[music] Heather Fell: Breaking two.
We've heard that one before but today we are focusing on breaking two minutes
for 100 meters in the pool. We're going to be covering tips
and techniques for you to incorporate into your training so you can smash that goal.
[music] We're going to be addressing the technical aspects
of your stroke and your fitness that is going to be required to enable you to swim 100 meters
in less than two minutes as a stand-alone swim; and then progressing on from that,
the target will be to increase that distance and maintain that pace so that you can swim a
750 meters required in a sprint distance try in 15 minutes and then a 1,500 meter required an Olympic
distance try in 30 minutes. [music]
Technique is key to swimming faster and more efficiently, however as insurance athletes it
can be really tempting to think more and more lengths surely are just going to make you swim
faster. However, it could actually be compounding the problem by the fact that you are installing
that bad technique you have by just practicing it over and over again. Today we're going to be
focusing on two of the key elements when it comes to technique that is required for you to nail
that two-minute goal. [music]
Stroke rate is a really key aspect for you to focus on. This basically means the speed that
your arms are moving around in this very much a happy medium. If you move your arms faster and
you maintain the same power and the catch through your stroke, you will go faster. However, you need
to make sure you don't slip into the problem of moving your arms really fast but you're actually
not going any faster. You want to concentrate on the front part of your stroke, the catch.
This is the element where your hand goes into the water and you get ahold of that water.
As long as you have that and then you can keep the water all the way through the pool,
but you can increase the speed you're doing that, you will then increase the speed that
you're swimming at. Hopefully, that makes sense. It's about making the stroke very continuous,
keeping it moving fast, no dead points in the stroke, no pause at the front, but you don't want
to be skipping and shortening the stroke either. Once you've got that element of your technique
dialed then you can look at speeding up the arms which in turn should actually make you go faster.
A great way of practicing this would be to pop a pool buoy in so you're taking out your
legs and you can really focus just on the arm movement and you can keep the arms the
same when you add the leg kick back in. Again, it will help you go faster. If you do want a key to
trigger that faster stroke rate you can look at using a tempo trainer that'll just help you
keep on that right rhythm. [music]
Body alignment is the other aspect that we're going to focus on today. Having the right position
in the water is going to enable you to get the most out of the effort of each stroke. Basically,
travel the most distance for the same amount of effort. There are two aspects to this that go
hand in hand. There's rotation but there's also the placement of your hand and the
direction of your pull under your body. You want to think that you're going to naturally
rotate side to side your whole body each stroke, which will start to happen naturally if you get
the right-hand entry, which will also happen correctly if you've got the right rotation.
Your hand wants to be entering the water pretty much directly in front of your shoulder,
not out wide, but most importantly, not across the midline. If you start to go
across the midline that can cause snaking and will basically send you off course
and mean that you're putting a lot more effort in to go the same distance.
With that direct hand entry, you'll then start to rotate towards that side as you're pulling,
which will enable you to engage the lat muscles, those big side muscles,
which can enable you to put more force through the water and swim further for every stroke.
[music] There is no point in nailing
your technique if you haven't addressed your fitness. This is where consistency really becomes
important. You want to try and get yourself into a routine of going to the pool regularly. Ideally,
if you can get three swim sessions in a week. They don't need to be long, just around 1,500
meters or 45 minutes as a ballpark target figure. You want to have a different focus for each of
these sessions. Keep one of those as being focused on drills and really working on that technique.
Another session can be doing some speed work so faster than that two-minute pace.
Then the third session is looking at endurance. Being able to practice maintaining swimming for
a longer time, which is going to build that endurance base and enable you to progress
this two-minute per 100 up to the longer distances. We've actually got some examples
of those sessions but the key here is going to be the technique and the speed work, which is
going to be keeping it short so you can make sure you're really practicing the right element of your
stroke. Let's take a look. [music]
Here's an example drill session. Warm-up with three lots of 100 meters as one of them swimming,
one pull, and then one back to swim. For the main set, we've got 12 times 25 meters is doing half
the length, so 12.5 meters of drill followed by 12.5 meters of easy swim. Take 10 seconds rest at
the end of each 25. Then up to eight times 50 meters as 25 meters drill/25-meter swim
and take 20 seconds rest after each. The final set four times 75 meters as 25 meters swim,
25 meters drill, 25 meters swim again, and take 30 seconds after each of those. For the warm down
just complete four times 50 meters easy stroke. Let's take a look at speed. I'm going to imagine
that you're swimming in a 25-meter pool for this. That means for each length you need to be hitting
30 seconds, and if it's a 50-meter, you need to complete that in a minute. Realistically,
over the 100 meters that you're targeting, you're going to slip a little bit with your time.
We want to try to target around 57/58 seconds per 100. This is going to correlate over
to those goal times when we're actually looking at doing those speed sessions.
Let's take a look at the example we've got. For your warm-up four lots of 75 meters
as 50 meters front crawl, 25 meters of a different stroke.
For the main set, we've got six times 50 meters with the first 25 going fast. Above that goal
pace so that will be quicker than 30 seconds. Then you've got 25 meters really nice and easy, with
30 seconds rest after each 50. Once you've done those six you've then got two lots of 50 meters
aiming to hit around 56/57 seconds with a whole minute rest afterward. You're going to repeat
that block three times through and then finish up with 100 meters nice easy for the warm down.
With a focus on technique and consistency throughout your drill sessions and your
speed work, you will see that 100-meter time drop but over time you're going to want to be
able to keep that time reduced for the longer distances. This is where you really need to
start to build in that endurance so you can keep that pace up to, say, the sprint or an Olympic
distance triathlon. We've got an endurance session here for you to take a look at.
Here's an example for an endurance session. Warm-up with two lots of 150 meters with your
middle 50 meters as a different stroke. For the main set, 400 meters steady swim followed
by 50 meters easy recovery and then take 30 seconds' rest. 300 meters of pull followed by
a 50-meter easy swim and 20 seconds rest, and then 200 meters of pull and paddles followed
by 50 meters easy swim and 15 seconds' rest. The final 100 meters you're going to build
so you get faster by every 25 meters so you finish the last 25 hard and then take a 50-meter easy
swim and 10 seconds' rest. To finish up just do two lots of 100 meters easy for your warm down.
This isn't going to happen overnight. You're going to need consistency in both your fitness
and in your technique but I think we've got that point across is a massive barrier. Once you break
two minutes, you're going to feel great and you will continue to improve. Stick at it. Let us know
when you get there or if you've already got there and how that was for you. You
can do that in the comments section below. If you've enjoyed it give us a like. Remember,
you can follow us on social media where you'll get some swimming tips, and you can
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