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.
they were doing a set of 5x 200 on 2:30. the leaders of 2 adjacent lanes were both holding 1:43's... one at 16 SPL, one at 9 SPL.
...
what does this have to do with OW? nothing
Here's a hypothetical question: Of the two guys holding 1:43s, which one would be better in open water? (Assuming similar navigational IQ, psychological make-up, etc.) My bet is on the guy doing 16 SPL. How do I know? I don't. It's just that - for whatever reason - the best open water swimmers seem to have higher SR's than the best pool distance swimmers. Correlation isn't causation - but it is what it is.
When Grant Hackett went 14:34, he was holding 75 SPM. In the 2000 Olympics, the average SR for the top 8 men in the 1500 was 82 SPM (Salo & Riewald, Appendix A). What about the 400 Free? 84 SPM. And then there's open water. Here's a video of the 2010 USA-S 10K Nationals:
YouTube - Tactics & Techniques of Elite Open Water Swimmers
I measured the SR's of 5 or 6 different guys, and I couldn't find a single one under 80 SPM - in the middle of a 10K. Indeed, many were substantially higher. The end of the video shows the final 100m, when Fran Crippen out-touches Chip Peterson. Chip was stroking at about 92 SPM, and Fran at certain points was over 100 SPM. After 9,900m of swimming.
My pet theory (as you know) is that higher SR's have an advantage in those types of races because they're able to maintain more consistent velocity when knocked off balance by choppy water and/or other swimmers in close proximity. The scrum of an open-water peloton (especially during starts and around turn buoys) is not the place for a leisurely SR. Also, I find I can sight more efficiently with a higher SR. It's less disruptive to the flow of my stroke.
Am I saying any given random Masters swimmer should try to increase their SR to become better in open water? Not at all.
P.S., I guess I'm a little sensitive on this issue because I recently had a TI coach encourage me to be more "patient" with my catch - to do more of a catch-up style stroke, even if it lowered my SR. I experimented this for a while - and it made me slower. I think it was bad advice - and he knew I'm primarily an open water swimmer. I wonder if Paul Newsome would given the same advice?
they were doing a set of 5x 200 on 2:30. the leaders of 2 adjacent lanes were both holding 1:43's... one at 16 SPL, one at 9 SPL.
...
what does this have to do with OW? nothing
Here's a hypothetical question: Of the two guys holding 1:43s, which one would be better in open water? (Assuming similar navigational IQ, psychological make-up, etc.) My bet is on the guy doing 16 SPL. How do I know? I don't. It's just that - for whatever reason - the best open water swimmers seem to have higher SR's than the best pool distance swimmers. Correlation isn't causation - but it is what it is.
When Grant Hackett went 14:34, he was holding 75 SPM. In the 2000 Olympics, the average SR for the top 8 men in the 1500 was 82 SPM (Salo & Riewald, Appendix A). What about the 400 Free? 84 SPM. And then there's open water. Here's a video of the 2010 USA-S 10K Nationals:
YouTube - Tactics & Techniques of Elite Open Water Swimmers
I measured the SR's of 5 or 6 different guys, and I couldn't find a single one under 80 SPM - in the middle of a 10K. Indeed, many were substantially higher. The end of the video shows the final 100m, when Fran Crippen out-touches Chip Peterson. Chip was stroking at about 92 SPM, and Fran at certain points was over 100 SPM. After 9,900m of swimming.
My pet theory (as you know) is that higher SR's have an advantage in those types of races because they're able to maintain more consistent velocity when knocked off balance by choppy water and/or other swimmers in close proximity. The scrum of an open-water peloton (especially during starts and around turn buoys) is not the place for a leisurely SR. Also, I find I can sight more efficiently with a higher SR. It's less disruptive to the flow of my stroke.
Am I saying any given random Masters swimmer should try to increase their SR to become better in open water? Not at all.
P.S., I guess I'm a little sensitive on this issue because I recently had a TI coach encourage me to be more "patient" with my catch - to do more of a catch-up style stroke, even if it lowered my SR. I experimented this for a while - and it made me slower. I think it was bad advice - and he knew I'm primarily an open water swimmer. I wonder if Paul Newsome would given the same advice?
