This morning I was at Tollcross swimming again. It’s a great set up there, with the pool extended to 50m, and 10 side lanes. 5 are used for club use / kids, and the other 5 are for the public.

It’s open (and 50m) most Sundays, but closes sometimes for competitions (it’ll be closed next weekend and the one after for an event). There’s a boom in the pool, and a moveable floor too, so it can change to be 2m deep and 50m, or whatever depth and 2 x 25m pools.

Oh and you can use fins there (unlike the other pools in glasgow).

Today I was there, and had the following set planned:

Warm up – 500m various with fins
Set 1 – 5 x 200m FC breathing play
Set 2 – 1,000m FC strong
Cool down – 200m various (FC/BS/BC/FC by 50s)

I ended up doing an extra 100m at the end … and sort of surprised myself with a change in my kick technique which made me swim more efficiently and in turn – faster!

Because you turn (and push off) less in a 50m pool, my times are always slower in the 50m pool.

I would usually maybe do 100m in 1:45-1:50 and 200m in 3:35-3:40 in a 50m pool.

And in a 25m pool I’ve been doing 100m in about 1:35-1:45, or 200m in about 3:25-3:35.

It’s all relative and I like to use my times to see any progress, but they’ve very much plateaued in the last 6 months, likely meaning my swim fitness is good and my technique is as it’s always been.

The only way to become more efficient is likely to improve my technique or become more streamlined / buoyant in the water (Ie with clever or neoprene suits etc).

After the swim filming of me on Thursday night (I’ll upload the video soon), a very brief look at it showed that my legs are probably bending too much and kicking too much, causing drag and slowing me down.

I figured I could probably improve my kick technique, streamlining and to cause less drag, with a simple change to how I kick.

So today I tried a simple fix of instead of my usual 4-6 beat kick… I would do a 2 beat kick.

So when my right hand enters, I kick with my right leg; and when my left arm enters, I kick with my left leg. I get into a nice rhythm, and it seems easier than the way I’ve always kicked / used to kick!

So what difference did it make?

Well – after so many years of practice, and at least 8 months in the water and only improving my times a tiny wee bit (with fitness)…

This 2 best kick has enabled my swim time for 1,000m to get down to 17:24 – around 48 seconds faster than the last time I did it. And 35 seconds off my fastest 1km in the 25m pool.

And the 200m times today was 3:23-3:27 compared to 3:35-3:45 in the 50m pool before. And I felt a bit like I was flying too (with less effort when I kick too!) I’m well impressed (and perhaps a little sadly excited lol).

My heart rate was the usual, around 135 on average, 163 max. And I did a strong 100m at the end to round it up to 2,800m. I swam that faster than usual too – in 1:36.

I shouldn’t surprised really, as I know the theory behind swimming well and swimming efficiently… and having not often been given feedback myself as a swimming, it was god to self assess the recording, and I’ll also see what the coach has to say when he sends it through.

I wonder how much faster I’ll get once I get practiced / good at the two best kick?!