My apologies up front for asking a question that has been asked on various different threads over the past couple of years I have been in USMS. I don't remember the responses, however, and can't seem to find the answers in my searches.
Here's the deal: I started as a breaststroker and only competed in the three breaststroke events as a newbie. Seven months later, however, I competed in a pentathlon and found I really enjoyed racing the stroke sprints and 100 IM. Last year, I ended up winning my age group and felt even more encouraged to continue working on my other strokes.
Recently, I attempted an easy 400 IM in workout to see if I could swim a 100 fly without pausing at the walls. I came in at 7:24 :cane:, but it wasn't the worst in my age group in the rankings! :D
Today, after my usual three day post-meet bout of insomnia, I thought, what the heck, I'll try it again. (Yes, I AM crazy!) Again, I took the fly out very easy with the intent of surviving without rescue. My time ended up 7:16, now placing me 56 out of 71 in my age group; still low, but improved. :wiggle: So, now, I'm thinking of giving it some real effort and see where I can go with this...
50 breaststroke is my best event, followed by 100 breaststroke. After that is 50 free and 100 IM. Don't even ask where my 200 breaststroke rates... :bitching: But, my 400 IM, with some effort, will have it beat soon enough.
As a six day per week swimmer on pace to beat my goal of 400 miles for the year, how would you recommend I plan my swim week out to train 400 IM without losing breaststroke speed? I average 3,000 yards per workout and currently dedicate Mondays and Fridays to Allen's breaststroke sets or Ande's sprint IM sets that he wrote up for me. Saturday is my recovery day. September thru May, I train in a challenging coached adult program and swim 3,500 - 3,800yards; a mix of speed, endurance, etc.
Any advice or suggestions would be most appreciated! (Oh, and, by the way, I am working up to swimming 400m IM and 200yd fly, too.) :afraid:I hope to swim 400IM at Dixie Zone Championships, in August, and see where it goes from there. :worms:
Yikes! I'm out for the day and there are tons of posts awaiting my response! Thanks, everybody!
Elaine, I think I've mentioned this to you before but one of my favorite IM training sets is 20 x 50 IM order on :50(1:00 br). Enjoy!
Heidi
Thanks for the set idea, Heidi!
My opinion is you don't really need to do distance IM or stroke sets to do well in the 400 IM, but you need to be getting that aerobic training in somewhere. It's kind of up to you. If you like doing long stroke sets, go for it, but if not you could also just get in a couple good aerobic free sets per week. My team does almost all our aerobic training freestyle with more of a quality emphasis on the stroke and it has not adversely affected my IM times. By my thinking an aerobic set means swimming for at least 30 minutes at a steady pace without much rest. Also, don't go in assuming you need one day to be a distance day and the next day is your sprint day. You can always do an aerobic set and then follow it up with a sprint set in the same workout.
And, thanks for your set ideas, too, Kirk! Your continuous freestyle set would be great training for my upcoming 3K and 1K open water swims, on July 14th. :agree: It would serve a two-fold purpose- perfect! As for the aerobic sets followed by sprint sets, this is how my coach designs workouts in my Tues-Thurs. adult program. The workouts always kick my :censor:, so I printed some of them out from my Flog and have continued to swim them on the same days, during our summer break. Thanks for your perspective on this!
Anyhow, the 400IM will be the second to last event at the Dixie competition.
This is why I plan on signing up for the 400 IM at Zones; it won't impact my core races. I may be tired from my other races that day by the time I get to the 400, but, so what? I can :bed: when I get home. :D
This pretty much sums up my entire training philosophy.
I will say I've noticed among newer swimmers this tendency to say "I am a sprinter" simply because they haven't put in the aerobic work to discover they are actually pretty good at distance or mid distance. True sprint training is just as grueling as distance training and I see a few who think they are sprinters confuse short racing for short training. The amount of yardage you do is basically irrelevant if it is without a purpose. And, I'm gonna say it and it won't be so nice, but if you are struggling to make NQTs in 50s/100s maybe you aren't truly a sprinter and can explore distance, that which is the most pure form of swimming.
I also think that it is fairly hard to be really good at both sprinting and distance. I don't know many 50 swimmers who are also great d swimmers, and vice versa. The faster the swimming, the slower I get. PWB went over to the dark side for a season and had great results but he's not like the rest of us.
