Do distance swimmers spend less time w/kicking workouts

The difference is that for most masters swimmers, it is built into the model that we don't get to do all the fun stuff - kicking, 15 x 100's, hours in the weightroom, etc that we would LIKE to do as if we had all the time in the world. I think, especially for focused swimmers - meaning, those targeting and being very specific about what they are training for - like you could write down as your mission statement, then you are also having to make choices in what you do, and also what you leave off - rather than eliminate, because it's not that you eliminate kicking, it's that if you do 15 100's, you simply won't have enough hours in the training time to do kicking over say, a mid or long D set, since perhaps the conditioning element is more important. I don't think people kick less 'cause they don't need it - everyone needs it, it is simply that they need or want to do something else - and emphasis is on the latter - since we do this for fun - and maybe it's more fun and more meaningful to do 15 x 100's. I agree 100% that doing 100 sets on an agressive interval and doing them WELL is a great set. I love it! For someone else, not me! See, this is what I mean! Everyone has to pick and chose in masters. (Yet there will also be a rotating group of those that can do it all, even in masters.) Next i'd like to address recovery. We've heard this ad naseum but it is really, really, really hard to do! If the mirror image of training is the recovery portion, how do you know what is the right Recovery Workout or Recovery Period for YOU? (That's a rhetorical question). If we are all training DIFFERENTLY, as you can clearly see from the Forts to Knelson to Chris Stevenson to all the other workouts posted, then it should follow that we don't or shouldn't RECOVERY TRAIN the same, either. I think that is the real key. We can measure training in so many ways, from time to yardage, etc, but measuring the right recovery is very, very difficult. What's the right balance? (Another rhetorical question). So back to the thread - it's not that D swimmers need less kicking than anyone else, whether it's a 2 or 6 beat don't mean you would train less kick as a 2 beater - it's just that with scarce resources (ie, your time), you have to pick & chose! The question I would have as a D swimmer or any swimmer is, and not just limited to kicking, is what should I be doing more of, or differently, in order to swim faster? What will make the biggest incremental difference? And......IS IT WORTH IT? DO I WANT TO GO THAT STEP? OR AM I GOING TO MAKE THE CONSCIOUS CHOICE TO NOT DO XYZ 'CAUSE IT'S JUST NOT WORTH IT? And I have answered yes and no to that question when posed on different events. 50 free - yes, always yes. Every other event - sometimes yes, often no.

The difference is that for most masters swimmers, it is built into the model that we don't get to do all the fun stuff - kicking, 15 x 100's, hours in the weightroom, etc that we would LIKE to do as if we had all the time in the world. I think, especially for focused swimmers - meaning, those targeting and being very specific about what they are training for - like you could write down as your mission statement, then you are also having to make choices in what you do, and also what you leave off - rather than eliminate, because it's not that you eliminate kicking, it's that if you do 15 100's, you simply won't have enough hours in the training time to do kicking over say, a mid or long D set, since perhaps the conditioning element is more important. I don't think people kick less 'cause they don't need it - everyone needs it, it is simply that they need or want to do something else - and emphasis is on the latter - since we do this for fun - and maybe it's more fun and more meaningful to do 15 x 100's. I agree 100% that doing 100 sets on an agressive interval and doing them WELL is a great set. I love it! For someone else, not me! See, this is what I mean! Everyone has to pick and chose in masters. (Yet there will also be a rotating group of those that can do it all, even in masters.) Next i'd like to address recovery. We've heard this ad naseum but it is really, really, really hard to do! If the mirror image of training is the recovery portion, how do you know what is the right Recovery Workout or Recovery Period for YOU? (That's a rhetorical question). If we are all training DIFFERENTLY, as you can clearly see from the Forts to Knelson to Chris Stevenson to all the other workouts posted, then it should follow that we don't or shouldn't RECOVERY TRAIN the same, either. I think that is the real key. We can measure training in so many ways, from time to yardage, etc, but measuring the right recovery is very, very difficult. What's the right balance? (Another rhetorical question). So back to the thread - it's not that D swimmers need less kicking than anyone else, whether it's a 2 or 6 beat don't mean you would train less kick as a 2 beater - it's just that with scarce resources (ie, your time), you have to pick & chose! The question I would have as a D swimmer or any swimmer is, and not just limited to kicking, is what should I be doing more of, or differently, in order to swim faster? What will make the biggest incremental difference? And......IS IT WORTH IT? DO I WANT TO GO THAT STEP? OR AM I GOING TO MAKE THE CONSCIOUS CHOICE TO NOT DO XYZ 'CAUSE IT'S JUST NOT WORTH IT? And I have answered yes and no to that question when posed on different events. 50 free - yes, always yes. Every other event - sometimes yes, often no.