I have been very lucky to have met and discussed open water swimming technique in Australia with a lady by the name of Shelley Taylor-Smith, and for those of you who don't know her, she has won the World Marathon Swimming Championships 7 times in a row and was even ranked world number one for women and men at the same time. A truly amazing open water swimmer whose stroke was versatile and adaptable to the conditions she was facing, she is renowned for completing the 70km Sydney - Wollongong Open Water swim (inside a huge shark cage it has to be added!) with an average stroke rate of 88spm. That's nearly 20 hours of continuous swimming at a hugely high stroke rate. To get to these levels, and more importantly be able to sustain them, takes a lot of training and adaptation.
Should we do away with Stroke Length training altogether in favour of Stroke Rate training, and if so how should we work accurately on this elevated stroke rate?
My advice would be that in the off-season begin you work on the efficiency of your stroke and increased stroke length, minimizing the number of strokes you take per length. Then, just as you would do with cycling and running, develop the specificity of your training closer towards the season - work on a higher stroke rate while trying to maintain your stroke length as much as possible. With a good 5-6 months of base behind them, most swimmers should be able to lift their stroke rate 5-6spm over the course of a season without their form slipping. If it does slip, then go back to developing stroke length, and thus forth.
There are several tools you can use to help with stroke rate development or swim tempo training. One is the Finis Tempo Trainer. The Tempo Trainer fits under a swim cap or goggle strap and beeps at intervals you set. It is adjustable in 100th's of a second units. Along with the time adjustment buttons, the unit has a small time display. Another stroke rate development tool is the Wetronome (named after its concept, a waterproof metronome). It is similar to the Tempo Trainer but may be easier to use because of its simplicity. It has two parts, the "beeper" and a magnet used to set the beeps. You "wand" close to the beeper the same number of times as the desired stroke rate, and it is set. For example, one-two-three, pause, one-two and it is set for a rate of 32 beeps/minute. It uses other beep tones to tell you it is on, set, reset, etc. The Wetronome can be clipped under your goggle strap or under a swim cap and is easy to re-program in the middle of a workout without removing it from the swimmer.
Well, I hope this has helped. To summarise, work to develop your stroke length in the early part of the off-season using catch and pull through drills and body rotation exercises, then come the late off-season and early season aim to be more specific with your approach and look to lift you stroke rate.
