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.
One thing that I might add, is that the analysis of a deformable body (a swimmer) in a fluid is complex, and when you ignore the physiological issues that come in play, any such analysis is an oversimplification and subject to scrutiny. So which of the 2 options (kick more while gliding or better streamlining while swimming) require less power and presumably less energy of the swimmer? This is an entirely different question that requires a further analysis of the physiology of a swimmer, which I believe is more complex than the physics involved.
Here's the rub, and why I had never considered increasing stroke rate as a means of increasing my long distance pace. Both stroke cycles and kick cycles have physics associated with torque and angular forces that are not consistent with forward movement. For example, lifting my arm out of the water on recovery is a wasted movement with forces against gravity and drag. I guessed that the benefits of maintaining forward momentum against drag forces were not equal to the effects of expending more energy in moving all those moment arms in more cycles. My guess seems to be supported when I keep my SPL consistent but increase my SR.
If I swim 100 yards at 15 SPL smoothly at 1:30 per 100, I can sustain this pace for several thousand meters. What fatigues first eventually is my shoulders, but not until I've swum at least 5K. Also, I find I can't swim much slower than 1:35 per 100 without my stroke disintegrating.
My attempts to get faster merely had me increasing my stroke rate while holding SPL constant. So I was swimming 15 SPL at 1:25 per 100. Doing so actually increases the amount of force necessary per stroke to increase velocity (acceleration against the deceleration of drag). Unfortunately, I can only seem to sustain that pace for about 800 yards. Both my shoulders turn to rubber, and I cross into anaerobic swimming within a couple hundred yards.
What it appears some swimmers are doing is sacrificing some of the force per stroke (sliding the catch a bit?) resulting in a higher SR that has an accompanying increase in SPL. We are surmising the payoff is the maintenance of forward momentum. If forward momentum is valuable in a smooth pool with primarily drag as a resistance, it is even much more valuable in open water with cross our counter forces in the forms of waves and tidal push.
What I need to do is find a way that increases velocity without substantially increasing effort. A higher SR with less force per stroke may be that solution.
One thing that I might add, is that the analysis of a deformable body (a swimmer) in a fluid is complex, and when you ignore the physiological issues that come in play, any such analysis is an oversimplification and subject to scrutiny. So which of the 2 options (kick more while gliding or better streamlining while swimming) require less power and presumably less energy of the swimmer? This is an entirely different question that requires a further analysis of the physiology of a swimmer, which I believe is more complex than the physics involved.
Here's the rub, and why I had never considered increasing stroke rate as a means of increasing my long distance pace. Both stroke cycles and kick cycles have physics associated with torque and angular forces that are not consistent with forward movement. For example, lifting my arm out of the water on recovery is a wasted movement with forces against gravity and drag. I guessed that the benefits of maintaining forward momentum against drag forces were not equal to the effects of expending more energy in moving all those moment arms in more cycles. My guess seems to be supported when I keep my SPL consistent but increase my SR.
If I swim 100 yards at 15 SPL smoothly at 1:30 per 100, I can sustain this pace for several thousand meters. What fatigues first eventually is my shoulders, but not until I've swum at least 5K. Also, I find I can't swim much slower than 1:35 per 100 without my stroke disintegrating.
My attempts to get faster merely had me increasing my stroke rate while holding SPL constant. So I was swimming 15 SPL at 1:25 per 100. Doing so actually increases the amount of force necessary per stroke to increase velocity (acceleration against the deceleration of drag). Unfortunately, I can only seem to sustain that pace for about 800 yards. Both my shoulders turn to rubber, and I cross into anaerobic swimming within a couple hundred yards.
What it appears some swimmers are doing is sacrificing some of the force per stroke (sliding the catch a bit?) resulting in a higher SR that has an accompanying increase in SPL. We are surmising the payoff is the maintenance of forward momentum. If forward momentum is valuable in a smooth pool with primarily drag as a resistance, it is even much more valuable in open water with cross our counter forces in the forms of waves and tidal push.
What I need to do is find a way that increases velocity without substantially increasing effort. A higher SR with less force per stroke may be that solution.
