My big question is...how often should I swim/train to achieve my swim goals?
I never know if swimming 5 days a week vs swimming 7 days is better because some days your body is just tired and you end up having not-as-good-workout. Does that make the workout productive or is rest better?
I was swimming everyday for 3 months straight practically, working myself really hard, doing twice a week weights, and then I hurt my shoulder for the 1st time in my life! I swam competitively in high school and never had an injury. It made me feel old.
However, I still want to work hard and achieve my goals but I just don't know if swimming everyday is the answer. I understand that it also depends WHAT I swim daily and how intense I work as well...but I just do whatever workout the masters coach gives us that day. So it varies.
I feel like I'm training without any idea of how to get to where I want.
I have a very ambitious goal...but fortunately I told myself I'd just like to achieve this some time in my life..whether it's in two years or 20 years....but I would like to drop 5 seconds in my 100 freestyle. Someday. Yes, it's obviously incredibly difficult to drop that much time in a sprint event but I want to! The question is...how to get there? Is swimming everyday the key? Or maybe it has nothing to do with number of times I work out but more about what I'm actually doing at the practice. But what should I be doing? Of course technique is important.
I'd just like to hear some suggestions. I feel like I'm swimming in the dark!
Thanks!
-Helen
The question is...how to get there? Is swimming everyday the key? Or maybe it has nothing to do with number of times I work out but more about what I'm actually doing at the practice.
I think both are important, but WHAT you are doing definitely trumps frequency. I don't think you can work hard every day. You need recovery days. I like to be out of the pool entirely, but I think if you still want to swim on recovery days it should be very easy and technique focused.
If you want to drop five seconds in the 100 free you need to be--first and foremost--swimming fast in practice. How often are you swimming race pace or faster during practice? If it's not a lot then you need to increase this. Swimming every day won't help your sprinting much unless you are swimming fast.
"I want to ...(insert list item) ... someday."
The above is not a goal. A "bucket list" item, maybe, but not a goal.
A goal needs to be measurable, (your 5 second drop is a measure, provided you list what the starting time is) but also time bound (someday won't cut it, you need to set a target date).
By knowing when, it's easier to plan how.
here's the gist
you feel like you're training without any idea of how to get to where you want. your goal is to drop 5 seconds in your 100 freestyle how to get there? Is swimming everyday the key?
it has LESS to do with number of times you workout AND
MORE about what you're actually doing during practice.
what should you be doing?
Dear Swimming in the DARK,
Step in to the light, you're trying to get there.
There being "a 5 sec improvement in your 1 fr time"
1) identify HERE
what are your times for 25, 50, & 100 free?
what is your height? weight? age?
what sort of sets do you do?
What intervals can you hold
does your shoulder still hurt?
what kind of suit did you wear when you test your times?
Describe your weight program
My best 100 yards free time is 1:07. My goal of 1:02 is a super long term goal, so maybe I should start with something simple like trying to get to a 1:04 in the next two years. Is that reasonable?
I'd say it's very reasonable.
I'd say it's very reasonable.
Definitely reasonable.
Don't work out 7 days a week. Be sure to take a rest day.
Don't kill yourself every practice. Every practice should have a specific purpose -- hard aerobic/sprint/lacate/recovery.
Don't always do the practice as written. Distance day is not going to help you get a faster 100 free. Consider cutting the distance on the intervals and doing some sprint work that day if you can. If you can't, do some speed work in a solo practice.
Don't just do sprint work once a week. Try twice a week. To really sprint, you need plenty of rest between hard efforts.
Don't do a set like 10 x 1:30 very often. It won't help your 100 free much and isn't a good indicator set.
Work on your kicking.
Do drylands at least 2x week. If you do them more, you might have to go down to 5 swims, which is perfectly good. Weights have helped me avoid shoulder problems.
Power, speed and strength are your friends for fast freestyle. Lot of moderate aerobic work or junk yardage won't make you faster.
Don't do a set like 10 x 1:30 very often. It won't help your 100 free much and isn't a good indicator set.
I agree. Your ability to hold 1:25s on 10x100 on 1:30 really gives me no idea how fast you can go on a maximum effort 100. Now, something like 5x100 on 8:00 as fast as possible tells me a lot more. If your goal is 1:04, but you can't go faster than 1:10 on these then it tells me you've still got some work to do to achieve your goal.
Of course when you are swimming with a team you can't always do exactly what you want to do, but most coaches are open to individuals or lanes altering things as long as you aren't messing up those who are doing the workout as written. Just look at Ande's blog. He's pretty much the master of tweaking workouts to fit his goals.
Thanks, that's helpful. Because I have no idea how to really train for the 100 freestyle. Is there any blog or articles or advice on what kind of sets to do to train for 100 free?
5 x 100 on 8:00?!! That's like...6 minutes and 30 seconds of rest? Oh man...should I rest less? I guess I just have no idea how much rest. I am so bad at this! But I guess I should try it and see how fast I can go...and how consistent with that much rest.
