From the email bag. This message is from a former marathon swimmer who recently decided to develop more speed by training with a Masters group. His email expressed frustration probably experienced by many from time to time. Most people, when confronted by slow times, have one of three responses (a) need to get in better shape, (b) need to turn over faster, (c) need to pull and kick harder. As I explained, speed is always about the pattern (combination of Stroke Length and Stroke Rate) your nervous system is executing. To swim faster, improve the pattern.

We’ve made the switch to LCM for the next few months and I’m having a problem I’ve never had before – disproportionate slow down.
My LC swimming is going so poorly, I find myself not wanting to go to swim practice.
Today we did a set I would normally love:
2×200, 1×400
2×150, 1×300
2×100, 1×200
2×50, 1×100
On a base of 1:40 per hundred – nice and generous. For the first part of the set I could hold 1:35 per 100 (pathetic enough), by the middle of the set, 1:40 per hundred (no rest), by the end of the set I was over 1:40 per 100!!!!!
After the most miserable 3600 m of my life, I walked 50 feet to the SCY pool (where the rec swimmers workout) and did a 3×100 SC on 1:30, just to see if I was really that bad. I went 1:22, 1:21, 1:20 with relative ease. Not fast by any standard, on a good day I would go 1:15 on that interval, but still, no where near the atrocity I was experiencing in the LC pool.
What is your assessment of the situation? How can I be struggling so much in the long pool? Normally it takes me a few days to transition, not 3 weeks (with no improvement in sight, and in fact, a decline).

My Reply
For me, a lack of speed is simple. Either my SL or my SR is too low . Or a combination.  So I start by establishing what I consider an acceptable SPL – for the particular repeat distance and Tempo Trainer setting. Fewer SPL for slower TT settings or shorter repeats. More SPL (but as few additional as possible) for faster tempo or longer repeats.

Then I start either: (a) incrementally raising the tempo at which I can maintain it; or (b) incrementally increasing the distance for which I can maintain the SPL and tempo I started with.

I’m as patient as I have to be in doing so. I’m confident my nervous system will adapt to the new task and I give it the time it requires to do so.

When I’ve been practicing regularly with the TT, I can recall all my current best combinations of SPL and TT for different repeat distances…or breathing patterns …or rest intervals.

I can also recall the range of TT settings for any of the stroke counts in my SPL range. Than it’s just a matter of working systematically at improving them-knowing with 100% certainty that my speed will increase as those combinations improve.

Since I began using the TT, I have never once tried to swim faster by swimming harder. I only do it by improving the "math" of speed-because the math of SL x SR never lies.

This allows me to be flexible about it. In LC, if I can maintain 38 SPL at, say, 1.10 for 50m repeats, but can’t do so for 100m repeats, I’ll work at my best combination for 50s. And separately I’ll work at my best combination for 100s (as well as longer repeats) whatever that may be.

The one thing I never lose track of is that my capacity for speed will only be as good as my neuromuscular programs. So I focus relentlessly on improving those.

PS: As a TI swimmer, you’re probably asking what’s the role of technique in this? Well if I’m swimming a series of 50 repeats, let’s say starting at 1.20 and 36 SPL, as I increase the tempo to 1.19, 1.18, etc. I have a keen feel for the stroke sensations associated with 36SPL. If I’m going to hit 37 on a given lap, I know it before I get to the wall because I can feel the slight loss of efficiency-sometimes in catch, sometimes in how "toned" my bodyline is-that signals an added stroke.
So every brain cell is focused on maintaining the high-efficiency "stroke sensations" and staying in synch with the beep.

PPS: You referred to your rest interval of 1:40/100 as "generous." It’s only generous if you can swim your goal pace at that interval without feeling overtaxed.
If you believe, as I do, that neuromuscular training is more important than aerobic training, you first establish the neuromuscular pattern you’re looking for-i.e. the combination of SPL and tempo that results in a pace you’re happy with-then you incrementally reduce rest intervals or increase repeat distance.
But first establish the pattern.