Section 3
My weaknesses hinder my performance very slightly, but over the distance I tend to race at, can make a huge difference. My underwater phase is quite weak off turns because I do not do enough fly leg kicks off the walls, which slow me down considerably. Also, I do not always streamline when coming out of turns, which makes the fastest part of the length too slow and needs improving quite a lot. My technique isn’t perfect, either. My right arm sometimes goes into the water outside of my bodyline, so I am not catching all the water I can so my stroke isn’t as powerful as it should be. This is usually only when I get tired, towards the end of a race. My leg kick in my technique also lets me down. Although my timing is fine, my leg kick should have more kicks to one arm cycle. At the moment, I do around a two-four beat leg kick but it should be a six beat kick. The leg kick could be one of the reasons why my right arm sometimes goes outside my bodyline, to try to balance out my lack of kick.
Section 4
One of my weaknesses that need improving is my push off and kicks off the wall. I could improve this by practicing more often. One skill set that I could do is 10 x 50m as 15m fly kick underwater, easy swimming for the rest of the length, all with fins. I would do these off a time of 70 seconds. Using fins makes it easier to go further underwater as they make the kick faster therefore it is possible to go further underwater. To make this harder I would increase the amount to go underwater, and progress on to having no fins at all.
I also want to maintain one of my strengths, my tumbles turns, and make them even better. I could do a specific set to help my turns stay fast with good timing into the turn. This would be 5 x 50m, starting from the centre of the pool (Olympic sized), going fast from 10m out into the turn and back out, trying not to take a breath in the 5m zone in order to go at speed into the turn. I would do the 50’s off a time of 75 seconds. To make this slightly more advanced I could extend the distance going into and out of the wall fast to 15m.
Another of my weaknesses is the number of kicks to one arm cycle. I don’t do enough which makes my stroke weaker. This could be improved by doing 8 x 50m as 25m slow motion freestyle to 25m swim. The slow motion freestyle makes you kick more frequently and faster because if you don’t then you would start to sink. I would do these 50’s off a time of 65 seconds. To take this further I could do more 50’s or make the 25m swim at a fast pace to put the drill to the test in sort of race conditions.
My streamlining off the walls is very scrappy and needs working on. I could do 5 x 50m, push off the wall as hard as possible without kicking and just streamlining, and go as far as possible but from push off to 5m it is timed. It is then an easy swim to the other end. These 50’s would be off a time of 70 seconds. This drill is good for improving both push off the wall and streamlining, as you have to streamline to go trough the water smoother. Also, because they are timed, you can assess the progress throughout the weeks. To make this even harder I could add a tumble turn to the start, so that it is more like a real situation.
The last skill I need to practice is to do with my technique. Although it is only a small problem, it is best to sort it out sooner than later. My right hand enters the water outside of my bodyline quite often, usually when I start to get tired, and to fix this I need to do some drills. I would do 5 x 100m as 50m drills to 50m swim. The drill would be head-up front crawl because then I can watch where my hand enters the water and correct it when it is not right. The 50m swim is to test out doing a good technique after doing the drill because it should wear me out slightly. Therefore I would be practicing a real situation, but I will be thinking specifically about my stroke. If done often enough, I should have a good technique without even thinking about it when I’m tired because I would be used to it.
Section 5
TRAINING PROGRAMME
Targets and goals
- To improve speed
- To improve muscular endurance
- To be able to kick at least 5m off every turn underwater
- To have better technique
Monitoring of training programme
- Timing certain sets and recording each time to monitor improvement
- Timing but not recording in order to compare speed with intensity
- Write down notes after each training session in order to remember what to do next time round
Detailed Sessions
As the programme goes on, I could progress the skills using the methods suggested in Section 4. I could make the muscular endurance one harder by just trying harder or by making the times more difficult.
Section 6
There are many different factors that may affect performance, both positive and negative. Illness is a factor that you cannot control and can make you short of breath, affect your concentration and make you feel weak. This is not an ideal condition in which to perform well. Another negative factor that affects performance is lack of sleep, because when you don’t have enough sleep, you lose strength and concentration more quickly. Some more positive factors affecting performance are things like mental preparation and experience. With good relaxation techniques, anxiety can be reduced and help performers focus on the task at hand. Mental rehearsal can also help preparation. Experience is vital in competitions as the more you do something, the easier it is and you know more about what you need to do in order to perform well. One final thing that can both enhance and hinder performance is drugs. Drugs like alcohol and smoking are legal but harmful, and performance-enhancing drugs are not legal but make you perform much better. If a banned substance were found in your body then you would probably be banned from the sport for a period of time, depending on the governing body.
Section 7
If I had done the exercise programme, I would have expected a number of things to happen. The first is an improvement in my stroke technique. It would have been consistently better even when I got tired from the overload sets. This would have been because of the drills I had done and focussing on my technique during sets when fatigue sets in.
I would have expected my turns to be much sharper and the push off the wall to make a lot of ground in order to improve my times. This is through practice and concentration on this specific skill during general sets.
My speed should have been improved over the 6-week training programme. This is because of the specificity of the set and recording the times in order to compare. The skills which I would have worked on would also have come into action here, as they will help to make me faster in themselves without specifically working on my speed.
My muscular endurance would have improved slightly from the overload in the set. The overload meant I would have had to keep going through the fatigue from the lactic acid build up which means my body would have to adapt quickly to it. Therefore in a race situation, I would be able to keep going longer without getting tired because of the adaptation.
The stroke rate during my freestyle should have decreased and I should have been able to go fast without doing as many strokes. This is from working on my technique and making it stronger in order to get a better catch and pull my self through the water quicker.
Finally, my body shape will not have changed very much over the training programme, but I might have lost some weight because of doing a lot of exercise. Also, because swimming is essentially a form of endurance training, my muscles should have got more efficient at using oxygen, my V02 Max will have increased and I would have more capillaries from capillarisation, so that muscles can get more oxygen.
