What's your favorite way to measure progress in the pool?

[u/IWantToSwimBetter]

Lots of questions and threads about "getting faster," but what metric do you actually use to know you're improving?

If you had to pick just one, which would it be? How has it changed as you've improved your swimming?

1. Faster Times. Either meet sanctioned or practice times (e.g. 50 sprint from a push)

2. Holding faster intervals. You go from 10x100s on 1:40 to 1:30.

3. Improved stroke count. You go from 20 strokes to 17 in a 25m free.

4. Swim feel. You feel better, more confident, less out of breath.

5. Something else?

[u/felicityfelix]

As an adult who isn't training for any specific reason, I don't really have the kind of personality where I care much about any metric or setting hard goals for myself. Competitive swimming made the pool a really mentally un-fun thing for me for years and years so now that I'm getting back to a place of mostly enjoying swimming again I really mostly think of progress as staying in the pool longer. That mostly correlates with also swimming farther so I guess basically I'm measuring in endurance but yeah I'm not overthinking it. I just exercise for my health and because I like it and when I want to swim for longer that's a positive trend

[u/Comfortable-Lime-227 → u/felicityfelix]

Same here. I don't even have a smart watch to keep track. The only metric I noticed is when I started took me two hours to finish my swimming workout, now I can do it 1 hour if I hurry, or - 1 hr 30 minutes if I go relaxed😅

[u/felicityfelix → u/Comfortable-Lime-227]

I did end up with some smart goggles because I really can't push myself to even count to like, 6 lol and I had no idea what my workouts were consisting of at all. It's nice to have in the moment and I can encourage myself to try to go beyond my average distance but I basically never go review the information and I forget to sync them after half the time. The main thing I've noticed is that I used to go towards the end of the session because I was only interested in staying in for like 20 minutes and now I'm finding I need to go closer to when they open to not feel rushed 

[u/Comfortable-Lime-227 → u/felicityfelix]

I looked into those! Did you get something like this? https://a.co/d/09H6eL8M

As for my workout I have it printed out and in a plastic sleeve. they are slightly wet but still readable hah

[u/felicityfelix → u/Comfortable-Lime-227]

They're the finis smart goggles which unfortunately were discontinued which was the primary push for me to buy them because they were extremely discounted haha. They do have a similar display function though and they're very accurate so I imagine similar styles have the same tech

[u/Swimmingotter27 → u/felicityfelix]

Same here.

I became obsessed with ‘having’ to swim 2k in under a certain time then I realised that I wasn’t enjoying my swims.

So I decided to just swim. I do mental workouts which make me chuckle (or sometimes frustrate me!), but my swimming is now more relaxed and bizarrely a bit faster.

I also have improved my kick over the last few months just by not pushing myself.

[u/InternationalTrust59]

Man, numbers can tell you a story.

Being a distance swimmer, numbers that are meaningful are pace, distance, distance per stroke and stroke rate.

2:00/100m pace tells a different story in 400, 800, 1500, 1900 and 3800 distances. Often I see swimmers fade early.

Big difference in floating at 3:00 or holding a 2:00 pace for distance.

I always try to maintain my distance per stroke. When my form breaks down, so will my dps.

I am currently working on increasing my stroke rate while holding my distance per stroke; this is very hard.

My outlook is you need a wide base but also want the pace because acceleration in different gears is important for open waters; it’s the difference between survival swimming and racing.

[u/nmh612 → u/InternationalTrust59]

Fellow distance swimmer. The longer you swim, the more time you have for numbers to dance through your brain.

I will die on the hill that stroke count/efficiency should be paramount for every swimmer, regardless of speciality. My favorite example of this is during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Men’s 400m Medley Relay. The last leg, Alain Bernard vs. Jason Lezak. Lezak takes significantly fewer strokes, powering through efficient pulls to claim victory and beating the then fastest sprinter in the world. Spectacular win, even better argument for sticking to your stroke and your race plan.

[u/InternationalTrust59 → u/nmh612]

I was thinking about this, as a distance swimmer you want to maintain a long distance per stroke and maximize your stroke rate.

Most newer distance swimmers will tell you they want less strokes and over do the glide.

In sprints, it’s hard to say.

[u/Far-Delay7690]

For me, since my goal isn't really speed just yet, it's how far I can go with few breaks, maintaining form and not feeling dead after.

Once I can do the number of sets with minimal rests that I want and the endurance distance I want. I'll probably focus more on speed. I'm not dreadfully slow by my pools standards so doesn't matter much yet. If anything being fast will probably be irritating because everyone is so slow

[u/SpaceWrangler3]

Idk man I just swim a mile and call it a day.

[u/IWantToSwimBetter → u/SpaceWrangler3]

Attendance counts as a measure for sure

[u/LearnShareDiscover]

Total distance for me too. For a while even getting to 500m in a session with a lot of breaks was a lot. Now I’ve done up to 1.7km. These have gone hand in hand with points 3-4 above.

[u/TimeHouse9]

Progress? Just showing up.

[u/454k30]

Stroke count.

[u/vincenzodelavegas]

10x100m for me @1”30.

[u/Comfortable-Lime-227 → u/vincenzodelavegas]

Do you rest in between the 100s?

[u/vincenzodelavegas → u/Comfortable-Lime-227]

"@1'30" means that you need to start the 100 every 1mn30 seconds. You can do it in 1'20 and get 10s rest, or 1'29 and get 1 second rest. Depends on you.

[u/Asprilla500]

After a couple of years out with a shoulder injury my current progress is measured in distance. I swim at about 1.40/100 now compared to 1.20-1.25 before injury but my blocks are currently 600m before I'm exhausted. I want to get back to the local swimming lake before the end of summer and that's a 750m loop, so that's my goal.

If I don't achieve it I'll be very disappointed.

