Coaching

Are Swimming Performances Starting to Stagnate?

This is not a question that comes up much with our sport. In fact, we're so used to continuous improvement that it almost seems disloyal to even ask it. Are we starting to see a plateau in swimming performances? Track and field has been plagued with stagnating performances for a long time. Despite the publicity… Continue reading Are Swimming Performances Starting to Stagnate?

Coaching

Swimming By the Numbers: Elite Men’s 400 Freestyle Strategies

This is a continuation of my series on how the elite swim various races. In my last instalment in this series I analyzed the women's 400 Free. There is no question that the 400 is a distance-oriented race, and so we can expect distance-oriented strategies. The purpose of this analysis is to determine which strategies… Continue reading Swimming By the Numbers: Elite Men’s 400 Freestyle Strategies

Coaching

Swimming By the Numbers: Women’s Elite 400 Freestyle Strategies

This is a continuation of my series on how the elite swim various races. In previous posts, I've analyzed all of the 200 races. There is no question that the 400 is a distance-oriented race, and so we can expect distance-oriented strategies. The purpose of this analysis is to determine which strategies are used by… Continue reading Swimming By the Numbers: Women’s Elite 400 Freestyle Strategies

Coaching

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

Coaching

Swimming By the Numbers: How Elite Men Swim the 200 Breaststroke

This is the next installment 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 breaststroke for men. The first set of analyses involved the long axis strokes for men and women (here, here and here). We found clear indications of… Continue reading Swimming By the Numbers: How Elite Men Swim the 200 Breaststroke

Coaching

Swimming By the Numbers: How Elite Women Swim the 200 Breaststroke

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 breaststroke for women. The first set of analyses involved the long axis strokes for men and women (here, here and here). We found clear indications of… Continue reading Swimming By the Numbers: How Elite Women Swim the 200 Breaststroke

Coaching

Swimming By the Numbers: How Elite Men Swim the 200 Butterfly

This time up: 200 Butterfly for Men. The first set of analyses involved the long axis strokes for men and women (here, here and here). We found clear indications of specific race profiles (Sprinter, Distance and Hybrid - see below) that made sense given the efficient nature of the strokes. The women's freestyle and backstroke… Continue reading Swimming By the Numbers: How Elite Men Swim the 200 Butterfly

Coaching

Swimming By the Numbers: How Elite Women Swim the 200 Butterfly

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 butterfly for women. In the 200 freestyle and backstroke analyses (here, here and here) we found a number of surprises, or at least things that surprised… Continue reading Swimming By the Numbers: How Elite Women Swim the 200 Butterfly