By the numbers -- a quick test that will reveal your future IronSwim potential

What's your Ironman dream? 

Hearing Mike Riley call your name for the first time?

Running the whole marathon? 

Finishing in a certain time? 

Qualifying for Kona?

Whatever form your dream takes, killing it on Ironman race day requires bringing a lot of elements together - 

• Efficient form that keeps you injury-free as you prepare
• The fitness and speed to finish each leg in the desired time
• An effective taper that energizes you
• A nutrition plan that keeps you going and your tummy happy from start to finish
• A terrific sense of pacing that keeps your desire to "race" through the swim and bike legs effectively in check

What if you could get through your swim leg as fast or faster than you have in the past with perhaps less training time during your preparation and with less effort on race day? That would put you back on land with a lot more in the tank, both mentally and physically, and make for a great beginning to your epic, PR day.

Three elements to a swimming breakthrough

Over the next three posts, I'll examine how you can get a breakthrough in your swimming:

Build a "diesel engine" that goes hard for a long time (this post)

Optimize your technique for greater efficiency and propulsion

Change your mindset to get out your mind out of your body's way

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Element One: Building your diesel engine

Triathlon swims of a mile or more require development of muscular endurance - taking endurance (the ability to complete a long distance), and adding in the ability to complete that distance at 80-95% of your lactate threshold effort. You want to become not a sports car, and not a jalopy, but a semi truck that can pull loads over long distances. 

Build your swimming diesel engine!

I'd like to discuss two numerical models that are useful for defining swimming muscular endurance and pacing yourself on muscular endurance swims to better develop your "diesel engine": SDI and CSS. We'll cover how to diagnose the current state of your swimming engine with SDI, and teach you how to make it better using CSS in your swim sets.

THE TOOL: Use SDI to diagnose your diesel engine status

First up is SDI - Sprint-Distance Index, developed in the 1970s and 80s by Pete Riegel and Jean-Marie DeKonick. The VDOT model from running coach Jack Daniels is similar in concept. It is a "time predictor" model -- if you know your time for a certain distance (for example, an all-out 100y swim), then you can predict your time for a 1500m (or 2.4 mile) swim using a decay constant (SDI) of 1.06 and the following equation:

Time to be predicted = Time known * (Distance to be predicted/Distance known) ^ SDI

The SDI constant is the "decay" in your speed as the distance increases. 1.06 is the ideal value for a triathlete who is well-balanced between sprint and endurance capabilities. 

Where this model gets even more interesting is if you have the results of TWO all-out swims, which allows you to find out how close to 1.06 your SDI is (in addition to predicting swim times for other distances). 

If your SDI is greater than 1.06, you are in need of more endurance and muscular endurance work - you slow down more than expected as the distance swum gets longer.

If your SDI is less than 1.06, then you are a more distance-oriented swimmer and on your way to becoming a "one-speed" swimmer who can't really sprint. If your speed is also fast, this is a good place to be. If your overall speed is slow (>2:00/100y), then you will want to work on your technique and fitness at short distances to improve your speed while keeping an SDI around 1.06 or less.

THE TEST: Let's put this into practice, shall we?

First, warm up well at the pool, and then complete two time trials with 5-8 minutes of very easy swimming/stretching in between. I recommend doing the longer one first since its intensity is lower, but you can do them however you prefer (or do them on separate days). You might do a 100y and a 500y swim, or perhaps a 200y and a 400y swim. If you're highly motivated, you could do a 100m and a 1500m swim to really get an idea of your range. 

If you've done your time trials in a 25y pool (short-course yards, SCY), get your short-course meters (SCM) time conversions here.

Then take your two times and plug them into the SDI calculator here: http://www.arhy.org/swim-predict

Example -- Swimmer 1 completed time trials of 100y and 500y in 1:55 and 10:50 respectively.

• 1:55 in SCY converts to 2:07.9 in SCM
• 10:50 in SCY converts to 12:01.5 in SCM

Then plug these numbers into the SDI calculator like so:

THE DIAGNOSIS

• The SDI calculator gives a value of 1.07 for SDI (a little higher than optimal). More work on the diesel engine is needed.
• Predicted Ironman swim time of 1:46:27 (2:48/100m) at current fitness
• Predicted Ironman swim time at TDF = 1.06 is 1:40:50 (~5 min faster)

In the case of this swimmer, improving fitness to an SDI of 1.06 could result in a 5 minute faster swim at Ironman. If he or she has a real affinity for muscular endurance training and is able to achieve a 1.05 SDI, this predicts an Ironman swim time of 1:37:14 (3.5 minutes faster). Working on more efficient technique in tandem could lead to an even bigger improvement by race day, getting this mid-pack swimmer closer to a 1:20 finish.

What does it take to swim 3800m (2.4 miles) in 1:20?

