I am absolutely 100% attached to my Finis Tempo Timer in my swimming sets lately.  There are so many things you can use it for.  The down side is that I use it so much I swear I can still hear the beeping in my sleep!  “No, it’s not a bomb.  It’s the TT beep that has been ingrained in your head!”  I figure the insanity is a small price to pay for the benefits of this little sucker though.  We are all crazy anyway right?  Here are a few ways I have been using it……………

TEMPO TIMER PROFILE:  For the bike and the run our whole team uses blood lactate profile tests performed at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine to mark and measure fitness.  I’ve always wanted to do the same test in swimming, but the logistics are a real pain.  I’ve come up with a pretty good substitute though using the Tempo Timer.  I just did this test recently so I will use myself as a model. The test consists of 20×100yds performed at a constant leave interval.  Each 100 is done at a progressively faster cadence dictated by the Tempo Timer.  I decided to use 1:45 for my leave time.  I chose this interval in hopes of getting somewhere from 20 to 30 seconds rest after each 100.  For the cadence setting I started at 1.09 and dropped down by .01 every 100 so that my last/20th 100 was done at a setting of 0.90.  I chose this range because I know I am pretty comfortable right around 1.00 so I tried to make that the middle of the range.  To keep precise splits I used a stop watch and here are the results:                             So this data and graph serves as a nice baseline.  I can follow the same protocol in the future and put the results right on top of each other to hopefully see improvement.  Just like the lactate curve in the blood lactate tests; my hope is to see the black line shift down.                                                                                                                                                                                                PUSHING THE CEILING: I try to spend at least a small piece of each swimming session pushing on my cadence ceiling.  In the test above I was really starting to lose my stroke as the cadence approached 0.90.  I’ve learned to embrace this though.  My swimming coach has taught me to go ahead and struggle with the higher cadences even though the stroke starts to break down.  The idea is to keep pushing the limit where you feel comfortable and that comfort range will get bigger.  One of my favorite tricks is to push the ceiling right before a big main set.  If 1.00 is feeling really comfortable, but I want to try to do the main set at 0.95, then I’ll put in some small 25s or 50s at 0.90.  Then when I go back to the 0.95 it feels much easier.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            PERFECT PRACTICE: The low end of your comfort range with the TT is really important too.  I think of it like learning a complicated piece of music.  My guitar teacher back in the day would set the metronome extremely slow for a complicated riff and have me play it over and over and over at this painfully slow click….click…..click…..The result was that the slow pace allowed me to play it perfectly and really groove it.  It’s the exact same deal with the swimming stroke.  I set it as low as 1.35 and methodically flow through the stroke trying to make every catch perfect right down to the last detail.  Then when I speed back up I feel much more sharp.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   KICK IT OUT:I hold the unpopular opinion that a good efficient kick is important even for triathletes.  So I use the TT to strengthen my kick.  I just use all of the same tricks mentioned above while using fins……stretching out the ceiling……working on perfect form……etc.  I’ve found that it really helps me to link up my kick with the rest of my stroke because doing it on the beep makes it very steady and rhythmic.  It’s just like doing the waltz……3 kicks per beep.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     BAND WORK: I do a lot of work with a gigantic rubber band made by a company called Stretch Cordz.  Basically this band attaches with a belt around your waist and you tie the other end to the blocks.  Then you swim against it.  It’s surprisingly difficult.  Not only does it provide strength work, but it helps you find “holes” in your stroke.  As the band stretches out and you get to the point that you are basically swimming in place, you have to hold constant pressure with each stroke or the band will snatch you back towards the wall and you end up bobbing back and forth.  I use the Tempo Timer with the Band to give me instant feedback on my stroke.  I set it at my comfortable cadence and swim out to the static point.  Then as I breathe, I take a glance at the some kind of marker, (life guard chair….tile on the wall…..etc), on the side of the pool to see how far I have made it.  The idea is to keep the cadence the same, but be able to stretch the chord out farther and farther before you hit the static point.  This definitely means you are catching the water better and better and eliminating dead spots/holes in your stroke because the Tempo Timer is keeping you from cheating by speed up your cadence.                                                                                                                                                                                                      Okay……I seriously rambled on this one.  Until next time, shop at trisports.com using my discount code chowie-s, eat more powerbar, and tell your endurance family you love them.