Do you know your ideal, comfortable and realistic stroke rate?
No, then maybe now is the time to work out your sweet spot in this area.
We use the tempo trainer a lot in our pool sessions for pace training, hitting the beep calculated by your CSS pace (+/- depending on set) at the end of each length. This builds great swim pacing, improves your fitness and eventually, through consistent training should drop your times.
However as the open water gets warmer their is another way to improve your efficiency and get the edge with a tempo trainer where walls and pool ends are not a guide for you. Yes, now would be an ideal time to find your ideal stroke rate, (how many strokes you take per minute).
Working on this now will enable you to easily use the tempo trainer in the open water (and pool) and help to build a nice, evenly paced stroke through your training, so you can feel this in your events later down the line. You can set the tempo trainer to emit a “beep” every time your hand enters the water. But how do you know WHEN your hand should be entering for an optimum efficiency and paced stroke? The easiest is to perform a ramp test. I could write how to do this at this point but our friends at Swim Smooth have already done it for you and it is detailed very comprehensively here www.swimsmooth.com/ramptest.html.
Give it a go and start to improve your efficiency now, get to learn and feel your optimum stroke rate. You may find that you are actually swimming too fast, too slow or you may find you are in your sweet spot already. Further more once you renter the open water this method of training with a tempo trainer can be transferred to the lakes, seas and rivers.
Get ready for the season (without pool walls and pool ends) that lies ahead.
To find out more, or to buy the Finis Tempo Trainer from South West Swim click here
