The "Stroke Count" 50s went well today.
This is the stroke count goal for each 50 time (Breast and Fly):
Most people were within the ranges we were looking for (plus 1-2 over half goal time in Fly, plus 2-3 over half goal time in Breast) and the few that were not were within 1 second and 1 stroke cycle of the goal, so I expect we will be there within a week.
It ends up that the athletes are pacing faster than their second 50 of their 100, and they're doing it with 1, 2, or 3 less strokes than they use in a race.
During the warmup, Cole did his first freestyle in :24 seconds with 12 down/12 back (it would be the same to say :24 seconds in 6 cycles down, 6 cycles back (In freestyle and backstroke, a "stroke cycle" is two single arm strokes, while with Breast and Fly). It was a neat sequence, because Cole was really close 4 or 5 times before finally getting it. He went 25.4 or 25.3 for a few of them, all at 12 strokes down and 12 strokes back (so he's at 24 seconds but 25 strokes). On one of them, he went 25.00 in 12/12, but needed another kick off the wall before swimming because his 12th stroke was followed by a big glide into the wall, so instead of 24.8 he was 25.00. On the next one, he went 24.7 but had to take an extra stroke at the end to do it (12/13) -- which means he didn't get the 24.7 from making his strokes more efficient, he did the 24.7 by picking up his stroke rate.
(Athletes can go fast with a high stroke rate, for sure -- but they do it for only a limited time. Once the stroke rate cannot be held the athlete "loses their stroke" and it doesn't matter how well they are holding the water -- they will slow down).
Finally, Cole did the 24.7 in 12/12. He had to go fast, he had to kick off the wall, and he had to hold the water and kick for speed at the end. All of the ingredients of fast racing are incorporated into the process of training for better stroke count 50s.
Many of the great athletes from decades past to today have done this type of stroke count work: *Michael Phelps has done plenty of stroke count work, throughout his career.
*Tracy Caulkins did some stroke count work in the 70s and 80s -- when she had an American Record in each discipline (Michael's coach learned from working for years with Tracy Caulkins' coach from her HS years).
*Inge DeBruin, Gold Medalist in the 50 Free, 100 Free, and 100 Fly in Sydney's 2000 Olympics, did stroke count work on roughly 2/3 of the last 15 practices leading into Sydney (same coach as Tracy Caulkins).
*Former T2 Aquatics athlete and World Championship Gold Medalist Elizabeth Pelton, as well as NCAA Champions Felicia Lee and Austin Surhoff did this stroke count work in High School with me -- and they did a lot of it!
*and many others!
Check the video from the other day for more on Stroke Count swimming, on this post from last week:
http://t2national.blogspot.com/2016/02/wednesday-review-and-video-clip.html
This is the stroke count goal for each 50 time (Breast and Fly):
:24 in 6/6, :25 in 6/6,
:26 in 6/7, :27 in 6/7,
:28 in 7/7, :29 in 7/7,
:30 in 7/8, :31 in 7/8,
:32 in 8/8, :33
in 8/8,
:34 in 8/9, :35 in 8/9
Most people were within the ranges we were looking for (plus 1-2 over half goal time in Fly, plus 2-3 over half goal time in Breast) and the few that were not were within 1 second and 1 stroke cycle of the goal, so I expect we will be there within a week.
It ends up that the athletes are pacing faster than their second 50 of their 100, and they're doing it with 1, 2, or 3 less strokes than they use in a race.
During the warmup, Cole did his first freestyle in :24 seconds with 12 down/12 back (it would be the same to say :24 seconds in 6 cycles down, 6 cycles back (In freestyle and backstroke, a "stroke cycle" is two single arm strokes, while with Breast and Fly). It was a neat sequence, because Cole was really close 4 or 5 times before finally getting it. He went 25.4 or 25.3 for a few of them, all at 12 strokes down and 12 strokes back (so he's at 24 seconds but 25 strokes). On one of them, he went 25.00 in 12/12, but needed another kick off the wall before swimming because his 12th stroke was followed by a big glide into the wall, so instead of 24.8 he was 25.00. On the next one, he went 24.7 but had to take an extra stroke at the end to do it (12/13) -- which means he didn't get the 24.7 from making his strokes more efficient, he did the 24.7 by picking up his stroke rate.
(Athletes can go fast with a high stroke rate, for sure -- but they do it for only a limited time. Once the stroke rate cannot be held the athlete "loses their stroke" and it doesn't matter how well they are holding the water -- they will slow down).
Finally, Cole did the 24.7 in 12/12. He had to go fast, he had to kick off the wall, and he had to hold the water and kick for speed at the end. All of the ingredients of fast racing are incorporated into the process of training for better stroke count 50s.
Many of the great athletes from decades past to today have done this type of stroke count work: *Michael Phelps has done plenty of stroke count work, throughout his career.
*Tracy Caulkins did some stroke count work in the 70s and 80s -- when she had an American Record in each discipline (Michael's coach learned from working for years with Tracy Caulkins' coach from her HS years).
*Inge DeBruin, Gold Medalist in the 50 Free, 100 Free, and 100 Fly in Sydney's 2000 Olympics, did stroke count work on roughly 2/3 of the last 15 practices leading into Sydney (same coach as Tracy Caulkins).
*Former T2 Aquatics athlete and World Championship Gold Medalist Elizabeth Pelton, as well as NCAA Champions Felicia Lee and Austin Surhoff did this stroke count work in High School with me -- and they did a lot of it!
*and many others!
Check the video from the other day for more on Stroke Count swimming, on this post from last week:
http://t2national.blogspot.com/2016/02/wednesday-review-and-video-clip.html
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