The Swim Detective: The Curious Case of the Missing Seconds

The Swim Detective: The Curious Case of the Missing Seconds

The swimmer had a respectable pace – 1:45 per 100m – but the goal was clear: 1:30. Faster, smoother, more efficient. Yet every set seemed to hit a wall. No matter how hard they tried, the extra speed remained elusive. The question echoed in the pool: why can’t I get there?

The Swim Detective was called in and the suspects lined up for investigation:

• Not training enough – sometimes sessions are missed, sometimes effort is low, and stamina suffers. But this swimmer had been consistent and worked hard. You contributed, but we can rule you out.
• Too much drag – yes, legs occasionally felt heavy, dropped a little and water resisted. For a 1.45/100m swimmer, a minor accomplice, not the thief.
• Stroke length & stroke rate – inconsistent at times, sometimes too long and too slow, sometimes too short and too fast. Slightly guilty, but not the main culprit.
• The Slippery Catch – pulling too soon, dropping the elbows, the hand and forearm letting water slip silently away.

And there it was. Hiding in plain sight. The subtle slip in the catch had been quietly stealing the extra seconds, sabotaging the pull, and missing the strong hold on the water needed to break through to 1:30.

The solution was suddenly obvious – improve the catch, to release the power in the pull, to increase propulsion on each stroke. 

Mystery solved. Case closed.

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Coach’s Corner – Key Catch Cues

Even small inefficiencies in the catch can cost precious seconds. To keep it simple, focus on these two key things while swimming:

1. Hand and forearm alignment: Keep your hand and your forearm in a line to create a single ‘paddle’ – don’t bend your wrist or try to start the pull with just your hand. It is the hand-forearm combination that we’re looking for. 

2. Fingertips should be facing towards the bottom of the pool: your fingertips should be pointing towards the bottom of the pool at the end of the catch phase to create the vertical forearm, which we then use to push water back. 

If you can keep these two cues in mind consistently, you’ll often see the biggest gains in speed, even without overthinking every detail of the catch.

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Further Reading

If you want to read more about the catch, including some drills that will help you develop this part of your stroke further, we’ve produced this article for you.

https://triathlonswimsquad.com/2024/10/22/swimming-technique-the-catch/

I hope you enjoyed the first case in our Swim Detective series. If you have any feedback, I would love to hear it.

Let’s keep improving our swim together!