Resources

Perhaps the tapering period can best be described as a “fine tuning” of the body and mind in order to produce a championship performance. If you have been training with great focus, and taking care of the little things, then your taper will be a successful one. The bottom line is; IF YOU BELIEVE THAT YOU WILL SWIM FAST, THEN YOU WILL SWIM FAST! CREATE A COCOON OF QUIET CONFIDENCE.

USA Swimming has developed a race analysis profile that you can use to measure your improvements in all phases of swimming. While sometimes difficult to do, next time you race try asking a teammate of a parent to measure the following things. You can then keep a running diary of your splits, stroke count, stroke rate, etc… and then work to get better in practice!

Start time.  How quickly do your feet leave the block once the starting signal has sounded?
Turn time.  From your approach, to your spin, to your push-off and breakout.

Distance per stroke (DPS), or the length of your stroke (stroke length) interacts with the rate (speed) at which you move your arms. This combination determines the velocity with which you swim. If you think about different ways of walking, you can easily apply this concept to your swimming. One can walk with very tiny steps (DPS) or very long steps (DPS), or somewhere in the middle. One can also move their legs very slowly, or very quickly. Or, again, somewhere in the middle.