In another thread, now closed, speed vs. technique was mentioned and then the thread got off on a tangent... I was curious what people think about speed vs. technique.
In the past few years our coach, Kerry O'Brien, has been telling us that at the end of the race when most are "dead" it is the swimmer that slows down the least who is better off. Obviously as the race progresses you will eventually get slower, but if you can keep your stroke together the entire race, and especially at the end, you will do better. We even did some fun sets to help us realize when we begin to slow down.
For example we would swim a 75 full speed. The second you felt yourself start to slow down you were to stop on that spot. I think mine was about 45 yards if I remember right. You take that information and work it into your race. It was helpful to know where "the wheels start to come off" so I can concentrate more on technique at that point. (I can't remember but I think we were also timed and worked that in as well...)
Kerry is very innovative and is always trying new things. So along the lines of the thread with "old dogs, new tricks" Kerry keeps our "pound" hoppin'. And because he is such a positive motivator everyone will try these new things. Some may not like it or use it but at least they've tried something new!
What new things have you (the collective you) tried? Was it helpful?
Parents
Former Member
Hi Karen,
Good topic - I believe that their is a definite correlation between speed and technique (contrary to what some others believe). I would agree with your coach, as soon as your form starts to suffer - your overall performance will decline. Most sports talk about keeping it in control (football superbowl coaches talk about keeping their players emotions in check at the beginning of the game and not get caught in the hype and make a mistake in the openings minutes of the game which can then be a distraction for the remainder of the game). Hollywood Fiction or not, I liked the scene in Days of Thunder where they are trying to get Cole Trickle to drive more conservatively - he drives some laps how he wants too (flat out fast, no control) and then he drives the same number of laps the way the crew chief tells him and he ends up being faster and having more tread on the tires. We do quite a bit of pace work and stroke drill sets in workouts designed to reign back in form once we get tired, this to hopefully negate some of the form deterioration when one gets tired when it comes to race time.
Hi Karen,
Good topic - I believe that their is a definite correlation between speed and technique (contrary to what some others believe). I would agree with your coach, as soon as your form starts to suffer - your overall performance will decline. Most sports talk about keeping it in control (football superbowl coaches talk about keeping their players emotions in check at the beginning of the game and not get caught in the hype and make a mistake in the openings minutes of the game which can then be a distraction for the remainder of the game). Hollywood Fiction or not, I liked the scene in Days of Thunder where they are trying to get Cole Trickle to drive more conservatively - he drives some laps how he wants too (flat out fast, no control) and then he drives the same number of laps the way the crew chief tells him and he ends up being faster and having more tread on the tires. We do quite a bit of pace work and stroke drill sets in workouts designed to reign back in form once we get tired, this to hopefully negate some of the form deterioration when one gets tired when it comes to race time.