We can use the calculator for this also:  

Click to predict your required 100m time for YYYYm in XX:XX!

Plugging in 3800m in 1:20 with an SDI of 1.06 gives 1:42 for a 100m all out swim.

Plugging in SDI = 1.0 shows that you need to average 2:06/100m (or 1:53.5/100y) for 3800m to get 1:20.

THE TREATMENT:
Use Critical Swim Speed (CSS) training to develop your diesel engine in the pool

Even older than SDI is the CSS (critical swim speed) model for muscular endurance training. To get your CSS, you can use your 800m pace prediction from the SDI calculator (currently 2:30/100m in the example above), or you can complete 200m/y and 400m/y time trials and use the CSS calculator from Swim Smooth.

CSS pace is your goal average pace for hard but aerobic sets of 200s, 300s and 400s with short rest (~10 sec per 100), with a total main set yardage of up to ~2000y. For example, you might start out doing 5 x 200 with 25 sec rest, and work your way up over 8-12 weeks to doing 5 x 400y on 30 sec rest at your CSS pace (add 1-2 sec per 100 for 300s and 400s).

The level of effort required to maintain CSS pace over long distances is at the far upper end of your aerobic range - it's hard, but it's not sprinting. These are challenging sets, but the payoff is tremendous if you incorporate one into every week instead of just doing long, easy swims to work on endurance only. 

You will find that you must really concentrate on your technique to maintain the desired pace as you tire, and knowing what points of technique help you do this can be quite valuable information - you will want to keep these in mind when racing as well! 

Make sure to pace yourself well from the very beginning of the set and stick slavishly to the rest interval for best results. If you have an SDI that is greater than 1.06, you will be tempted to swim faster than the assigned pace at the beginning of a set (or interval), but resist this temptation! Your goal is to finish a long distance at this pace, not to sprint faster than it at the beginning and slow down as you go through the set. Don't worry if it seems too easy for the first couple intervals. If it feels too easy by the end of the set, though, try a quicker pace the next time. 

If you have difficulty pacing yourself within an interval (you set off too fast in the first 25 or 50 and then slow down at the end) or difficulty pacing yourself through a set (interval times get slower and slower as you go), then try using a Tempo Trainer set to 1/4 of your CSS pace in mode 1. Your goal is to make every turn right with the beep to learn how to pace very evenly.

To learn more about training with CSS, check out this page from Swim Smooth.
Check out this thread in the Total Immersion forum to learn more about SDI.

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Casey Arendt is CEO of Go the Distance Coaching, and is a USA Triathlon and Slowtwitch Coaching certified swim coach who specializes in freestyle technique development and conditioning for triathletes. She offers private swim lessons and swim video analysis in Central Texas. You can reach her at casey@gothedistancecoaching.com

Three stroke flaws that ruin your propulsion

Three Stroke Flaws That Ruin Your Propulsion

A Swim Coaching Article By Swim Smooth
reproduced with permission (see here)

Introduction

One of the reasons an elite swimmer is able to swim so quickly is that they have a very good catch on the water during the underwater phase of the stroke. Developing a truly great catch can be technically very difficult to achieve but if you can make even small improvements to this part of your stroke you'll notice the benefits straight away and start to move more quickly and efficiently through the water.

For most swimmers getting a good purchase or hold on the water is a very elusive experience and working on this area of the freestyle stroke can be very frustrating. Perhaps you've been told to 'keep your elbows high' or tried to 'reach over a barrel' and struggled to get these concepts into your freestyle? In this article we're going to take a step backwards and look at what happens immediately before the catch – as your hand enters the water and extends forwards.

Setting Up For A Better Catch

The catch setup phase is very important in freestyle - if you don't take the time to develop this part of your stroke then the catch itself will be heavily compromised and working on it will be frustrating and largely fruitless. However, take a step back and work on getting your body, arm and hand into the right position prior to the catch and your feel for the water will take a big step forwards, helping you generate much more effective propulsion.

We're going to look at three very common problems you may have in this 'catch setup' phase of the stroke and in each case give you a simple drill centred on fixing it. Try each drill and stroke focus, even if you don't think you have that issue in your stroke – you may be surprised what benefits it brings!

Catch Setup Problem 1: Crossover

On the last Swim Smooth Clinic Series in the UK, 76 of the 108 attendees had some level of crossover in their stroke. A crossover is where the hand crosses the centre line in front of the head. A crossover does a lot of harm to your stroke but in terms of your catch it causes you to collapse on the elbow and lean on it. This dropped elbow position in the water will then stay put for the rest of the catch and pull through – ruining your propulsion.

