Sorry if this is a repeat thread, but I searched and couldn't find anything. Is it odd to have your breaststroke be significantly faster than your front crawl? I thought breaststroke was supposed to be the slowest stroke, but it seems to be the opposite for me. My time for a 50y free used to be 45-50s, but it's about 35 now (VERY slow, I know). My time for 50y *** is between 28 and 29s even at the end of a long practice.
My coaches have watched my technique for both strokes, and they said that my front crawl technique is great. I'm probably taking about 10 strokes per 25 yards. The only thing I can think of is that my front crawl looks almost identical to Grant Hackett's, even when I'm trying to sprint. I think you're supposed to stay flat when you sprint, but it doesn't feel natural to me.
Anyway, does this just mean that *** is my natural stroke, or is there something horrifically wrong with my front crawl that 4 coaches and myself missed?
So, basically, I should try and increase my turnover while keeping my strokes efficient. That seems obvious, but I guess my body just doesn't want to do it. Ha.
You might throw in some swims where you just turn over as fast as you can w/o worrying much about technique. Just try doing some 25s where you spin your arms as fast as you can and see what your time/stroke count is there.
Overall, yeah, ideally you want to increase turnover and keep your strokes efficient at the same time. You shouldn't let stroke count be your sole metric for determining efficiency, though. Like alphadog said, you probably want to look at your time and your stroke count together.
Do some Swim Golf sets where you do some 25s and 50s where you add your time to your stroke count and try to get the lowest total. That will help you find out where your 'sweet' spot is.
mjgold
I watched some video of 50 yard freestyle events. It is hard to count strokes exactly, but it seems like the top guys are taking 23-26 strokes. For a 19 second race, this means their turnover is between one stroke every 0.73 and 0.83 seconds. That is more than twice as fast as yours. I think it is safe to say that you should try to move in that direction.
Like anything else in swimming, your body will adjust in time. Keep in mind that you are going to give up some efficiency in return for the turnover. The key is to find the right balance.
Mike
And if you watch a video of Grant Hackett swimming, his turnover is around 0.9 - 1 s per stroke on the 1500. I mention this because mj said his freestyle "looks like Grant Hackett's".
My time for 50y *** is between 28 and 29s even at the end of a long practice.
Agree with the others, those are some fast times for ***. Do you compete? It would be interesting to see how your times drop even more for a meet. What age group are you in? You may be able to get USMS top 10 times.
Pwolf: I do a 2-beat kick, so that might have something to do with it. I try to incorporate a 4-beat kick in there, but it doesn't feel natural. I'm also not that great at SDKs, so I just do 2 or 3 and then surface.
Try do over kick sets. Like 6x50 Free, 25 EZ, 25 over kicking where you kick as fast as you can.
I don't plan on doing any competing in freestyle, I just want to make it better. If I eventually get a decent time, I may try it at an event, but right now I'm focusing on the breaststroke.
Why not? I guess I don't understand this reasoning. My Breaststroke is easily my worst stroke but I still will race *** and IMs to give myself race experience. As to decent time, decent for who? Just get in there and race. Who (other than you) cares about your times? It's about challenging yourself to do the best you can, and if your best right now is 35 (I bet it's faster than that) then so what? Just my thoughts on the matter.
Paul
Former Member
mjgold
I watched some video of 50 yard freestyle events. It is hard to count strokes exactly, but it seems like the top guys are taking 23-26 strokes. For a 19 second race, this means their turnover is between one stroke every 0.73 and 0.83 seconds. That is more than twice as fast as yours. I think it is safe to say that you should try to move in that direction.
Like anything else in swimming, your body will adjust in time. Keep in mind that you are going to give up some efficiency in return for the turnover. The key is to find the right balance.
Mike
Former Member
How long can you maintain that 50 speed? Maybe you should train distance free instead of worrying about sprinting.
What is your stroke rate for a 28s 50 BR?
How flexible are your ankles? When you point your toes, can your feet reach 180 degrees or beyond?
