Swimming Hard and Easy

One thing a few of us were discussing at the weekend is that some swimmers don’t seem to have enough separation between their EASY and HARD paces. This is not only detrimental for swim-specific aerobic conditioning but even more importantly for technique development.

Swimming is much less a “try hard” sport and much more a “move correctly” sport. In running I might want someone to incorporate more speed work to gain a better feel for correct running biomechanics, in swimming it is almost the opposite for learners, with the caveat that there is a point where you can be too slow to maintain a balanced position in the water. 

Water is a crazy medium to move in. We can move in multiple planes with large margins of error. On land, we have gravity and a hard surface to keep us honest as the balance points are easy to “feel”. In the water there is cognitive dissonance – what feels “right” might very well be wrong.

You won’t gain this feel for the water by stressing to keep up with the person in front, or trying to drop the person behind! The EASY laps are your best bet to really focus and purposely practice your swim form. Remember that only good strokes count.

This morning on the easy laps I was cycling through a set of mental clues…

• Are my fingers entering the water before the bend of the elbow flattens and touches the water?

• Does my hand drop enough as I extend?

• Am I holding momentum or is there a pause in the stroke through over gliding?

• Do I keep my elbow forward or does it drop as I start to pull?

• Am I gentle enough at the initial catch phase until I find hold of the water?

• Do I accelerate enough through the pull when I am in a strong position moving slow to fast?

• How is my muscle tone? Am I holding a tight line in the water?

• Am I rotating enough? Too much?

• Am I bending too much at the knee when I kick?

• Am I keeping my ankles/feet straight enough?

• Etc. etc., 

On your easy laps, what do YOU think about?