Early and often: Perpetual technique

Too often, swim practices include little or no technique work. Or what time is spent on drills and other stroke focus is abandoned after warmup.

That can leave athletes with the impression that there is a time for perfect swimming, but when the main set arrives, that time is gone – and all that mindful work gets left in the gutter.

Ideally, you should inject technique focus across the entire practice.

Here’s how I tried to accomplish that today in the main workouts for two practice groups.

Each class began with guided drills and other stroke work, including getting a lowest stroke count (Strokes per Length, or SPL).

In the 7 a.m. practice, each set of 4 repeats was preceded and followed by a 200 of active recovery, done as alternating 50s focusing on bilateral breathing – to restore even body rotation – and then SPL for length and core connection.

At the 8:30 a.m. practice, the main set was a 25 thinking “roll and reach,” followed by a 50 straight and then one more “r&r” 25.

That meant that in each practice, at least half the yardage had a technique focus.

And, even better, some swimmers began to play with their feel for the water during the faster, harder repeats.

Try it out!