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:
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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?
Hi, I swam competetively from the age of 10 to 20. I got back four years ago, at 41. I used to swim the 1500, 2 and 4 IM, 2 *** and fly. We didn't have 800m for boys then.
I do very much like Kirk Nelson. I swim 8-15x100, trying to hold as close to 1:10 as I can, or I do 9, 12 or 15x100, swimming 1-3: One quite easy (1:15), one moderate to fast (1:11-1:12) and one fast (1:08-1:09). The sendoffs vary from 1:20-1:35, according to shape and company.
I aslo do sets of 50s for race pace, 20-40x50.
And then I do the slower stuff, 10x200, 3-5x400, 3x800, and very rarely 1 or 2x1500. I swim all the 200+ events given a chance, so I can't spend all my yardage on freestyle.
I swim 4-5 times a week, 3000-5500 m. Average weekly yardage 2011-2012 was 17500m. In my late teens I did 2-4 times this. But my masters best 1500 is less than 30 seconds behind my all time best, so I believe I'm training smarter now.
I like to have the longer events early in a meet - for me it's all the relay 50s that drain me and make my muscles go 'dry' and sore.
When I got back, I started practising for the same events that I'd swam as an age grouper, but from the start I focused mainly on the 800/1500. The Norwegian Masters Nationals alternate the 800 and 1500 - one year 800 for men, 1500 for women, the next year the other way around. This is done to ensure some participation in all events; we aren't that many people in Norway :) - and to stop the meets from running too long.
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?
Hi, I swam competetively from the age of 10 to 20. I got back four years ago, at 41. I used to swim the 1500, 2 and 4 IM, 2 *** and fly. We didn't have 800m for boys then.
I do very much like Kirk Nelson. I swim 8-15x100, trying to hold as close to 1:10 as I can, or I do 9, 12 or 15x100, swimming 1-3: One quite easy (1:15), one moderate to fast (1:11-1:12) and one fast (1:08-1:09). The sendoffs vary from 1:20-1:35, according to shape and company.
I aslo do sets of 50s for race pace, 20-40x50.
And then I do the slower stuff, 10x200, 3-5x400, 3x800, and very rarely 1 or 2x1500. I swim all the 200+ events given a chance, so I can't spend all my yardage on freestyle.
I swim 4-5 times a week, 3000-5500 m. Average weekly yardage 2011-2012 was 17500m. In my late teens I did 2-4 times this. But my masters best 1500 is less than 30 seconds behind my all time best, so I believe I'm training smarter now.
I like to have the longer events early in a meet - for me it's all the relay 50s that drain me and make my muscles go 'dry' and sore.
When I got back, I started practising for the same events that I'd swam as an age grouper, but from the start I focused mainly on the 800/1500. The Norwegian Masters Nationals alternate the 800 and 1500 - one year 800 for men, 1500 for women, the next year the other way around. This is done to ensure some participation in all events; we aren't that many people in Norway :) - and to stop the meets from running too long.
