I'm curious what my fellow slow twitchers do to train for the longest pool events. Of particular interest is input from those of you who also swam as a youth. With way less yardage that you used to do, what can be done to be able to survive a decent mile?
In my case, workouts are limited to an hour and there are usually 3+ per lane, so sets can't be dedicated just to my interests. However, the coaches are quite willing to do what they can for me.
I had a really unpleasant weekend where I raced a 1500 on Friday. I faded a bit and the struggle trying to maintain pace really drained me. In fact, I was really stiff and sore the next day (mainly my lats). I had to kill myself in the 800 on Sat. just to match my 800 split from the previous day. I was still stiff on Sunday.
Monday night, I finally felt recovered from that 1500. Coach had us do a 500 right after warmup. Since I was feeling pretty good, I pushed it, hard. My time in that practice 500 converts to a 400 SCM 5 seconds faster than what I did in the meet on Sunday. I don't know if that's encouraging or depressing. :lmao:
Parents
Former Member
My short answer -- I can't train enough these days to really race an 800/1000 or 1500/1650 (e.g., my weekly average yardage thus far this year is slightly under 20K, usually done through 4-5 workouts a week of about 45-75 minutes). Moreover, when I do race them, they wipe me for the rest of the meet. I had almost the same experience as you this summer at Nationals when I raced the 800 on Thursday of the meet and then was wasted the rest of the weekend.
Unless you can increase your training, my main advice would be to pick a meet where you ONLY focus on the 800 and 1500 ... and preferably get to swim the 800 one or two days before the 1500. If you must get other events in to get your money's worth for the weekend, pick some shorter events just for fun. Then, find another meet later in the season where you can focus on the 200 to 500 distances. I admit that it is practically impossible to do this in the LCM or SCM season, but the SCY season -- assuming you're going to Nationals -- should allow you to focus on the 1000/1650 for a Feb/March 'taper' meet and then aim for fast 200 to 500s at Nationals.
That's my plan, at least, because I don't see my time available to train increasing until I retire!
Thanks,
I was kind of thinking the same thing. If I want to do a good 400/500, don't do anther tough race first, even a few days before. If I want to do a decent 800 or longer, don't plan on being useful for several days afterwards.
My short answer -- I can't train enough these days to really race an 800/1000 or 1500/1650 (e.g., my weekly average yardage thus far this year is slightly under 20K, usually done through 4-5 workouts a week of about 45-75 minutes). Moreover, when I do race them, they wipe me for the rest of the meet. I had almost the same experience as you this summer at Nationals when I raced the 800 on Thursday of the meet and then was wasted the rest of the weekend.
Unless you can increase your training, my main advice would be to pick a meet where you ONLY focus on the 800 and 1500 ... and preferably get to swim the 800 one or two days before the 1500. If you must get other events in to get your money's worth for the weekend, pick some shorter events just for fun. Then, find another meet later in the season where you can focus on the 200 to 500 distances. I admit that it is practically impossible to do this in the LCM or SCM season, but the SCY season -- assuming you're going to Nationals -- should allow you to focus on the 1000/1650 for a Feb/March 'taper' meet and then aim for fast 200 to 500s at Nationals.
That's my plan, at least, because I don't see my time available to train increasing until I retire!
Thanks,
I was kind of thinking the same thing. If I want to do a good 400/500, don't do anther tough race first, even a few days before. If I want to do a decent 800 or longer, don't plan on being useful for several days afterwards.
