Distance per stroke

Haven't done any DPS drills for free in a while. Maybe I can get our coach to let us do some tonight. I wanna say last time I did them I got down to 9 or 10.

Yes, I do these too - but can only do 12. Hmmmmmm. Oh well, I am a late bloomer. In the "Dark-haired, German, Italian and Polish descent, 5'9-1/2", engineer, late bloomer category I can do lower stroke count than anyone!":)

Don't wait for your coach, simply count your strokes for a length, then concentrate on how you could become more efficient. Work on taking a stroke off in the next length. When I am passing another swimmer, I try to stretch out and glide past as opposed to speeding past. See if that idea works. Remember that there is an aspect of critical velocity. Where it is not as efficient to have too long a stroke and loose the efficient forward even momentum. Your coach will be able to tell you this.

I think a common mistake or fallacy is not doing drills during warm up - if you are doing a 300 or 400 warm up why not put in a few lengths of drills into your warm up - don't wait for the coach to tell you to do drills (sort of like vegetables in a meat and potato diet - they're good for you so help yourself and take seconds). Jeff

Originally posted by kaelonj I think a common mistake or fallacy is not doing drills during warm up - if you are doing a 300 or 400 warm up why not put in a few lengths of drills into your warm up - don't wait for the coach to tell you to do drills (sort of like vegetables in a meat and potato diet - they're good for you so help yourself and take seconds). Jeff Very true! My coach mentions this often. He also often calls for drills during warmup anyway.

Originally posted by DocWhoRocks Just work on getting a longer/better push off/streamline from the wall. The longer your push off, the less strokes you take, the less energy you expend :) I don't think you're going to get all that long of streamline unless you kick, though! You'll just cork up to the surface at some point.

Originally posted by knelson So was this with a pull buoy? 10 strokes or 10 cycles? If you're talking 10 strokes that's impressive without a kick. I could get into single digits, but probably not without kicking. Just work on getting a longer/better push off/streamline from the wall. The longer your push off, the less strokes you take, the less energy you expend :)

Connie, that is an excellent DPS! A fun way to get DPS drills in is to play "golf" as part of your warm-up! You do a set of 5 descending 50's free on 1:00 and count your strokes. Note your time on each 50. Add your time to your DPS number. This is your "golf" score. Try to descend your score with each 50. Its fun!

Originally posted by Conniekat8 Do you do DPS drills? We did some yesterday, and I was able to do 10 (25Y pool) - without kicking. So was this with a pull buoy? 10 strokes or 10 cycles? If you're talking 10 strokes that's impressive without a kick. I could get into single digits, but probably not without kicking.

Originally posted by knelson So was this with a pull buoy? 10 strokes or 10 cycles? If you're talking 10 strokes that's impressive without a kick. I could get into single digits, but probably not without kicking. that was without a pull buoy well, if you neglect the size of my built-in rear flotation device ;) No, not 10 cycles (that would be 20 strokes) 1-left 2-right 3-left 4-right 5-left - breathe - etc... I think I did 5 count breating on that one. They were long and stretched out and not very fast. The major progress was that I was able to stay in the streamlined position for a long time, and continue to glide along, even if slowly, without having to take another stroke or getting out of balance.