For many swimmers, learning how a pace feels and being to hit that pace consistently is one of the hardest but most important things to achieve in training. Translating that pace into a race is also crucial, as you want to be able to feel what that pace is like in order for you not to go out too quick, and instead swim a consistent race and know that you are on track. The tempo trainer offers a great couple of ways to help assist you with this by beeping in different ways to give you feedback, as it sits underneath your swimming hat.
Mode 1 – Stroke Tempo
A great way to do improve your consistency is through practising stroke tempo
Stroke tempo is the interval of time between each of your strokes
For example, you would input 1.1 if you wanted to do a stroke every 1.1 seconds
The tempo trainer will give you feedback by giving a simple beep every interval, which would be every time you should be initiating a stroke
Mode 2 – Interval Mode
Input an interval time which causes the trainer to beep every time that interval passes
For example, if you were doing an aerobic swim and wanted to rep 34 seconds every 50m, you would be able to gauge if you were on track with the assistance of the tempo trainer.
If you are behind the beep you know you need to speed up!
Mode 3 – Stroke Rate
Stroke rates are the number of strokes you swim per minute and is similar to stroke tempo
The tempo trainer will beep every time you are meant to start a stroke
For example, swimming a set where one of your aims is to maintain a 38-stroke rate. This would be the stroke rate that you know you can hit a certain time with
Simply by continuously practising swimming with your goal rate, it will become easier for you to gauge your pace when swimming.
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Breaststroke is one of the most technical strokes and one of the trickiest to master. It's important to remember that Breaststroke is all about skill and efficiency so if you just move faster that doesn't mean you're going to move quicker. This post is designed to give you a couple key tips and things to work on at all levels to ensure that you are able to get the most out of your training time.
Your Body Position after each stroke on the glide phase should be as flat as possible. The glide phase is when you are moving the fastest so being as tightly streamlined and flat as possible will result in be even quicker and is one of the easiest things to do.
Spend time sculling using a snorkel to see your hand movements ensuring they go wide enough. They should be in a Y position at their absolute widest, remember not to go too wide as most of the forward momentum comes from our kick.
2 kicks 1 pull drill is the perfect drill to ensure that your body is in the correct position after the pull. This drill should not be rushed, by slowing it down you will also be adding a small amount of Hypoxic element to your training which will help your under waters late on in races.
Whilst kicking ensure that your legs snap back together at the end of your kick, this is made easier by squeezing your bum towards the end of the kick. Doing this will also put your legs are in the correct and most efficient position.
The Breaststroke Pull Out is something that shouldn't be rushed, the movements should be quick and snappy but they each one should start when you feel yourself slow down after the previous movement.
When is the best time for swimmers to specialise in a certain event, stroke or distance? There's a lot of grey area and questions about when to focus on one event, but every individual swimmer is different.
Deciding when to specialise is a discussion that all swimmers need with their coaches and together a plan can be made to reach the swimmer's goals.
Even when a swimmer has grown to be better at a certain stroke or event, there are many benefits to continue to do some training on all of the strokes and competing in different events:
Improves overall general fitness working on more muscle groups rather than the one stroke you are specialising in,
Working on other strokes can benefit performance, by helping with recovery and adapting work load,
Reduces the pressure of trying to beat the time in one event as the swimmer will have a number of events and Best Times to beat rather than just one,
Racing in different events increases race practise and helps improve racing skills and speed,
The best type of training is racing! There are lots of top swimmers that still race in a number of events for training purposes, which helps towards their main event,
You might surprise yourself with a good time in an event you wouldn't normally do,
