Be wary of advice that suggests “either/or” when it comes to tempo vs distance per stroke. They are equal participants in creating that thing called speed.
I read the article by the Danish triathlete, and frankly found it not very persuasive. Reword it as an article on cycling where the writer says “cadence is everything, here is why gear doesn’t work and doesn’t matter.” That’s essentially the argument. I don’t actually think she believes it, but feels compelled to exaggerate it as appropriate push back against the “Distance Per Stroke over all” crowd. Funny thing is, I don’t know who that crowd is. Gerry Rodrigues cites unnamed DPS advocates (as well as 90 degree rotation advocates, of whom I don’t know any); so does Paul Newsome of Swim Smooth. They are two thoughtful coaches who have a lot to offer, and generally give good advice. But they consistently invent straw men to knock them down, and their corrective narratives tend to lead to “either/or” debates. Not helpful.
I’ve known Terry Laughlin, the founder of Total Immersion, for 17 years and he’s never advocated “the lowest stroke count” over everything else. In fact, Total Immersion was probably the first and most public proponent of using tempo trainers to precisely monitor stroke rate.
Pick up a Finis Tempo Trainer and establish stroke count “matches” at various tempos. You said you’ve managed some consistent swims of 16 strokes per length. Play around with the TT and see which tempo corresponds to a 16 stroke length. Let’s say it’s a stroke every 1.20 seconds. Here are two strategies you could use in practice that would help you convert your developing skills into permanent ones. They are things you can simply add in as enhancements to whatever particular sets your masters coach prescribes:
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Increase repeat distances while maintaining a consistent stroke count + TT combination. Can you do 200 yards sustaining 16 strokes at a 1:20 TT? 400? 1000? It doesn’t have to be at your lowest stroke count–you could certainly pick the tempo that corresponds to 18 strokes.
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Increase tempo incrementally with an eye on sustaining your best stroke count at each tempo. This is basically optimizing the combination of the two ingredients that create speed. So you might get a set that looks something like this:
12 x 100 on 2 minute send off
Start at 1:20 TT setting and lower the setting by :03 per 100 (1:20, 1:17, 1:14, 1:11, etc…down to 0:91)
That final tempo is a pretty decent clip, and I think you will find it difficult to manage your form consistently well near the end of the set. Don’t despair if you have a stroke count range of 16 strokes at 1:20 and end up at 22 strokes at 0:91–it is expected that you will have a functional stroke count variance of 5-6 strokes depending on the tempo at which you are swimming.
I would add in one more metric and check your heart rate. Certain tempo and stroke count combinations will generate faster swimming speeds, but perhaps unsustainable ones. It might be great if at some point you knock out a 1:14 100 swim at a 0:80 TT and 21 strokes per length, but if your heart rate is 158 it’s not a combination with much of a shelf life.
What does “managing your form well” mean?
As tempo increases you will see periodic increases in stroke count. You may hold 16 strokes at 1:20 and 1:17, and then find that you take 17 strokes at 1:13, 18 strokes at 1:09, 18 strokes at 1:05, 19 strokes at 1:01, etc. Those would be reasonable stroke counts. If you saw a bump of 2-3 strokes per 25 I would consider that a red flag. There is some merit to struggling a little on the cusp of breakdown, but I think you’re only sending your body conflicting signals about proper mechanics if you do that as a sizable portion of your swimming minutes.
I would not be concerned with ‘making the intervals’ because the interval only exists to elicit a specific swimming speed from the athletes. You are employing a stroke count and TT combination that essentially determines your swimming speed. If you take 16 strokes at a 1:20 tempo, your surface swimming speed for each length is 16 x 1.2 or 19.2 seconds. Factor in a 2 second push off, and maybe a 1.5 second turn and you’re swimming your 100s at around 1 minute 29 seconds. You don’t need to ‘swim faster,’ you need to sustain your best combination. It will be hard work to do this, and the degree of focus and execution required as fatigue sets in is not for the faint of heart or weak of mind. Focus on what you DO to create speed, rather than beat the clock. The clock will only say what your actions have made it say.
Most masters coaches are happy to have warm, dues paying bodies in the water. I doubt you will be disciplined or asked to leave if you opt for a lighter workload in these more formative stages of your new mechanics.
As you play with the technical corrections your coach has suggested you may find that you knock off a stroke here or there. One of my masters swimmers (60+ yrs old, repeats 100s on 1:40 send off usually holding mid 1:20s) recently adjusted how closely he sweeps his stroke to his torso; his stroke was a bit deep and straight through the back. He instantly dropped one stroke per length, because the new leveraging position was more effective than the old one. It wasn’t a circus trick or excessive coasting and gliding. Sounds like you’re getting good advice.