Anyone one care to discuss the hows and whys of swim team training? There’s an aspect I just can’t understand. I’ve been swimming most ofmy life. I began just after high school. I graduated in 1979. In h.s. I was across-country and track distance runner. I’ve never been on a “swim team,” and other than the few open/masters swim meets I’ve participated in…my only competitive swimming has been for triathlons and open water events. I did get a bit of knowledge about swim teams when my daughter was on her h.s. swim team. But what confounds me about swim team (in h.s. anyway) is how the longer swims are handled (500/400 freestyle, and to some extent the 200 freestyle). Frequently it seems that none of the swimmers what to swim in the long events. I’ve even seen on several occasions where the 400/500 isn’t even competed due to lack of interest on both teams. Dumb if you ask me! If I was coach I’d just put someone in there that could finish and get the points. And of course the entire team trains the same way at practice. Why? I guess it’s because of my running/track background. A distance runner doesn’t need to hurdle so there’s no need to train at hurdles. Similarly, in my mind, a (h.s.) distance swimmer (freestyle events) wouldn’t need to butterfly so why train at it? Personally, if I coached a (h.s.) swim team, I’d find a couple of swimmers that would want to train only for the longer events. They’d swim a seperate workout from the rest of theteam, and would always swim the long freestyle events. Why don’t swim coachesdo that?
Dan
Dan,
I do not think that you can lump swimmers into the distance/sprint categories. If you did then mid-distance swimmers would be an anomaly. My personal opinion and from experience, swimmers during their teenage years should be as well rounded as possible (leave the specialization for the college years). I have been a life long distance freestyle swimmer, but also excelled in the 100 and 200 butterfly. At the beginning of the season everyone on the team swam the 500 freestyle (even the hardcore sprinters). We were not allowed to choose the events we wanted to swim during dual meets and were only allowed to select events during championship meets. In fact I had a few opportunities to swim the 100 and 50 freestyle and IM events during dual meets.
During my highschool years there was one practice for the entire group for the majority of the season. About 3/4 of the way through the season three groups were separated (sprinters, mid-distance, distance) and each group had a different main set. The workout swam together were typically 6000-8000 yards/meters in length and had both aerobic and anaerobic sets. The specialized workouts varied and had more race prep work (coach called this quality swim time). It wasn't until college when I truly started specializing in the 1650, 1000, and 500 yard freestyle with some butterfly in the mix
Dan,
I do not think that you can lump swimmers into the distance/sprint categories. If you did then mid-distance swimmers would be an anomaly. My personal opinion and from experience, swimmers during their teenage years should be as well rounded as possible (leave the specialization for the college years). I have been a life long distance freestyle swimmer, but also excelled in the 100 and 200 butterfly. At the beginning of the season everyone on the team swam the 500 freestyle (even the hardcore sprinters). We were not allowed to choose the events we wanted to swim during dual meets and were only allowed to select events during championship meets. In fact I had a few opportunities to swim the 100 and 50 freestyle and IM events during dual meets.
During my highschool years there was one practice for the entire group for the majority of the season. About 3/4 of the way through the season three groups were separated (sprinters, mid-distance, distance) and each group had a different main set. The workout swam together were typically 6000-8000 yards/meters in length and had both aerobic and anaerobic sets. The specialized workouts varied and had more race prep work (coach called this quality swim time). It wasn't until college when I truly started specializing in the 1650, 1000, and 500 yard freestyle with some butterfly in the mix
