So title basically says it all. And be wary this is coming from someone just getting into competitive swimming so “fast” is probably bottom 25 percentile. I can swim decently fast without getting my heart rate up. The only thing that happens is sometimes a breathing mistake that causes me to loose rhythm or breathe with a neck crane.

Now you would think, good, they can relax and make great time…. Let’s push things.

The problem is I am not sure I can. When I try to speed up I loose rhythm and feel a lot more chaos in my stroke. I feel faster but not at all proportional to the extra effort.

I guess what is this effect called? I’m sure I’m not the only one. How do you work through it?