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.
Hey, thanks for the kind words from my fellow masters swimmers across the pond. Much appreciated.
To answer Jim's question - My heart rate was pretty normal (for a swimmer) before I stepped up the yardage. I have a friend who is a pharmacist. He supplies me with magnesium and potassium tablets, and also beta-blockers. I eat them like sweets, although I know I shouldn't! These help to keep my resting pulse rate down. Every three months I have a course of botox around my eyes. This keeps the eye muscles and nerves absolutely solid. It may sound like I go to extremes, but I'm used to it now. It's only when I tell people how I work that it doesn't sound so normal.
Graham, there is so much about your life (as gleaned from the Discovery Channel video) that strikes me as fascinating. But I shall confine myself to a few brief inquiries:
Do you take beta blockers on an ongoing, or an "as needed" basis? Since they work fairly quickly, I would think you wouldn't need to take them all the time, rather just before you are engraving, although perhaps you do this every day?
I read someplace that botox injections can have a beneficial effect on depressed mood by relaxing, so to speak, a brow otherwise furrowed with woe. It sounds ridiculous, but supposedly it actually works--sort of like the old pencil test--not that pencil test for strapless evening gowns, but rather the one that found if you hold a pencil in your mouth horizontally, it improves mood, presumably by activating muscles used when smiling; if you place it in the other way, i.e., hotdog eating style, it dampens mood, presumably by activating muscles used during a frown. Anyhow, have you had any mood effects from botox or, for that matter, eating hotdogs?
I once interviewed Al Teague, a legendary land speed racer who holds all sorts of high speed driving records on the Bonneville Salt Flats and other locales. He only raced piston driven cars--he found so-called "rocket cars" to violate the spirit of racing. I suspect with nanotechnology that there are high tech ways to write messages almost on the level of individual atoms. Does this kind of approach appeal to you, or are you--like Al Teague--a purist of sorts who is committed to doing this amazing work by hand?
Penultimately, to bring things back a bit to swimming, I am amazed that you can do 10K per day long term without just breaking down. I swam 6500 yards (shorter than meters!) the other day, and my shoulders were definitely starting to grind a bit. Is your daily 10K something that your body has just gotten used to? Does it cause any problems? Do you ever rest? Any advice for the likes of me?
Finally, have you every swum the English Channel? I once tried to get permission to jetski across it, but France wouldn't allow this. The thought of ending up in a french prison, being fattened to death on glorious food served by surly waiters--well, I didn't pursue it, opting instead to cross the Bering Straights instead. But I digress. Excellent to meet you online!
Hey, thanks for the kind words from my fellow masters swimmers across the pond. Much appreciated.
To answer Jim's question - My heart rate was pretty normal (for a swimmer) before I stepped up the yardage. I have a friend who is a pharmacist. He supplies me with magnesium and potassium tablets, and also beta-blockers. I eat them like sweets, although I know I shouldn't! These help to keep my resting pulse rate down. Every three months I have a course of botox around my eyes. This keeps the eye muscles and nerves absolutely solid. It may sound like I go to extremes, but I'm used to it now. It's only when I tell people how I work that it doesn't sound so normal.
Graham, there is so much about your life (as gleaned from the Discovery Channel video) that strikes me as fascinating. But I shall confine myself to a few brief inquiries:
Do you take beta blockers on an ongoing, or an "as needed" basis? Since they work fairly quickly, I would think you wouldn't need to take them all the time, rather just before you are engraving, although perhaps you do this every day?
I read someplace that botox injections can have a beneficial effect on depressed mood by relaxing, so to speak, a brow otherwise furrowed with woe. It sounds ridiculous, but supposedly it actually works--sort of like the old pencil test--not that pencil test for strapless evening gowns, but rather the one that found if you hold a pencil in your mouth horizontally, it improves mood, presumably by activating muscles used when smiling; if you place it in the other way, i.e., hotdog eating style, it dampens mood, presumably by activating muscles used during a frown. Anyhow, have you had any mood effects from botox or, for that matter, eating hotdogs?
I once interviewed Al Teague, a legendary land speed racer who holds all sorts of high speed driving records on the Bonneville Salt Flats and other locales. He only raced piston driven cars--he found so-called "rocket cars" to violate the spirit of racing. I suspect with nanotechnology that there are high tech ways to write messages almost on the level of individual atoms. Does this kind of approach appeal to you, or are you--like Al Teague--a purist of sorts who is committed to doing this amazing work by hand?
Penultimately, to bring things back a bit to swimming, I am amazed that you can do 10K per day long term without just breaking down. I swam 6500 yards (shorter than meters!) the other day, and my shoulders were definitely starting to grind a bit. Is your daily 10K something that your body has just gotten used to? Does it cause any problems? Do you ever rest? Any advice for the likes of me?
Finally, have you every swum the English Channel? I once tried to get permission to jetski across it, but France wouldn't allow this. The thought of ending up in a french prison, being fattened to death on glorious food served by surly waiters--well, I didn't pursue it, opting instead to cross the Bering Straights instead. But I digress. Excellent to meet you online!
