Kim Brackin

This is a set I would do for stroke at three different times of the year. The first time we do the set, it might be eight 100s on six minutes, going 75 free, 25 back. Then, maybe a month or two later, we bring it down a little bit, six 100s, increase the rest, seven or eight minutes. Going 50 free, 50 back. Closer to our championship meet, we would do something like four 100s on eight minutes or as much rest as you need. Going 25 free off the dive, 75 back. The goal of this set is to hit that goal time, not just to go fast.
 
Transcript: "Hey, Henry, so here is a set that I would do at three different times of the year. I really like, when you're trying to hit your goal, 100 times, or 200 times, or whatever it might be. This is going to be for stroke, by mixing in some freestyle. So you can see in the very beginning of this-- well, not the beginning of the season. The first time we do the set, it might be eight 100s on six minutes, or you might need more rest. Going 75 free, 25 back. That backstroke, that's the goal we're trying to go 100 backstroke goal time. It needs to be at race tempo. You need to be doing your number of underwater kicks off the walls. So very, very specific. Then, maybe a month or two later, we bring it down a little bit, six 100s, increase the rest, seven or eight minutes. But we're now going 50 free, 50 back. And then closer to our championship meet, we would do something like four 100s on eight minutes or as much rest as you need. Because the goal is to be successful on this, and there we would go 25 free off the dive, 75 back. Again, the goal of this set is to hit that goal time, not just to go fast. You want to go 50.2 at the end of the season. That's what you should be going on this set. If they're having a hard time finding success, suit them up. Modify the rest. Modify the amount of freestyle. Clearly, this person needs to be a pretty decent freestyler too. This is something I would do with [? Kirsty ?] quite often. We did it at Texas a lot. And generally, the breast strokers were always successful, because they had all that freestyle. So you've got to think about how you need to change it for different strokes. But this was a set that I really enjoyed giving."

During taper, you should be getting a lot of rest, rolling, stretching, cupping, and massaging. You should also be visualizing your perfect performance and fueling yourself well. Additionally, surround yourself with positive people, communicate with your coach, and make sure you have a plan for race day.
 
Transcript: "During taper, what things are you doing outside of the water to ensure peak performance? Well, hopefully, you're getting a lot of rest, you're going to bed at a reasonable hour, maybe you don't have as many morning workouts, you get to sleep a little bit later. You are rolling, you are stretching, you're maybe getting massage, you're cupping, your fueling yourself really, really well, you are visualizing an amazing performance. And when you visualize, if something goes wrong in that performance, you reel it back and you do it over again. And you figure out how to perform your perfect race, right? You are surrounding yourself with positive people. You're communicating with your coach about how you feel. You have a plan of how you're going to execute your race-- split wise, how you're going to take things out, breathing patterns, things like that. You're thinking about all these things so that when it comes to race day, your body is ready, you know how to stand behind that block proud and confident, and you have your plan in place."

The biggest mistake people make when doing backstroke is setting their hand on the water and then rotating in, instead of driving the hand through the surface of the water. To practice this technique, try a drill called target drill where you start your stroke with your hand a couple inches below the surface of the water and hold it there before going through a full cycle, holding pressure all the way.
 
Transcript: "Okay, Jude, you know, I love this question because I love me some backstroke. So I have a couple videos to show you first. Let's just talk about the head position because the only above, I like the feeling of a double chin. So your chin kind of sliding back on your neck, not looking straight up at the ceiling, but looking a little bit diagonally high in the direction. You came from. So this is Kirsty, that is her head position. Now, in terms of the pole pattern, All these videos are going to show the same concept, which is that hand driving through the surface. I think that's the biggest mistake people make is, they kind of set the hand on the water and then they rotate in the best back truckers in the world. I think rotate that arm into the water from there. They rotate their armpit, and their shoulder into the water. And then the hand drives in and they let the hand sink a little bit. It the depth of how much it sinks is, what differentiates a lot of people. So, Kersey, excited kind of has a medium depth whole. You can see that hand just sinking without her body over rotating, and then she sets her, catch her. Fingertips, were always a little bit more poor towards the side of the pool, and then they start rotating upward. But also notice she keeps pressure on the surface of her hand all the way through the cycle. She does not release that stroke really early. There. It was again that hand. Sinking through. Okay, then I have another clip. This is Missy. Who broke kirstie's world record. And her pole is much higher right? Much shallower pole, but the same thing as the hand enters. She's driving it through the surface of the water rotating, really early into that catch. And her hand is much closer to her body. But again vertical forearm, they're holding pressure on the water, kind of releasing the water, throwing the water towards her feet more than just the bottom of the pool. I think a lot of people release the stroke a little too early. So driving that hand in through the surface and then let's look at a guy. Here's Ryan, lock D. And again driving the hand through the surface of the water, not placing. Right? And his pole is definitely deeper. He's a little stronger. You can kind of get away with that. I'm gonna slow this down here for a second. So driving the hand in and then watch that shoulder sort of separate from the ear before he sets the catch. So I call that the target spot where you want to get and here's a drill. Here's one of my clients doing a drill called Target drill. Literally, so she's going to start her stroke with her hand. A couple inches under the surface of the water. Just going to pause there at the Target, and then she'll go through a full cycle, holding water all the way right back to the Target, through the surface of the water. Start with her hand, a couple of inches below the surface of the water. So again, a lot of people that I see especially younger Summers and not as Elite as some of these athletes tend to pause their hand at the surface. So that's what I think. Have a great one. Thanks for that question. Loved it."

