Swim break-through!

 So, I've been using a 2,500 yd time trial as the principal gauge of my swim fitness.  I think this is a good distance because it's longer than a half-ironman swim, but yet is something I can do fairly regularly.  I've done 16 of these so far this year.

Also, a couple of weeks ago, some friends in a masters group had me tweak some things in my stroke to try to get more distance per stroke.  It feels a bit awkward but I was able to slightly lower my time in late March.  This morning I was able to take a big step up.  Very psyched!

Below is a chart of my last 3 best times this year.  I swam 43:39 on 2/20 with my old stroke.  My first TT with the new stroke on 3/28 saw me 3 seconds faster.  This morning I swam 41:59--a full 4 seconds/100 faster.  Here's how these three swims compare:

Note how on 3/28, the new stroke changed the key swim metrics.  While my overall time/speed were very close, I took over 5% fewer strokes with the new stroke.  Thus, my distance per stroke was also up over 5%.  However, my strokes/min fell by the same 5%.  So basically, my longer stroke was cancelled out by my slower cadence.  I think the total work I was creating was about the same.

This morning my strategy was to try to keep the stuff below the water the same--making sure I push past my hips; but upping the pace of my arm recovery above the water.  I was able to go about 4% (4 seconds/100) faster.  It was driven by a 8.5% increase in cadence.  However, my dps unfortunately fell by 4.5%.

I think this indicates that my faster stroke resulted in slightly less (about 3-4 inches/stroke) glide at the top of my stroke.  I think I might need to try to push just a bit harder (up the tax on my aerobic system) and maybe back off the cadence just a smidgen.  Another tweak I'm going to want to play with is to get slightly more front quadrant by slightly delaying, relative to my recovery arm position, my initiation of the  pull.

I've also indicated my objective of getting to 40 minutes and one way I might be able to get there: 31.3 spm @ 2.00 yds/stroke.  I've surpassed that cadence this morning so I think my principal goal over the next week or two is to really emphasize dps at say 30-30.5 spm...

Below, you can see how these 16 tests have trended since the beginning of the year.  Given that I have the new stroke a bit under my belt, I plan to do maybe 4-5 more TTs this month: