How to measure swim progress?

So you want a faster swim, doesn't everyone!
But how can we go about doing this over the course of a season and beyond.
 
A wise management saying goes "if you want to improve something, measure it....."
I've seen this work in both the world of business and sport.
 
The speed we swim is a result of a number of variables: fitness, strength, technique, pacing..
Training strives to improve these variables. In order to know if training is effective we must test ourselves from time to time.
 
I think the best way to do this is to do 400 meter time trials during the year. Why 400? It's commonly used for triathletes and is a standard pool race distance. It's not short enough to allow you to just sprint it and it's not too long to make it unworkable in typical swim sessions.
 
To me, there's nothing the same as being in a competitive situation while doing this which is why I got the pool TT events up and running.
 
So the TTs allow you to check if changes in training are effective and try out new race strategies in terms of pacing.
All done in a pool with your peers which in some ways can come close to simulating a tri swim in that you have nevers beforehand, must warm up properly and prepare mentally.
 
If you do the TTs with the club you get your 50m splits, if you can't make these, the finger timer i mentioned in a previous article will do the same job.
 
So what do you do with the result?
 
The time on it's own is not as important as how it compares to the previous or next one so don't feel you're too slow if it's your first one. I have seen newcomers shave minutes off their times and our fastest swimmers toil for a year to shave ten seconds off!
 
Record it somewhere, in a notebook, computer or whatever. The value of the results is looking back over a year or six months and see what direction you're moving in. Check back, see the effect the first two lengths has on your overall time, you might be surprised.
 
If you've got slower you must reflect honestly.
Have you concentrated too much on one aspect in training and neglected others?
Did you not warm up properly?
Did you start out too fast for the first couple of lengths and tank?
Talk to your swim coach and come up with a new plan. Einstein said that carrying out the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is the definition of madness!
 
If you've gone faster then training is working and you can enjoy the satisfaction and strive to go even faster next time.
 
Warning: Don't train to become a 400m swimmer just use it as a tool, remember you're a triathlete and your shortest swim in a tri will be 750m.