A Simple, Guaranteed Way to Improve: Time Yourself

by Terry Laughlin

Do you know your time for 100 yards? Not your time for a single all-out time trial, but the time you would record at a relatively relaxed pace. A pace you could repeat three to five times, resting less than a minute between trials. I would guess that a minority of those reading this post would answer in the affirmative.

My guesstimate is based on surveys we conduct of participants in our Open Water workshops or camps. Typically, about 75 percent report that they’ve participated in a triathlon or open water swim. But fewer than 50 percent know their time for 100 yards or meters.

To me this is putting the cart before the horse: The most reliable baseline for being able to improve performance through more effective (and personally relevant) training is to know your time for 100 yards or meters. And even if you have no plans to swim in an organized event, this information can be invaluable to personal improvement and mastery aspirations.

The Power of Two Metrics

Now that I’ve made the case for you to begin recording your time for short sets (three to five repeats) of 100 yards, I’ll urge you to track a second metric at the same time—stroke count or SPL; Tempo or stroke rate; and/or RPE, Rate of Perceived Effort. Just as you must know both length and width to calculate the area of a square, knowing time plus a second metric (i) gives you invaluable insight into how you ‘constructed’ that time; and (ii) helps develop critical skills for steady pacing.

100 Metres: Three Ways

Here are the three ways in which I combine 100-yard time with a second metric to gain more complete information about the quality and repeatability of my swims. Each requires you to swim only a short set of 3 x 100 to gain invaluable insight into how efficiently you create more speed.

Time + Tempo: This requires a Tempo Trainer, which I would urge you to make standard training equipment, if it’s not already. Time yourself at a range of tempos within your Tempo Comfort Range (your stroke doesn’t feel rushed.) For this article, I’ll use a starting tempo of 1.25 seconds/stroke (mode 1 on the Tempo Trainer). Use a different tempo if you feel more comfortable.

Swim 3 x 100 at 1.25 tempo. Your goal is to record the same time on each repeat. Doing so means you have kept both Stroke Length and Stroke Rate consistent. This is the first skill of effective pacing.
Next, swim 3 x 100 at 1.25, 1.22, 1.19 tempo (tempo increases by .03 sec. each repeat.) Your goal is to swim faster on each repeat. This means you have effectively converted greater stroke rate into more speed.
If you succeed at that, try the same set at tempos of 1.25, 1.23, 1.21. A smaller increase (.02 sec) in tempo requires more skill to swim faster. If you do not succeed at the second set, repeat it at tempos of 1.25, 1.21, 1.17. A larger increase in tempo requires less skill to swim faster.

Continue experimenting with short sets like these until you find the smallest increase in tempo at which you can descend a set of 3 x 100.

Time + SPL: This requires you to keep track of your stroke count for 100 yards. If you find that difficult, substitute sets of 3 x 50 yards.

For this article, I’ll use a 100-yard total stroke count of 65 as a starting point. You should choose a stroke count that is (a) within your Green Zone and (b) at which you feel highly comfortable.

Find your efficient stroke count range of 25y pools.

Swim 3 x 100 at 65 strokes. Your goal is to swim the same time on all three. Doing so means you have mastered the first skill of effective pacing—keeping both Stroke Length and Stroke Rate consistent.
If you succeed at that, swim 3 x 100 at 65-64-63 strokes (reduce SPL by slightly lengthening your stroke. Your goal is to swim the same time on all three repeats.
If you do not succeed at the first set, try 3 x 100 at 65-66-67 strokes with a goal of repeating the same time on each.

Çontinue experimenting until you can subtract two or more strokes per 100 during the set and maintain the same repeat time.

Time + RPE: RPE is an acronym for Rate of Perceived Effort–a fairly accurate self-assessment of how hard we’re working. This measure becomes far more accurate with regular practice. In Total Immersion, we employ a 5-point RPE scale.

TI-RPE-Scale

Swim 3 x 100 at RPE-1, the easiest, most relaxed pace of which you’re capable, with the most impeccable technique. How different is that pace from your normal 100-yard pace? Repeat several times (over a week or two), trying to reduce the difference between your RPE-1 pace and normal. (Hint: Strategies you employed in the Time+Tempo and Time+SPL sets should work here too.)
Then swim 3 x 100 at RPE-1, RPE-2, and RPE-3. How much faster do you swim by increasing your RPE? Experiment with this set several times over a week or two to see if you can gain more speed with less increase in effort.

