After being "spoken to" by the lifeguards about training SDKs, I am wondering how dangerous it really is to do multiple full 25 SCY SDKs.
Consider this set:
Fins on.
10x/2:00
This is just an example. Basically I'm referring to any set that contains multiple full 25 SDKs on a fixed time interval.
I've seen multiple people post sets like this in their blogs.
I've heard that on some age group teams the coach will demand that swimmers complete N full 25 SDKs on some fixed interval or everyone does it over.
The above observations would suggest that training full 25 SCY SDKs is a reasonable thing to do, but I've talked to some coaches and guards who seem to genuinely believe that even going past mid-pool underwater is just asking for trouble.
For a reasonably fit masters or age-group swimmer (Let's say a "BB" or stronger swimmer between the ages of 10 and 70 who can comfortably train 4x1hr/week), what do you think:
-Sets like these are generally safe as long as you don't do something stupid, like intentionally hyperventilate to the point of making yourself light headed before your push-off.
-Sets like this are generally safe, but you can never know if you have an un-diagnosed medical condition that renders them very dangerous so you shouldn't do them.
-Such sets are a little risky, but it's a risk you have to take to get really good at SDKs.
-If you do this kind of training regularly, you will eventually pass out under water and possibly die.
-The modern world is sufficiently rampant with litigation that no one can admit that sets like these are safe, even as anonymous vote on this forum.
I think this question gets to the real point. I do shooters with and without fins very regularly, but one of the points of doing them for me is to know just where the 15m mark is. Because I dabble in the 50 back, I care both about how to SDK well and also about when to stop.
If I raced the 50 free or the 50 fly I might practice my intended breathing pattern from time to time. But I don't race those events, and aside from such practice I see no point in face-down efforts without breathing. To the contrary, because I race pretty much only 100s and up in face-down events, and because the shortest of those events still take slow-twitch me about a minute at best, I see far more point in practicing efficient breathing technique than in practicing holding my breath. If I want to practice keeping my head still I can put on my snorkel.
One of our assistant coaches assigns "breath control" sets pretty often and I always tell her that I refuse on principle to do them.
Agree!
Breath control sets generally seem to me to have little value. Exceptions:
1) Training yourself to not breath until N strokes after the breakout. I'm convinced not breathing on the breakout stroke is faster. If you are going to do this in a race, you need to train it in practice. I essentially never breathe on the breakout stroke in fly or free unless the total distance is 500+.
2) Breathing alternate sides in freestyle. This helps smooth out the stroke. As an added benefit it gives you the ability to check out where your competitors are. I'm not saying we should breathe every three all the time, but it's great practice and we can all benefit from being good at it when we want to do it.
3) Low breath count sprints. For freestyle races that are not dominated by the aerobic energy system (50s and 25s) the cost of oxygen deprivation would appear to be compensated for by the speed benefit of not breathing. This should be practiced.
I think this question gets to the real point. I do shooters with and without fins very regularly, but one of the points of doing them for me is to know just where the 15m mark is. Because I dabble in the 50 back, I care both about how to SDK well and also about when to stop.
If I raced the 50 free or the 50 fly I might practice my intended breathing pattern from time to time. But I don't race those events, and aside from such practice I see no point in face-down efforts without breathing. To the contrary, because I race pretty much only 100s and up in face-down events, and because the shortest of those events still take slow-twitch me about a minute at best, I see far more point in practicing efficient breathing technique than in practicing holding my breath. If I want to practice keeping my head still I can put on my snorkel.
One of our assistant coaches assigns "breath control" sets pretty often and I always tell her that I refuse on principle to do them.
Agree!
Breath control sets generally seem to me to have little value. Exceptions:
1) Training yourself to not breath until N strokes after the breakout. I'm convinced not breathing on the breakout stroke is faster. If you are going to do this in a race, you need to train it in practice. I essentially never breathe on the breakout stroke in fly or free unless the total distance is 500+.
2) Breathing alternate sides in freestyle. This helps smooth out the stroke. As an added benefit it gives you the ability to check out where your competitors are. I'm not saying we should breathe every three all the time, but it's great practice and we can all benefit from being good at it when we want to do it.
3) Low breath count sprints. For freestyle races that are not dominated by the aerobic energy system (50s and 25s) the cost of oxygen deprivation would appear to be compensated for by the speed benefit of not breathing. This should be practiced.
