All swimming tests to improve and know your situation

Edited by Doctor Andrea Bondanini

The test of forecasting the weather in the hour of swimming

This test allows you to empirically calculate how many meters you could run in an hour at the best of your abilities and in a constant way, simply by swimming for 100 meters.
It can be useful in those cases where you have to travel a long distance perhaps in open water such as seas or rivers, or simply in the pool, below.
The following formula is used, with T100 representing the time measured in seconds on the 100 meters (4 pools of 25 meters) swam to the maximum of one's ability:

Swim- Test (meters) = 3600 / (T100 + 40) x 100

which for T100 between 70 and 110 seconds can be approximated by this simple formula, which calculates the number of pools of the Swim-Test

Swim-Test (n 25 m pools) = 200 - T100

If it takes more than 110 seconds (1 minute and 50 seconds) to travel 100m then the test is not for you, and you would need to train a little more consistently for at least an hour.
To take the time on the 100 meters start from the edge, without diving, and try them 2-3 times, changing the stroke rate, especially if you have never done maximum tests: if you force too much you could generate a great friction "dirtying" to such an extent the swim by making the weather worse than a slower swim!

Here are some examples:

- T100 = 70 "" -> Swim-Test = 3250 m (130 pools with approximate formula)
- T100 = 80 "" -> Swim-Test = 3000 m (120 pools with approximate formula)
- T100 = 90 "" -> Swim-Test = 2769 m (110 pools with approximate formula)
- T100 = 100 "" -> Swim-Test = 2571 m (100 pools with approximate formula)
- T100 = 110 "" -> Swim-Test = 2400 m (90 pools with approximate formula)

Furthermore, if after this test you really try to swim for an hour in a row and take the final time, it is possible to establish whether you are more cross-country skiers or sprinters, based on the test times and the real one: if the real one is less, then one is more inclined to the bottom, and vice versa.

Speed test:

The speed test performed in training, allows you to have a forecast close enough to the time you could swim in the race. The 50 meters represent the race distance.
For an objective and multilateral understanding of speed performance we recommend the following procedure:

1. 10 mt. in speed with the starting dive
2. 10 mt. in speed with thrust from below
3. 10 mt. at speed with change of direction (turn)
4. 10 mt. in speed in a launched stretch (from 30 to 40 meters)
5. 10 mt. sprint in speed with arrival at the wall (from 40 to 50 meters)

The pause between each performance is 30 - 40 ".

The speed race with the starting dive must take place on the command of a third party.
It stops when the "first" part of the body reaches the 10 meter mark (hand, arms or head).
In the push from below the swimmer is in a calm starting position. The legs are in a thrust position and the chin resting on the water. Time starts from the immersion of the head (first movement); we stop when the first part of the body exceeds 10 meters.
For the 10 mt. speed with change of direction must be taken in the water a certain momentum. The signal is located 5 meters away. from the wall (5 meters forward and 5 meters back).
Time starts from the movement in which the head passes this signal. With the head you also stop again at the same point. Only in this way are all measurement results comparable with each other.
The 10 mt. the speed of the stretch launched from 30 to 40 meters must be calculated on the head.
In the flying sprint you must first gain momentum. When the head arrives in the marked area of 10 meters. part of the time; when the hand touches the wall, time stops.
Finally, adding the 5 10-meter series, you get a 50-meter time that should be very similar to the real time of the race. If this does not correspond, and if, for example, the athlete takes a much longer time in the competition, it means that more endurance training is needed. If, on the other hand, the opposite occurs, it means that you are carried more over long distances than short ones.

Recovery index test:

This test allows to verify the effectiveness of the aerobic training performed by our athlete, taking as reference the heart rate and the recovery time. In addition to the use of a heart rate monitor, it is essential to know the resting pulse of our athlete. Heart rate will be calculated every 50 meters for a total of 600 meters. The test consists of "running 600 meters continuously at a constant speed (any style is fine). This constant speed must be less than the anaerobic threshold speed.
Subsequently, at the end of the test, the heart rates will be detected for every 50 meters after: 0 sec. - 30 sec. - 60 sec. - 90 sec. - 120 sec. - 150 sec. - 180 sec. - 210 sec. - 240 sec. - 270 sec. - 300 sec. - 330 sec. - 360 sec. - 390 sec. - 420 sec. , up to the detection of the heart rate at rest which will correspond to a specific minute of detection (in this case the pulsations at rest correspond to 7 ").

Here is a practical example:

athlete: xxxx
threshold speed: 1.58 m / sec.
threshold time for 50 meters: 31.64
speed below threshold: 1.50 m / sec.
time below the threshold for 50 meters: 33.33
pulsations at rest: 69
pulse threshold: 170

The data that interest us for the creation of the graph are: the pulsations detected after the respective minutes up to the resting frequency value, which in this case is 7 minutes and the time in seconds from 0 to 420.
At this point a graph is created as follows: x axis: the time in seconds, y axis: the frequency values corresponding to the detection time. The test allows to understand in how much time the pulsations return to the rest value. It is easy to guess that the shorter the return time to the rest value, the better the recovery efficiency (the closer the curve is to the y-axis, the better the recovery).