May your laps be as happy—and purposeful—as mine.

September 16th, 2017 Terry Laughlin. 17

Uncategorized

Ed Woodall

thanks for this Terry. Its a timely jolt to get back in the pool and start working on some speed!! All the best Ed x
Megan Moynihan

Went back to the pool for the first time in many months yesterday– happy to see stroke count still at upper end of my zone even after long hiatus– looking forward to bringing it down 1 stroke at a time!
Juan Soler

Thank you Terry. How do you measure strokes one left and one right make one stroke or one left is one stroke and one right I another stroke total two? Thank for your answer.
Juan (from Guadalajara )
- Jeff
  
  Hi Juan, did you get an answer to your question as I have the same one. The Garmin swim watch counts left arm and right arm as one stroke.
  Thanks
  Jeff
  - James Ewart
    
    Each arm is one stroke. So one left, one right is two One has to be wary of watches that count just one stroke cycle because the stroke count from the left arm only means the right arm could have done one more or one less and potentially be inaccurate. If your watch counts ten strokes for your left arm your right arm could have made 9, 10 or 11 strokes. So you are guessing between 19 and 21 strokes in total. Not very useful data if so inaccurate. So it is much better to count your own strokes.
Janice M. Smith

I have been using the tempo trainer and practicing TI techniques for over a year since I took one of your clinics in St. Pete. I have yet to even got close to the maximum SPL for my height (The best has been 29-30 where I am supposed to be no more than 20) and my 100’s have actually gotten slower as well. I am getting very frustrated. I swim twice a week in the pool ~ 2500/3000 yards and one mile+open water swim per week. Any suggestions?
- Jerry Sandstrom
  
  Janice, did you read my post? I have the same question as I have been unable to obtain the SPL that Terry has in his chart for my height. Did you get an answer to your question? I haven’t received one to mine which is essentially the same as yours. Thanks.
  - Janice M. Smith
    
    Nope, no reply except from Arina, another student who is also trying to improve her SPL. She is trying rotation drills.
- http://arinathomsenphotography.com/ Arina Thomsen
  
  I am working on my SPL now. I think the two most helpful exercises at this are:
  1) Rotation drill (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVNjhCF02nM) – can be practiced with mask on
  2) Catch up drill (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHfkSCs_UrA) – can be practiced with short fins and mask
  3) Combining 1 and 2 in 2 beat kick front crawl/freestyle.
  All of them should be done with pressing your chest into the water to get a feel of sliding downhill.
  - Jerry Sandstrom
    
    Arina, Thanks for posting the Rotation drills. I will practice a few of those and see if it helps my SPL. Looks like good stuff. Thanks again.
    - http://arinathomsenphotography.com/ Arina Thomsen
      
      You are very welcome. I watched Shinji – his trick besides his perfect technique is absolutely impeccable balance. Shows on minute 6:00
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFOAdw0zkaU&t=407s
- KearneyHimself
  
  Slow down, relax, feel yourself in harmony with the water. Cut out the last stroke of each length – if you don’t glide to the wall you need to concentrate on making a long, narrow, streamlined shape in the water. Don’t begin to think about speed until you get the stroke right.
- DLynn
  
  Hi Janice! Not sure if I was in St. Pete with you at the clinic. I was a Coach there at the pool and of a couple of OWS. Have you been using focal points? If so which ones? Let me know. and if you would like you can message me and we can chat on some ways to improve our SPL! Deb Sagan
  - Janice M. Smith
    
    I have been doing about 600-800 of my warm-up with the TT. I change focus every 100 or so and rotate between wide arm entry and reach, laser beam stream-line, hip-bump with two kicks, and breath pattern.
Ramakrishnan

I have been wanting to buy the Finis Tempo Trainer for quite a while. What is stopping me is the reviews I am reading on Amazon. These devices seem to be notoriously unreliable. They either come with dead batteries or last for a very short time.

So, I am wondering whether there is an alternative to this TT?

Or is it worth the risk to go ahead and buy the Finis TT?
- Janice M. Smith
  
  What I discovered was after every use, take the battery out. I keep it in my swim bag in a little ziplock and just put the battery back in right before my workout. By doing that I have had months of use on one battery.
- Matt
  
  This is odd. We have two of them, and they’ve been used three times a week, for about 4 years, with only one battery change, and absolutely zero reliability issues. We just throw them into our bags after a swim, without drying them etc. We treat them like sherman tanks, and they’ve performed that way.