Our team is like the vast majority of swim teams in the world. We have no real access to long course training pools, and so we train short course all the time. This makes the transition to the long course season difficult, and it makes the first long course meet of the year very, very… Continue reading The First Long Course Meet of the Year
Tag: long course
Swimming By the Numbers: How Elite Men Swim the 200 IM
It's the men's turn this time. Last week we looked at the 200 IM for women, and determined that it was slightly more oriented towards distance than sprinting, all seem to have strong butterfly splits and much wider split variations for the other 3 strokes, and the fastest tended to have the fastest freestyle splits.… Continue reading Swimming By the Numbers: How Elite Men Swim the 200 IM
Swimming By the Numbers: How Elite Women Swim the 200 IM
After a long delay, this is the next instalment in a series that looks at how the elite swim the 200 by looking at their race splits. This time we're analyzing the 200 Individual Medley for women.It's taken me a long time to figure out how to analyze the 200 IM. When I analyze a… Continue reading Swimming By the Numbers: How Elite Women Swim the 200 IM
Swimming By the Numbers: The Unfairness of Short Course – Long Course Conversion Rates, especially for Backstrokers!
I'll start off with the teaser. Existing one-size-fits-all course conversion rates are not remotely accurate, especially for backstroke, and there exists a sizable difference in accurate conversion rates between men and women. Finally, any swim governing body that uses a single, artificially low conversion rate is doing a great disservice to its members. Now, on… Continue reading Swimming By the Numbers: The Unfairness of Short Course – Long Course Conversion Rates, especially for Backstrokers!
The Case Against KickBoards
There are few pieces of swim equipment that seem are more synonymous with swimming than a kickboard. Perhaps goggles. But kickboards have actually been around longer, about 20 years longer, as they were first introduced as a swim aid in the late 1940s. So what do kickboards accomplish, and why do swimmers like them? Technically,… Continue reading The Case Against KickBoards
Is Meet-Free March a Good Idea?
Ontario and a few other provinces have a policy of no swim meets in March, other than possibly provincial championships at the very start of the month. The reasons come from the nature of swimming in Canada. Most teams in Canada train in a short course (25 metre or even 25 yard) pool. This leads… Continue reading Is Meet-Free March a Good Idea?
Managing the Transition to Long Course Season
The short course season has just ended, and now it's time for everybody to get ready for long course. For those of you who aren't aware of the differences... well they're huge. The best way to get a sense of the difference is to watch a younger, less experienced swimmer swim their first Long Course… Continue reading Managing the Transition to Long Course Season
