Making this change makes a huge difference in your effort.
2nd thing: Are you getting your air out of you before you need to breathe or are you still exhaling once you face is out of the water?
Of course it could simply be you are more proficient at breast stroke technically.
For the record, I have no other stroke I can fall back on. I thought I was doing breast stroke during one of the classes and the coach told me after the class that I was close but no cigar. I'll should bug him to help me out with some other strokes eventually.
My breast stroke is pretty profiecient. In college they had an intra mural swim meet. We got a team together. I did the 50 breast indvidual and the 50 breast in the medley. I was 5th (out of about 20) in the individual and we won the medley (because we had by far the best butterfly guy). They never asked me to do the free. So, I took the hint.
I should have mentioned that if you think it's the elbow lift. The way to practice that is the "fingertip drag".
Lift from the elbow, drag your fingers across the top of the water all the way to your catch point. Your fingers should be hanging down from your elbow up until you pass your ear.
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