You bring up some excellent points, Geek. In high school, my coach put me in breaststroke events, because she needed a breaststroker and thought I swam it better than the other strokes. I also liked swimming it the best, so I didn't complain. Fast forward to 2010 and joining USMS, I just figured I would go with what I liked and knew. I assumed I was a sprinter, because my sprint events rank the highest.
I made NQT's in 50 breaststroke, missed it in the 100 by 1+, and missed it by heaps in the 200.
Swimming mostly on my own and having only a part-time coach is why I turn to the Forumites for additional coaching. This is all great feedback and all worthy of further consideration. And, we actually agree on something here, Geek! I don't know how I would be at longer distance events, because I have trained as a sprinter. (And, yes, each one of my swim workouts has a purpose and they were written by either Allen Stark, Ande, Fort, or my coach.)
Hey, Geek... thanks. :D
Yikes! I'm out for the day and there are tons of posts awaiting my response! Thanks, everybody!
Elaine, I think I've mentioned this to you before but one of my favorite IM training sets is 20 x 50 IM order on :50(1:00 br). Enjoy!
Heidi
Thanks for the set idea, Heidi!
My opinion is you don't really need to do distance IM or stroke sets to do well in the 400 IM, but you need to be getting that aerobic training in somewhere. It's kind of up to you. If you like doing long stroke sets, go for it, but if not you could also just get in a couple good aerobic free sets per week. My team does almost all our aerobic training freestyle with more of a quality emphasis on the stroke and it has not adversely affected my IM times. By my thinking an aerobic set means swimming for at least 30 minutes at a steady pace without much rest. Also, don't go in assuming you need one day to be a distance day and the next day is your sprint day. You can always do an aerobic set and then follow it up with a sprint set in the same workout.
And, thanks for your set ideas, too, Kirk! Your continuous freestyle set would be great training for my upcoming 3K and 1K open water swims, on July 14th. :agree: It would serve a two-fold purpose- perfect! As for the aerobic sets followed by sprint sets, this is how my coach designs workouts in my Tues-Thurs. adult program. The workouts always kick my :censor:, so I printed some of them out from my Flog and have continued to swim them on the same days, during our summer break. Thanks for your perspective on this!
Anyhow, the 400IM will be the second to last event at the Dixie competition.
This is why I plan on signing up for the 400 IM at Zones; it won't impact my core races. I may be tired from my other races that day by the time I get to the 400, but, so what? I can :bed: when I get home. :D
This pretty much sums up my entire training philosophy.
I will say I've noticed among newer swimmers this tendency to say "I am a sprinter" simply because they haven't put in the aerobic work to discover they are actually pretty good at distance or mid distance. True sprint training is just as grueling as distance training and I see a few who think they are sprinters confuse short racing for short training. The amount of yardage you do is basically irrelevant if it is without a purpose. And, I'm gonna say it and it won't be so nice, but if you are struggling to make NQTs in 50s/100s maybe you aren't truly a sprinter and can explore distance, that which is the most pure form of swimming.
I also think that it is fairly hard to be really good at both sprinting and distance. I don't know many 50 swimmers who are also great d swimmers, and vice versa. The faster the swimming, the slower I get. PWB went over to the dark side for a season and had great results but he's not like the rest of us.
You bring up some excellent points, Geek. In high school, my coach put me in breaststroke events, because she needed a breaststroker and thought I swam it better than the other strokes. I also liked swimming it the best, so I didn't complain. Fast forward to 2010 and joining USMS, I just figured I would go with what I liked and knew. I assumed I was a sprinter, because my sprint events rank the highest.
I made NQT's in 50 breaststroke, missed it in the 100 by 1+, and missed it by heaps in the 200.
Swimming mostly on my own and having only a part-time coach is why I turn to the Forumites for additional coaching. This is all great feedback and all worthy of further consideration. And, we actually agree on something here, Geek! I don't know how I would be at longer distance events, because I have trained as a sprinter. (And, yes, each one of my swim workouts has a purpose and they were written by either Allen Stark, Ande, Fort, or my coach.)
Hey, Geek... thanks. :D
