Stroke rate · EnduranceworX

Stroke rate

Has come up 3 time this week and is something I have been working on in my own swimming. The guys at Swim Smooth were huge on this - their mantra was higher stroke rates are always faster and they did have some great back up data that showed the worlds fastest OW swimmers in tri were at 80SPM.

Couple of things I have learned over the years that add in nicely. The bigger you are and by bigger I mean taller, more muscular, bigger hands and feet you do not gain as much as a smaller less powerful athlete by taking the stroke rate up.

If you simply try and take your stroke rate up without having sound mechanics - there is a fair chance you lose grip on the water and work harder but actually go slower.

Some people present as being 'one paced'. This is generally a lack of gears and is cemented in by them just swimming the same every time with no thought or focus to improve. That may not be deliberate as it does seem our sense of movement can be soluble in water.

Gears are important - if we try to vary pace so if we swim slowly we may exert less force or even just swim lazy - both of which train us not to swim well. The stroke should be the same on every repetition - the change in pace coming from the increased speed of rotation. The hands don't move faster through the water - if the do we have lost grip. I looked at a range of swims to see what the data says - you may identify yourself in here. No names to protect the innocent. of course there are too many variables to make this a 'study' but I think it offers some insight. All pool swims.

Person Normal pace/ SR Best pace/SR

A 2:30/50 2:23/ 54

B 2:26/50 2:18/53

C 2:04/54 1:56/58

D 2:03/31 1:57/34

E 2:00/64 1:47/62

F 2:01/50 1:56/ 54

G 1:49/54 one paced

H 1:56/48 1:46/51

I 1:53/60 1:47/63

J 1:46/50 1:28/58

K 1:46/60 one paced

L 1:44/50 1:40/50

M 1:46/60 1:34/66

N 1:38/60 1:26/64

O 1:37/60 1:27/66

P 1:35/58 1:24/64

Q 1:35/60 1:18/70

R 1:33/54 one paced

S 1:26/63 1:19/66

Whilst not 100% the case there is a strong correlation with stroke rate and speed. Always an exception that proves the rule but pretty much all the sub 2 times are 54 or greater, all the sub 1:30's are north of 60.

It is worth paying attention to stroke rate.

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Stroke rate