The SDK Lane

Yea, I think you have nailed the central challenge. it's lung-capacity/breath-control. Last spring I was working with a coach who suggested that to improve breath control, so that I would be better able to handle more SDKs, I should take more strokes before breathing off every turn in practice. I went from 3 to 4 strokes off every wall and after a few months I did see some improvement, as in I mearly hurt, as opposed to me nearly going blind off each turn, but I discovered during the summer that I am faster at 3 strokes off each wall before the breath. 4 slows me down and I wind up taking more strokes per length too. For many years I would breath every 5 stokes in practice in freestyle. Last year my training partner (triathlete) commented that I might go faster if I had more oxygen, pointing out that great distance swimmers breathe every cycle. I went to breathing every 3 strokes and, sure enough, its faster. It seems clear to me that there is a pretty big speed penalty for depriving oneself of O2. Somehow I have to train myself so that penalty is less. I think the most effective way to train for lung capacity for SDKs is simply to take more of them off each wall in practice, especially at race pace. I don't know that taking more strokes before you breathe (or adopting a breathing pattern where you breathe less) is as effective. My 22 kicks to go 15 yds translates to 36 kicks for 25 yds, so my DPK is comparable. Clearly I need to work on sustaining the SDK longer. I know you are focusing on lung capacity, but I think your DPK is a problem. 36 kicks for a 25 seems a lot; I'm usually at 19-20 kicks. How is your ankle flexibility? And maybe you can tighten your streamline?

8x25/week? Good grief I must be a slow learner. I've been doing 16x25 per day, for like 3 months! Nah - I'm just lazy and they hurt!

For these times, are you guys kicking on your front or back? Does it matter as far as speed? Depends on whether or not you need to breath! :drowning:

For these times, are you guys kicking on your front or back? Does it matter as far as speed? 'funny you should ask that. At Friday evening's practice I had the coach (actually a substitute coach) time me for some 10yd SDKs. I was very surprised to find that I was 0.5s faster on my front than on my back. It feels faster on the back. We did multiple tests with very consistent results.

For these times, are you guys kicking on your front or back? Does it matter as far as speed? Front.

For these times, are you guys kicking on your front or back? Does it matter as far as speed?

For these times, are you guys kicking on your front or back? Does it matter as far as speed? Front too, although once I improve some more I plan to work a bit on my back. Just so I have less armstrokes to do on my back when it comes to IMs

... I know you are focusing on lung capacity, but I think your DPK is a problem. 36 kicks for a 25 seems a lot; I'm usually at 19-20 kicks. How is your ankle flexibility? And maybe you can tighten your streamline? Thanks for the feedback. It does sound like DPK needs work. My ankle flexibility is quite good, I think, but perhaps I should compare my ankle flexibility to that of the kids on the University team, instead of to the runners and triathletes I see in the pool regularly... -streamline can certainly use improvement, the substitute coach told me so juat last Friday. So I was on travel for the past couple of days. One thing this SDK business has done for swimmers is give us something useful to practice in a tiny hotel pool. The one where I was staying paced off at about 9 yds. I did about 100 "lengths" yesterday and played a lot with SDK-DPK. My "natural" kick count was 5 on the front and 7 on the back, but I could get this down to 3-4 on the front and 5 on the back by working DPK. This seems worth more experimentation.

that was a 200 LCM fl I got a little carried away that first 100 I really needed to use easy speed at 2008 SCY Nats in austin a team mate did the 200 fl & split it 28 32 36 44 also wanted to remind folks about HELP! My SDK is Horrible! ow ow ow ow ow my brain hurts make it stop

Hey, a little progress! Today I completed a 25 SCY SDK for the first time ever! and I did it twice! (both on my stomach.) The first time took 40 kicks. The second time I rode the glide on each kick and completed the 25 in 31 kicks. I did not time myself. ...so why did I make it finally? I think that there were a lot of factors: First, I was pretty well rested. Although I did weights yesterday and this morning before swimming, I hadn't swum since Saturday. I think the biggest factor was that while I work my SDK at the end of practice, after 3500+ yds of swimming, today, I was swimming with my 8 yo daughter, so my swim "workout" was not much more than my usual warmup. Another benefit was that I was at a pool that has lines painted both directions. This gave me a better indication of how far I had progressed. The first time I didn't even intend to go a full 25, and almost gave up near the end, but then saw the last line and realized that a few more good kicks would do it. Now I need to time myself and work on improving my speed. I found that the limiting factor on my back was running out of air. Eventually I could not hold back the water any longer and water would flood my nose and estuation tubes. This is not compatible with going fast.