We love to SDK. It's the 5th stroke. It takes skill, strength, flexibility, conditioning & mental toughness.
For many it's the 2nd fastest stroke, but it's not a legal stroke.
We wish it was legal. We wish there weren't 15 m restrictions in races.
We count our kicks because kicks count.
We train to SDK faster. Some call SDKs underwaters or dolphins.
What are you doing to improve your SDK?
How many do you take in each race?
Help! My SDK is Horrible! has many tips & a program to get faster.
Here's a helpful post in it.
What are your SDK times?
15, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150 & 200?
Spend some time in the SDK lane & you'll be kicking faster before you know it.
the breastroke lane
The Middle Distance Lane
The Backstroke Lane
The Butterfly Lane
The SDK Lane
The Taper Lane
The Distance Lane
The IM Lane
The Sprint Free Lane
The Pool Deck
In the 100 fly I take 7-8 kicks off the walls. I breathe most strokes, though not because of the SDKs (I have just found that it doesn't slow me down). Here is a clip from the floswimming from Clovis nationals last year (I'm in lane 5):
www.floswimming.org/.../177507
In the 200 fly, currently I take 6 kicks off the walls on the first 100, then 5 kicks on the second. Clovis clip (again, lane 5):
www.floswimming.org/.../178484
I do more kicks on backstroke, but it isn't because oxygen debt is less of a problem: actually it is worse in backstroke than fly b/c of the flipturn. I am simply faster at SDK on my back, and I believe my butterfly swim is a little faster than my backstroke swim. Combine the two, and it makes more sense to take 1-2 fewer kicks off the walls in my fly races.
In practices I never take fewer than 5 kicks off the wall on fly sets, no matter the distance. As Ahelee says, there is a big psychological component (though I also think there is some physiological adaptation): at this point, doing fewer than 5 kicks feels very odd to me.
there's a swimmer on my team who trumped me in the 2008 nats in austin
his splits were
28
32
36
...
...
...
drum roll
can you guess what it is
...
...
...
still drumming
...
...
...
ok
here it is
...
...
...
not yet
can you guess
ok
I'll tell you now
44
28
32 1:00
36 1:36
44 2:20
I don't think he SDKed much
he went vertical on that last 50, it was awful, painful, & somewhat hilarious to witness in a twisted sort of way
the best way to swim any 200 is to
not go out too hard, use easy speed & breathe
&
keep your 2nd 3rd & 4th splits as close to each other as possible
don't kill yourself on the first 50
breathe, save your legs, do gentle SDKs,
Mike Ross told me that when he swam his 200 bk at 2008 nats in Austin
he worked his SDK then swam easy to moderate to each turn.
Haven't tried it yet but it seems very sensible
In other words, during a 100m SC(whatever yards or meters), during the second 50 you take between 6 and 10 SDK off each walls?
Same for the 200 BF?
How many meters do you travel under water with 6-10 SDK?
SDK habits during any duration backstroke event don't interest me at all. Just the butterfly.
SDK off of every single solitary wall.
Warm-up, EZ swimming, moderate training, and fast racing.
Huge mental game at the beginning which soon becomes a great long fast habit. During your fly events? Which one do you typically compete in? Both the 100 and the 200?
Can you take say... 10m SDK off each wall during a 200m BF Short Course?
Each swimmer is different
Do what works for you & train to improve.
Test your ability
Michael Ross & Chris Stevenson are 2 of the best masters SDKers, they are great ones to watch & model yourself after. Do any of these two compete in both 100fly and 200fly?
So far, the fastest fly swimmer I came across on this site is Born2Fly I believe, a swimmer to whom I can relate since he does compete in the 200mfly event. Not much SDK though...
I consider SDK into Backstroke races as being a completely different animal.
100 fl 6 to 8 How far from the wall does this bring you? And more importantly, what's your breathing pattern during the 100? Can you SDK 6-8 then perform the full stroke portion breathing every 2?
During the 200fly, what's your sdk count?
I'm not sure. Maybe 8 meters from a pushoff?
So in other words, during a 200 you manage to swim 8m under water x 8 length?
Thank you very much for this precious information.
Charles
Chris does the 100-200 and hates the 50. He SDKs quite a bit in his 200, but I'm not certain of the # he takes. Interesting. I am anxious to read Chris Racing strategy over 200.
If I take too many SDKs in a 200 back though, I go into oxygen debt and crash. That is my concern. Not nearly as much of a problem for backstroke events where you can, in theory, inhale sufficient levels of o2 to hopefully repay the o2 accumulated deficit within the 25.
