Foreward: My 50 was a good time for me, my 200 time I have actually beat in practice from a push. Criticism on my 50, starts and turns would probably be most beneficial to me, but I am interested to get feedback on some race pace video. These videos are from the DAM SCM meet yesterday.
My times are annotated in the video, but here they are for reference.
50: 27.71
200: 33.48/36.18/36.78/33.77 1:09.66/1:10.55 2:20.21
YouTube- Mike 50 free DAM SCM 2009
YouTube- Mike 200 free DAM SCM 2009
Looks good Q!
The first thing that comes to mind (note that I am not a strong at stroke analysis) is that you could use a stronger, integrated kick. That said, who couldn't? I think an integrated kick would help stabilize your body and keep it in line, and thus make it more efficient with less resistance. Of course an integrated kick would help with propulsion as well, but I think keeping your body stable would be even more beneficial at this point. Your entry and catch looks good from what I can tell.
Your turns look great. The only thing I see is that you're arching your back a bit too much- you want to be an arrow, not a boomerang. You still get good distance off of the wall though.
Start is good too- all I'd say is try to damage the block on the start- pull/push with everything you got. That momentum is valuable in a 50.
I like the angle at which the video was taken- maybe I can get someone to video an actual race at that angle. Anyway, you'll likely get some more informed responses- keep it up!
Re: your 50,I have to disagree about your distance off the start and turns.You are up before the guy next to you on the start and it didn't look like you got past the flags on the turn.I think you would do better going deeper and kicking harder(SDK maybe?)Your breakout wasn't smooth especially on the start.Did you take a breath at the first stroke?It was unclear to me,but if you did that's a no no.You breathed way too much.It's a 50 and 3 breaths is plenty and 2 maybe better,especially as your recovery slowed slightly with your breathing.You also seemed to build your pace a little in that your turn over seemed faster the second 25,maybe you could have started with a little faster turn over.
Q,
It kind of looked like you were swimming in distance mode for the 200. But, this is what happens when you are a nationally ranked distance swimmer!! :) I would say step up the tempo a little. At least, do 1 SDK off of each wall. Heck, I tend to do 2 or 3 during a 1500/1650. You are coming up too early off of each wall.
your 100 splits were almost even so that is a good thing.
Well, at least, you legskin looked cool. Man, I looked like a beached whale compared to you.
Mike,
You know, until I saw your race, I thought I had a slow turnover in the 200.
In the 200, you're taking 1 stroke every .9125 seconds. That corresponds to a SPM (strokes per minute) of about 65-66 strokes. That's on the slow side, especially since you are not getting good side to side body roll that will lengthen each stroke.
As a comparison, Michael Phelps takes 1 stroke every .75 seconds which is a SPM of 90.
You have a solid stroke but you definately need to pick up the tempo to at least 1 stroke every .8 seconds, .85 at the least.
Now, how to do that? Get a Tempo Trainer and use it. Set a beat slightly faster that twice your current time per stroke (so at about 1.8 seconds) and swim free where you are trying to have the same hand enter the water at each beep. As you become familiar with swimming at a higher tempo, decrease the time until you reach your target. And dial up your kick, that wil also help with a higher stroke rate.
I'm at about .82 seconds per stroke or about a SPM of 73.
As for the 50, faster, faster, faster, faster arms!!!! And a monster kick.
I generally agree with everybody else. You have a nice relaxed stroke that seems tailor made for distance swimming. You could extend a bit more on your right arm but that's a minor thing. I also think you could have stayed under a bit more on the start and turns, but that gets awfully hard in a 200 free... The bottom line seems to be that turnover is the missing key. Also, I think you held back too much on the 200. I would have thought that with your stroke rate and a 27.7 on the 50, you would have gone much faster in the 200. I bet you could have maintained 33's on all four 50s. There are threads on how to pace a 200, but I don't think you should be dropping 3 seconds from the third to fourth 50. The trick would be to just slightly improve, I think. Still, looks great. You're a scholar of the sport and I have more to learn from you than you have from me.
Dive: solid; nothing spectacular. You got no umph off of it, so I suspect you used the same dive you always use, and the secret is it won't work at my pool. The blocks are nearly flat, and very slippery. If you use a track start, you have to adjust by inclining your back leg more, and also using your arms to pull you forward to get forward momentum. You may have to lean back and do a slingshot/rear-weighted dive, but in the end it will be faster and set you up much better than just trying to dive off a flat block. The best example was that guy wearing the gold suit. You know, the guy who beat your time in 50, but he swam the 50 ***.
Swim: nothing really wrong with it, it just seems you haven't found your sixth gear (I see fast swims! All the time!) for a blast-o 50 free. Then again, maybe it was 9:00 in the morning. Plus the meet was over in less than 2 hours). It may be a timing issue - a true sprint isn't going to be the same stroke at all as your 200. It seems you have a very slight fishtailing action going on (200). You might want to concentrate on keeping in alignment all the way down your body. It was very solid nice swim, just not inspired. I think we already covered this. It is hard to get up for a local-yokel meet where everyone's playing footsie with you in lane 7.
Turns: One thing it seems you do really good is you come straight in the wall and just about go out in the same spot. Keep thinking, I must squeeze myself through a tube of toothpaste in and off this wall! That is good. The other really good thing is your arms are not flailing and spinning around on the 50 turn. They are streamlined and ready when you push off. That's why you had a relatively much, much better turn and was able to pass that guy right at the turn. xxxx On the 200 free, your legs are slightly out of wack, and you seem to ever so slightly break the line off your turn. Think of a "turn" as flag to flag, not just the tumbling part. I would work on timing your last stroke to pull you into the turn, instead of taking a stroke, stopping at your hip, and then cowboy kicking your legs over.
Regarding SDK's and reference points - in the end, it's just your final time that matters, no matter what you do to get there. You will have to play around with the combination of SDKs and anything else to determine what is optimal for you.
I love the 50 advice. Just go faster.
That's my advice for the 50. :) That and explode off the blocks. You need to start cranking some AFAP 25s to get that turnover going turbo. It does look somewhat slow mo. Need a monster kick too. Crank the caffeine and get mean!
On the 200, I didn't see much kick until the last 25! The legs were mostly floating behind you for balance ... It looked to me like you were also turtling your turns some, you know, floating into them. But, I agree with the others that technically your stroke looks very nice and relaxed.
