In my most recent blog entry, "One Man's Garbage..." forums.usms.org/blog.php , I asked my fellow swimmers their respective opinions on the impact long, slow, continuous swimming has on meet performance.
The expression "garbage yards" (and the pejorative overtones such a phrase conjurs) has become so embedded in the forum lexicon that many, I suspect, now consider as indisputable truth swimming this way is a waste of time for anyone with competitive ambitions.
Such a view appears particularly well-entrenched among the many non-credentialed exercise physiology pontificators here on the forums who also have a fondness for sprinting and dry land exercise.
But is the concept of garbage yards truly valid--or a kind of urban legend made up largely by sprinters who would rather be doing something other than spending 90 minutes without stopping in the pool?
I don't mean only practicing this way. But if you are, like me, inclined to enjoy swimming, once or twice a week, long, slow, relatively relaxing, continuous yards, do you believe (and more importantly, perhaps, have any evidence to bolster said belief) that so-called "garbage yards" can have some value for actual racing?
Or do these only teach your body to swim slow?
I invite you to read my recent blog forums.usms.org/blog.php and post your thoughts advice there or here.
At the risk of provoking censure by the forum authorities, I furthermore ask you to leave all civility by the wayside.
Feel free to trash talk and smack upside the head of any and every one who disagrees with your personal bias here!
It's been way too long since these forums have had a good, old-fashioned range war of opinions run amuk and ad hominem attacks!
Go at each other tooth and claw. It will only stir the blood of us all, I say--something we garbage yard enthusiasts probably need a bit more of, I will admit.
I'll take a good, old-fashioned 5K workout with no more than 15 seconds rest on repeats and preferably no breaks between sets before I do some mind-numbing set like 10 x 50 on 5:00 AFAP. Talk about boring -- nothing more boring than sitting on a wall and resting. We're swimmers, not wall-resters, after all.
Long slow continuous swimming is not necessarily garbage yardage. Swimming without purpose is garbage yardage.(1) Here is one way you could go dumpster diving in the pool: "Well, practice is over but I have 20 more minutes to kill until the family arrives. I can't think of anything else to do so I'll mindlessly swim laps until then." You might find some lost valuables while sifting through that refuse - getting rid of lactic acid, lowering stress by zoning out, etc. But it's still garbage yardage since it had no purpose.
(1) credit for this definition goes to The Fortress
Maybe it's a mater of perspective but being currently stuck on dry land, I'd take any yardage I could right now, garbage or not. Prior to this I may have felt differently but if I somehow manage to get myself into a pool I don't care if it's a quality swim or not as long as it's swimming. Once I can get back at it for real, my perspective will likely shift again but for now I'll take anything I can get!
I didn't participate in the poll as it looks like"heads I win tails you lose."
1) is pro distance
2)is pro distance
3) is neutral
Come on.
Exactly, I didn't vote either.
Here are my thoughts:
1. That Guy is a smart guy and remembers my definition correctly.
2. Jimby is equating slow aerobic swimming with garbage yards, and I don't necessarily agree with that. I've done two slow aerobic workouts this week. They weren't garbage -- I did drills, hypoxic work and they helped clear lactic acid and set up my speed workouts.
3. Patrick tends to be one of those mentally deranged animal lane swimmers, and so must be ignored when posturing as above.
4. Garbage = a steady diet of almost nothing but moderate short rest aerobic work. Most pool swimmers, not just sprinters, need some quality race pace work.
5. Sprinters are not wall resters. We do recovery swimming between fast efforts. (Though I suppose to the Patrick followers anything over 15 seconds rest is to be avoided at all costs. Regrettable.) As a result of this, I frequently spend 90 minutes in the pool.
Regrettable.) As a result of this, I frequently spend 90 minutes in the pool.
Spending time in the pool is best spent swimming, not hanging on the wall, just sayin'.
I looked in the index and couldn't find "garbage yardage" in this book:
Amazon.com: Swimming Fastest (9780736031806): Ernest Maglischo: Books
But this book does talk about the benefits of changing the training as the season progresses. It suggests that there's benefit early in the season - even for swimmers who do things like 100s and 200s - to "over distance" workouts that build an aerobic foundation. In early February, we're relatively early in the calendar of masters swimming for the spring season, so most masters swimmers who follow the advice in this book would be doing "over distance" swims during some of their workouts.
I live for long aerobic sets.
But you are a marathon swimmer, not a pool swimmer.
LSD may be good for sanity and marathons, but it will just make you slow in the pool.
Geek, I need a wall when I am gasping for breath and making the noodlers think I'm having a heart attack.
If sprinters are doing over-distance swimming right now, they may suck in April when champs meets are here. I'm not a fan of over-distance for masters sprinters (for us, 50s & 100s are sprints). No one but Chaos would consider the 200 a sprint event.
Geek, I need a wall when I am gasping for breath and making the noodles think I'm having a heart attack.
That's when us distance swimmers start to get giddy, when the pain gets deep and ugly. Oh, and don't let the chaotic one fool you. That man can swim as fast as any speedster, and he brings gifts!
4. Garbage = a steady diet of almost nothing but moderate short rest aerobic work.
Sure, that's a bad training strategy for pool swimmers. But if you substitute any of the following phrases for "moderate short rest aerobic work," I would say the same thing:
-- speed work with tons of rest
-- race-pace swimming
-- working on technique
-- working on starts and turns
-- chips and beer
It doesn't mean that none of those things have a place in a well-rounded training program. The optimum mix will depend on the swimmer and the events s/he is targeting. Surely that isn't controversial?
The phrase "garbage yardage" is a useless one, IMO.