To overcome this in your stroke, focus on entering the water straighter without crossing the centre line. You may be tempted to think about going wider with your hand entry but we don't recommend this, it tends to make you flatter in the water and harms your body roll. Instead of thinking about going wider, think in terms of going straighter, entering the water and extending arrow straight forwards in front of the same shoulder:

A great way to work on this is the 'on your side' drill. This is one of the simplest drills possible but is fantastic for getting you straighter and more aligned in the water. With a pair of fins (flippers) on, simply kick on your side with your bottom arm out in front of you and your top arm by your side. Try to get perfectly on your side with your hips at 90° to the bottom of the pool. Look down at the bottom of the pool and turn your head to the side when you need a breath before returning to look at the bottom.

If you feel like you're drifting from one side of the lane to the other or struggling to support yourself to breathe, then chances are you are crossing over and dropping that lead arm in the water. To remove the crossover, think about pushing your chest out and drawing your shoulder blades back. In doing so visualise going straighter, not wider. Perform this drill as 25m on one side before swapping to 25m on the other side, all the time thinking about improving your swimming posture and becoming straighter in the water.

Once you've performed the kick-on-side drill, try some full stroke swimming and simply think about the middle finger on each hand as you enter the water and extend forwards. Thinking solely about your middle finger pointing straight down the pool, this helps you focus on keep that lead arm straight as it enters the water and extends forwards.

Catch Setup Problem 2: Thumb First Entry

Many of us were taught to enter the water thumb first with the palm facing outwards when we learnt to swim. This method used to be taught because coaches believed it created a smoother hand entry into the water - this might be true to some extent but a thumb first entry puts stress on the shoulder, causing most swimming shoulder injuries. It also harms your catch because by entering thumb first there's a tendency for the lead hand to slice down in the water without getting any purchase on it.

Instead of entering thumb first with hand pitched vertically, we need to enter more naturally with a flatter hand and slight downward angle. This creates a nice clean hand entry whilst setting your hand position up for a great catch as soon as you enter into the water:

Catch Setup Problem 3: Dropping your wrist and over-reaching

In an effort to make their strokes long, many swimmers over-reach at the front of the stroke, this causes their wrist to drop and show the palm of the hand forwards:

This dropped wrist position can feel good when you swim because as the water flow hits the palm it creates a pressure on the hand and many swimmers perceive this as a good catch. Of course, dropping your wrist creates drag and it also tends to cause your elbow to drop down low in the water, which harms your catch. Instead of doing this you should extend forwards in the water but all the time keeping your elbow higher than the wrist and your wrist higher than your fingertips:

(see more of our animated swimmer Mr Smooth on the swim smooth website here)

A great drill for developing a better extension forwards in the water is Doggy Paddle. Perform Doggy Paddle with a pull buoy between your legs, don't kick and keep your head high - eyes either just above the surface or just below. Extend forwards underwater and focus on keeping your fingertips very slightly downwards as you do so. When you reach the front of the stroke, tip your fingertips further downwards to initiate the catch and bend the elbow to press the water backwards:

Imagine a rope about 50cm directly under your body and that you are pulling yourself along that rope as you do the drill. This visualisation can help you perfect the movement of the drill.

Tip: Try using more body rotation than with children's Doggy Paddle - say to yourself 'reach and roll' as you extend forwards and catch the water. In some parts of the world this form of Doggy Paddle is known as 'Long Dog'.

You can also work on developing a better hand and wrist position whilst performing the kicking-on-your-side drill described earlier. Whilst your lead arm is outstretched keep your elbow higher than the wrist and your hand flexed so it points just very slightly downwards:

If you are used to feeling the water striking your palm then you will feel less pressure from the water in this improved hand position. Expect this to feel strange at first.

Conclusion

Setting up for a good catch within your freestyle stroke is very important. Many swimmers make the mistake of jumping straight to developing their catch action itself and pay no attention to what happens before. Developing your catch will be a frustrating and largely fruitless experience without first working on becoming straight in the water with your hand and arm in the correct setup position.

If you take the time to develop this key area of your stroke then the catch itself often falls naturally into place and starts to give you the propulsion you need in your stroke. It's very much cause and effect!

One last tip: When you make changes such as this to your stroke it can feel strange at first or in some cases it can even feel wrong to begin with. Give yourself a little time to adapt to the changes above and get used to the feel of your modified stroke. We recommend around six sessions focusing on your catch setup before deciding whether these changes are beneficial to you. Give it a go – we're sure they'll help you and have you moving more quickly and easily through the water!

more about your authors: Swim Smooth

Swim Smooth is a swimming coaching company based in the UK and Australia. We're famous for our straightforward approach to improving your swimming. On our website you'll find a wealth of easy to read articles to improve your swimming. We offer swimming DVDs, swimming training plans and training tools to improve your stroke technique. Also don't miss our animated swimmer "Mr Smooth" showing you an ideal freestyle stroke in action. Yes he really does move! :

Article © Swim Smooth 2011