swim - making progress, but ...

Well I am no "expert" but having gone from terrible swimmer (could not do 3-4 laps to start) to long distance in the past 16 months I have some experiences to share. Slow is good as a drill to get the feel, the speed will come once you start getting the roll and pull (together ) kinetic chain linked. How many strokes are you taking with your slow journey (per 25 mtr). I use my leg very little if at all save them for the run and bike, they add less than 5% to your propulsion and eat up tons of O2 (use them just a bit for balance especially on your side). Do not try to get d=faster by just pulling harder work on the rotation, good catch (bend elbow early) and a long glide (hold the speed from the pull) all TI basics. To develope the speed you need to do lots and lots of mileage building the muscle memory (continue drills in each set to reinforce specific areas) and smooth form ( you will also tone and build the muscle). After thousands of meters of swimming you will find your times drop by themselves then you can start increasing your stroke rate a bit, keep the form, and the speed will come. As a concrete example I was swimming with another triathlete who is working on his swim last night. He was doing 30 sec / 25 mtr with a SR of about 25 per length, I swam along side him to demonstrate to my brother ( I am teaching him to swim) and it was startling to him to se the difference. I was doing 25 sec /mtr with a SR of about 15 and my brother said it was so strange I looked like I was in slow motion compared to the other swimmer but I was just cruising by him.  TI keys long reach and glide, more powerful pull using core muscles, longer stroke (long reach) all combine for a fluid faster /slow stroke. It does not happen in a few weeks, My biggest breakthrough came in Jan after I did 28,000 mtrs in Dec. (after 6 months of drilling and practicing)  that etched the form into my body and then I could focus on more speed in each stroke.  I do most of my practice in the pool or OW in my wetsuit, i never intend to do competitive swimming other than tri's and none of the tri's in Canada ban them ( water never gets that warm) so I figure why struggle more to "perfect" the swim I practice the way I race. I does not make you swim better  but it does make  the whole balance thing eaasy so you can focus on stroke form etc. Yes it might be a cruthc to the purists but like I said I train the way i race and never expext to race without it so why prolong the training curve. I would suggest trying your wetsuit out in the pool, if you don't have on rent one for a week or two and try it out. Good luck drop me PM anytime and I will help with anything I can, I have some good clips of Popov & Haskett I can share as well. Sorry for the long resonse hope it helps

Good information. Could you share the Popov & Haskett clips?

here are the clips a bit different than the ones above