Conf: Freestyle
From: Peter Lee

Thanks to TI, I can finally swim 16-18 strokes per lap (SPL). My goal now is to get my SPL to around 12, but I am stuck at this point. On the DVD, I noticed that in Skating position, one of the swimmers crossed the pool in about 20 seconds, while two swimmers swam freestyle comfortably across the pool in slightly less than 20 seconds. How is it possible that one can drill just about as fast as one can swim whole-stroke? When I practice this same drill, it takes about 45 seconds to go across the length of the pool. I think if I can improve my hand-lead time, I should be able to lower my stroke count even more, right?

From: Terry Laughlin
I don't know which segment of the video that was, but I'd guess the Skating might have been filmed in a short pool. To be honest, I've never timed myself for 25 yds in Skating position. If I did, I'd bet my time might not be appreciably faster than 45 sec either! While Skating, I'm almost exclusively interested in the sensations, rather than speed. If speed was my goal I'd kick hard, but I don't want to kick hard because that's not how I use my legs when swimming and the drill would become mainly an exercise in fatiguing my thighs. When I kick in whole stroke (2BK) I want to use my core, relying on thigh muscles only to connect my leg-lever to the core. And I want my kick to be non-fatiguing -- i.e. sustainable.

If they were to offer Masters races in Skate-kicking – and I decided to enter one – I might time myself for that activity. But they don't so I won't.
I can think of one exception to my practice of not timing myself for balance drills - Sweet Spot, Fish, Skating. I could see a benefit to doing so if you used the time as a means of measuring efficiency and effectiveness. In whole stroke or switching drills, you can measure efficiency by counting strokes, but there are no strokes to count in balance drills. If you were to do a length of Skating in 45 seconds, then mindfully improve the sleekness of your position and complete a length in, say, 43 seconds (at the same or less effort ) then you'd have confirmation that your adjustments were sound. You could then store the sensation of improved sleekness associated with that time in your "conscious muscle memory."

Such a practice would remain useful so long as increasing speed doesn’t become an obsession. As I mentioned in The "Process Path" to Greater Endurance, process (in this case, a sense of improved bodyline "tone") should always take precedence over outcomes (what the pace clock says) because that sensation or focal point will remain useful in the next -- and every subsequent -- skill step, whereas the time will be rendered largely meaningless as you progress to the next drill.