Data and the Eager Swim Parent: What to Know About the Latest Race Analysis Tools
The power of data can’t be understated. As tools monitoring health and athletic performance continue to flood the market, the average consumer is left holding a vast amount of data – oftentimes without the knowledge in how to interpret and use that data. Yet with the availability and relative ease in accumulating all this data, you need to ask yourself: what do I do with all that data?
The evaluation of race strategy beyond basic split times has been of interest to coaches for as long as athletes have been swimming. However, it wasn’t until the early 1970s that researchers and coaches really expanded their analysis to include variables beyond just split times. As a result of this research, many tools and techniques have been developed over the years to offer coaches and sports scientists a method for comparing swimmers' performances, with new technology being brought to market regularly.
Everyone wants to be an early adopter of the latest technology. Swim parents are no exception. How many of you have noticed fellow swim parents sitting in the stands at meets, showing off their shiny new tools. While it’s fun to buy the latest and greatest technology, very few people know what to do with the information these gadgets are putting forth. The launch of the latest swim race analysis tools is one such example, and has many parents asking, “Should I be investing in these tools?”
The short answer is no. Just as a doctor would never simply hand you your blood labs for you to interpret and put into use on your own, the same holds true in sports – or at least it should. The true power of data is understanding what it all means and how to incorporate that data into an athlete’s performance. Coaches should hold this expertise and should know how to leverage data in advising an athlete on training and race strategies. Yet even many coaches aren’t up to speed on the latest technology, much less be able to take the data and apply it to each individual athlete. It’s not that coaches don’t care, it’s that most just don’t have the time for this level of individual attention when working with upwards of 200 athletes.
As athletes seek to harness the power of data to improve their athletic performance, they need to keep in mind that first and foremost, the data is for the athlete and the coach – mostly the coach. Only the coach can influence, change, and tailor the direction for development of specific skills in response to the data trends he/she observes.
At KJ Multisport, I frequently use data analysis to guide my athletes in making choices in their daily training and race strategies. The tool I use is “Race Analyzer™,” an innovative system developed by internationally renowned coach and physiologist Alex Nikitin of Parametrix Research.
The feedback I’m able to provide athletes is equal to what previously was available only to world-class athletes. Race Analyzer™ allows me to collect, organize, analyze, and evaluate a swimmer’s competitive performance using real-time race data. This system performs complex and tedious calculations in real time that cannot reasonably be performed by hand. The software objectively calculates the most significant parameters that influence every swimmer's competitive performance: Cycle Count per lap, Breakout Distance from start and turns, Tempo, Breakout Time, Drop Off, Distance Per Cycle, Pure Swimming Velocity, Free Swimming Time, Turn Time, Time Spent Under Water, Distance Swum Under Water, 15 Meter Time/Velocity. Using this information, I identify an athlete’s specific strengths and weaknesses in performance and determine each individual's optimum racing strategy.
Though swimming can be described as part art and part science, using race analysis data to develop optimum race strategy is truly a science! If you’d like to begin working with your own real-time data for use in guiding your own individual training and race strategies, contact me today.
