After recognizing that my stroke is much longer than most OWS, I decided to poke around and see if stroke was different for OW as opposed to swimming in a pool. I found this (There is a part 2 if you click on the channel and scroll down the right side):
YouTube - Swim Smooth: What Is An Efficient Freestyle Stroke? Part 1
I would love to get reactions. I know that when I quicken my stroke rate and shorten my stroke I seem to fatigue much more quickly. However, this could be due to not pursuing this long enough to re-establish breathing patterns. (When I concentrate on my stroke, I tend to hold my breath without realizing it).
I do know that while my per 100 pace is slowly improving with more speed work in my work outs, it has dropped now where near what it used to be 20 years ago.
Brilliant video - though it's nearly 6 minutes long so I'll summarize:
Paul begins with the observation that any given heat of elite pool freestylers will have sometimes wildly divergent styles - not all of which are the classic "long, smooth" form taught in books, articles, and videos (which Paul diplomatically doesn't name). He points to Laure Manaudou and Janet Evans as particularly striking examples.
Further, open water swimmers and elite triathletes "seem to be a lot more choppy, punchy, and with a much higher stroke rate" than their pool counterparts.
The "choppy, punchy, high SR" style - despite seemingly breaking all the rules of - is by definition efficient for these swimmers, because they are competing (and often winning) at the highest level of the sport.
Therefore, he says, "Efficiency in the water cannot be measured by the number of strokes you take per length, by itself. That would be a gross oversimplification of the freestyle stroke."
Personally, I use a higher SR in open water than I do in distance pool races, and I think it works for me.
As a counterpoint - and, I think, much less compelling argument - see this:
www.totalimmersion.net/.../The-Open-Water-Stroke.html
Brilliant video - though it's nearly 6 minutes long so I'll summarize:
Paul begins with the observation that any given heat of elite pool freestylers will have sometimes wildly divergent styles - not all of which are the classic "long, smooth" form taught in books, articles, and videos (which Paul diplomatically doesn't name). He points to Laure Manaudou and Janet Evans as particularly striking examples.
Further, open water swimmers and elite triathletes "seem to be a lot more choppy, punchy, and with a much higher stroke rate" than their pool counterparts.
The "choppy, punchy, high SR" style - despite seemingly breaking all the rules of - is by definition efficient for these swimmers, because they are competing (and often winning) at the highest level of the sport.
Therefore, he says, "Efficiency in the water cannot be measured by the number of strokes you take per length, by itself. That would be a gross oversimplification of the freestyle stroke."
Personally, I use a higher SR in open water than I do in distance pool races, and I think it works for me.
As a counterpoint - and, I think, much less compelling argument - see this:
www.totalimmersion.net/.../The-Open-Water-Stroke.html