When doing top speed training, use assisted techniques such as fins, paddles, stretch cords, and use a shorter pool. Make sure that the drills are a rehearsal for racing with race breathing and tempo. As a coach, give lots of enthusiasm and feedback, but don't overwork the athletes by giving them too much rest.
 
Transcript: "A Petros. So an example of a set of top speed training. I am not going to give you an exact set. But I will tell you the things that I like to do when trying to get athletes to be at their top speed, and that is speed. Assisted. So things where they can go that top end Speed without the same amount of effort that it would take while they're racing. So using fins, paddles stretch, cords being in a smaller pool. All shorter number of Strokes Cycles, when we do these kinds of sets, I want especially if they're not using equipment things to be like a trace rehearsal. So race breathing, race Tempo, things like that. When I say something like a shorter shorter pool, we used to set up when I was at Auburn and Texas are bulkhead. So they were 15 meters. And that way, an athlete could race could dive have tons of speed going. Their turn come off that turn to a great break out and be right back at the finish. So in 30 meters, they're doing a lot of good swimming, a lot of fast swimming with not so much effort as you would maybe a 50 meter swim doing things like Runners. So anything where you are giving them the ability to have a little extra speed that they don't have. To generate physically. I would also say as a coach, when you're coaching these kinds of sets you home. Have to be so on. You have to be able to give them a ton of your energy, and enthusiasm, because they're going to the well physically and mentally. So, you have to make sure that you're giving them lots of great feedback and and really good energy. And then, lastly don't overdo the amount and you want to give them a lot of rest, so they can get full recovery and be able to perform at that highest level. All right, so much fun, those kinds of sets. So have a great time designing them."

Start with 675: 50 fly drill 25 kick. Then 5x100 iambs, long stroke, good tempo. 675 odds backstroke with a band, 3 kicks per cycle, evens 25 back 50 breast. 3x200 iambs, desc. on the first 50 of each. 675 odds 50 free 25 kick, evens 25 breast 50 free. 12-hundred IAMS as fast as the free IMS. Rest intervals 8-10 seconds on 25s, 20-25 secs on straights.
 
Transcript: "Hey Lars. So I'm sitting in my car waiting for me to start that my daughter's in and I just wrote the set. I mean there's a gajillion sets, right? But here's something that I like to do. I generally like to do a little bit of drill some work into some straight. I am s. So starts with 675. So this could be short course meters or course yards, the odd would be 50 fly. Drill, 25 kick. I would pick a flowing drill. I like to do surf, drill. Or three or four kicks per cycle fly, so you're really working on the undulation, and then go into a cycle and then even ones will be 50, fly, 25 back. And those ones, those even ones are always kind of a little bit better effort there and then you go right into five. 100 iambs on these ones were 200 im's really think about, like working in the timing of your walls making adjustments to get into the wall. All on a long stroke and really good Tempo, then 675 sod backstroke with a band or a my favorite. Favorite favorite things to do, so working on Tempo, working on body position. And then on the even ones, keep that band on and go back to work with a band, little higher Tempo, there and brush stroke with a dolphin kick, diving forward, not down for 150s. Going Of I ongoing 2550 back. 25 breast, 50 free and think about picking up really good legs. There on the breast and free 675. Odd is breaststroke going three kicks per cycle. Even 25 back, 50 breath since we didn't get to do that transition, legitimately, and then three 200 iambs, free ions. So go the first 50 free then, 50 back, 50, brass, 50 free. You can like, think about descending, those just going steady kind of bass. What the hell, the athletes are doing. Then 675 odds, 50 free, 25 kick evens, 25 breast 50 free, I'm running out of time and then 12-hundred, I am with the goal of being as fast as the free IMS. Rest interval is like 8 to 10 seconds on the 25 and 20 to 25 on the straight, Iams. Do it. Let me know how it went."

When working with a talented swimmer, it's important to have direct and honest conversations and assess their goals. Showing progressions of other athletes like them or the events they're in can also be helpful. Additionally, reminding them of how others who weren't as talented have worked hard and achieved success can be motivating.
 
Transcript: "Adam, this is a tough one because that can be heartbreaking for somebody, right? I think you have to look at what their goals are. And can they reach those goals with their hard work? And if they're not making consistent progress towards those, that's, certainly, a way to approach it. I will say that we all-- when I was at Auburn, every quad, the beginning of that year-- so like for the 2004 games, in the fall of 2003, we'd have a huge team meeting with the whole Auburn team. And there was tons of really talented people on that team, men and women. And we would-- David would say, there will be somebody who is less talented than the least-talented person in this room make the Olympic team because they work really hard. And that was always true. There was always somebody on a US team who wasn't super talented but just worked their butt off. But that person, even though they were less talented than the least-talented person at Auburn, that was already a skill set of people who were really, really high. So you got to-- like your question, to me, I have to think a little bit about, OK, how nontalented is that talented swimmer? And so I think maybe showing progressions of other athletes like them or the events they're in. But I have always believed in direct and honest conversations. And so I think just making sure you're having those with the athlete is the most important, direct and honest, and, like you said, polite."