I suspect many people (myself included) view the arm
recovery in freestyle as time to give the recovering arm
muscles a little rest.
But consider the possible advantages of working the recovery
a bit harder. (This is at speeds less than sprinting)
(a) The recovering arm could be back in streamline sooner
so less form drag.
(b) The recovering arm will be more free of bubbles
when beginning the catch,
(c) The recovered arm can begin to catch as soon as
the pushing arm leaves the water.
(d) The energy cost of a fast recovery isn't that high.
The recovering arm moves through air not dense water.
(e) Front quadrant swimming is still achieved without introducing
any delay in the pulling arm i.e. you are not waiting
for the recovering arm to "catch-up" before staring the
pull.
Any Comments?!?
It seems like what you are describing is pretty standard FQS. Maybe I'm still not getting it, but to me it seems like any increase in recovery speed will actually increase the "catch-up" delay because your pulling speed is fixed. In other words, if the pull and recovery took exactly the same amount of time there would be no delay, and as the recovery becomes shorter relative to the pull the catch-up delay increases.
I don't know about the reduction in trapped air at the catch. It seems like when I speed up my turnover (and, thus, my recovery speed) I'm trapping more air.
It seems like what you are describing is pretty standard FQS. Maybe I'm still not getting it, but to me it seems like any increase in recovery speed will actually increase the "catch-up" delay because your pulling speed is fixed. In other words, if the pull and recovery took exactly the same amount of time there would be no delay, and as the recovery becomes shorter relative to the pull the catch-up delay increases.
I don't know about the reduction in trapped air at the catch. It seems like when I speed up my turnover (and, thus, my recovery speed) I'm trapping more air.
