Cesar Cielo is fastest swimmer in the world -- 25 yards in 8.88 to the foot -- he was just trying to "maintain" on the second 25...
There are 3 ways to swim faster in any given race:
1) Improve your technique -- if you become more effecient in your technique, your times will drop across the board
2) Maintain a pace as close as possible to maximum speed -- You can hold your maximum speed for 6-8 seconds. There are no swim races of that length - so when training for any swimming race (50 up the mile), you are trying to maintain a pace as close to your maximum speed as possible.
3) Get Faster = improve your maximum speed
I would say on average, Masters swimmers (and age-groupers) spend their in the water workout season according to the following breakdown (rough guess):
1) Improving technique = 20-30%
2) Maintaining close to max = 65-79%
3) Improving Max Speed = 1-5%
Think about it -- if you swim 4-5 times per week, that equals about 20 hours a month. Did you spend more than a full hour in October on maximum speed ?
This Thread is all about Category 3 -- Improving your Max Speed --
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My experience with the SWIMETRICS testing --
First of all - you need a little bit of a thick skin, you walk away just a little deflated - he said even some of the great swimmers wonder afterwards "am I doing anything right"?
A couple of key changes us oldtimers need to get rid of once and for all:
- the S-type stroke in Freestyle is no good >> set the elbow as high as possible and then pull in a straight line. Any scull to the side will slow you down.
- even in Fly - keep the arms pulling as straight as possible; I saw my speed slow down as soon as my hands came close together in the strongest part of my stroke - I was taught the "key hole" in fly and it seems to be wrong
- keep the freaking head down - once and for all - the head must stay down. Don't argue with me, talk to Dr. G, who has done this test for the US Olympic team.
- don't assume great swimmers do everything correctly. Just because Phelps swims a loping Free stroke, that does not mean it is correct. Just because Ian Thorpe has his head a little higher, that does mean it's the way to swim. Nobody has the perfect stroke and everybody is looking to improve.
My experience with the SWIMETRICS testing --
First of all - you need a little bit of a thick skin, you walk away just a little deflated - he said even some of the great swimmers wonder afterwards "am I doing anything right"?
A couple of key changes us oldtimers need to get rid of once and for all:
- the S-type stroke in Freestyle is no good >> set the elbow as high as possible and then pull in a straight line. Any scull to the side will slow you down.
- even in Fly - keep the arms pulling as straight as possible; I saw my speed slow down as soon as my hands came close together in the strongest part of my stroke - I was taught the "key hole" in fly and it seems to be wrong
- keep the freaking head down - once and for all - the head must stay down. Don't argue with me, talk to Dr. G, who has done this test for the US Olympic team.
- don't assume great swimmers do everything correctly. Just because Phelps swims a loping Free stroke, that does not mean it is correct. Just because Ian Thorpe has his head a little higher, that does mean it's the way to swim. Nobody has the perfect stroke and everybody is looking to improve.