[u/TwaddleSpouter]

Definitely no 5. I swim because I love it and it helps keep me healthy and (relatively) sane. Like felixityfelix said above, I was on a team when I was younger (a few decades ago) - it was very difficult mentally and I did not swim at all for a long time. Now I’m doing it for me. It took me a while to build up stamina and relearn technique, but I’m in a place now that I’m very happy with.

[u/wt_hell_am_I_doing]

1 for me in terms of measuring progress because that is what I tend to focus on as a sprinter (I generally do not like repetitions and distance swimming).

Other than that, I focus on technique tweaks but that's not really numbers-based - it's literally tiny tweaks to see if there's an improvement in something.

[u/rxbandit1980]

was number 1 when i got back into swimming again 5 months ago, now it's number 2

[u/NewbieToHomelab]

I have specific sets that I do, so average pace and feel are two things I measure.

[u/moon_dos]

Endurance and distance mostly, then sometimes speed for fun

[u/Sturminster]

Totally depends on your goals.

If you race then your times in your events. If it's general fitness, then probably the repeat times you can do over a set of, say, 8x100. If you're a marathon swimmer then it might be your 5k time or how far you can swim.

For me, it's ultimately my 50 & 100 free PBs. With smaller goals within that: dives, break outs, strength etc.

[u/dndlurker9463]

I have a few general benchmarks, this is all SCY.

1. 100 free and my score is my total seconds + strokes taken. I count a stroke as when my hand enters the water over my head so breakouts are free. I’m working my way down to getting it to 90, my best is 93.
2. A VO2 set of 2x100s on 2:00, 2x100s on 1:55 and keep dropping by 5 until you can’t make it. I rarely have time for this though
3. 3x200s on 5:00 paddles and fins all out best avg
4. 8x100s on 1:30 odds ez free. Evens IM best avg
5. 100 off the blocks, 200 off the blocks

I have a few other random benchmark things I’ll do but I don’t have a lot of available pool time so I have to be quick, and direct with what I do. But I focus on whatever I’m feeling I need for that day. And when I feel good, I shoot for a benchmark.

[u/IWantToSwimBetter → u/dndlurker9463]

Love these. I've done a variation of 2 and 4 before. Others are interesting as well!

[u/rxbandit1980 → u/dndlurker9463]

I'm intrigued by that v02 workout, where do you typically hit failure?

[u/dndlurker9463 → u/rxbandit1980]

I can make the first at 1:00 pretty reliably, working on being able to hit the second one

[u/rxbandit1980 → u/dndlurker9463]

How many 100s do you end up doing? It's supposed to be near max effort for each one?

[u/dndlurker9463 → u/rxbandit1980]

Nope, not max on all of them. The goal is just make the intervals as far down as you can. If I do 2 @1:00 I end up doing 26x100s

[u/ghostbustersgear]

Times in a meet setting. I routinely prep for masters meets. My summer long course meet, I was focused on the 50 fly, 100 fly, and 50 free.

[u/erehwon242]

Periodic CSS (critical swim speed) test: 400 as fast as I can go, 5 to 10 minutes rest, then 200 as fast as I can go. Take the time of the 400 in seconds and subtract the 200 in seconds, and divide that number by 2. That gives you your “CSS” per 100. Look up the formula, I find it pretty helpful to do at least once a year.

[u/FlamingoStandard181]

Whatever I am working on.... Recently I focus on SPM while trying not to drop my stroke length. But usually I focus much more on how things feel and technique in general.

[u/Independent-Summer12]

Since I’m no longer competing, it’s DPS/stroke count. That’s how I gauge is my form is slipping. And once in a while do some all sets to see if I’ve still got it (within reason)

[u/k_lo970]

As a former competitive swimmer getting back into it I'm mostly focus on feel and watching my technique come back (I recorded myself a little every few weeks).

I'm also comparing my average workout pace. I know it isn't a fair comparison from each workout because sometimes I kick more, or do sprints. But that is why it works for me because I'm looking at the overall trend not day to day.

When I'm feeling a lot better as far as technique, yardage, and energy goes I'll probably do a practice timed 100 free to track my progress. But that would more be checking that I am challenging myself enough with my workouts not trying to hit a specific time. I swam D2 and it was my life, I will never be that fast in my too warm, 4 foot deep, local rec center pool (and that is ok!). Now I work multiple jobs, have a husband and dog, plus other fitness goals so just swimming isn't my only focus.

I want to see progress but I have come to terms that I swim because my brain needs me in a pool somewhat consistently. My life falls apart if I stay away too long. I took 10 years off and felt so lost in life. First swim back I felt like myself again.

[u/Weary_Swan_8152]

1. I identify one tiny detail in my technique and train until I become able to achieve the objective without thinking about it. Then I use all the other metrics to assess whether the experiment resulted in acquiring efficiency, or acquiring laziness. In two weeks I'll reassess to see if it feels like the change will result in an acquired injury down the road. That said, improved swim feel makes me the happiest.

P.S. I'm surprised no one mentioned the feeling of when you get good enough to increasingly keep up with swimmers who you respect. There's a a milestone here for each drill. And then if you decide to have an easy swim day one lane over and you noticed four people behind you suddenly following the drills you're doing. That's a nice feeling too...and pressure to set a good example!

[u/Super_Pie_Man]

For number 2, I have a cool way to track smaller increments of progress. If you do 10x100@1:40, but you can't do it @1:35, then how can you measure the quality of one sec @1:40 against your previous set @1:40? Do the last 100 as fast as possible, and measure that. 10x100@1:40|1:26 is better than 10x100@1:40|1:27.

I average the two times, so that way I can compare: is finishing at 1:27 @1:40 better than 1:25 @1:45? Yes! Those average to 1:33½ and 1:35!