I've been swimming masters now for well over a decade and I've hit a bit of a lull. Last year I set my Go The Distance goal at 550 miles and missed it, so this year I revised it downward to 500 miles and as of today I'm 66 miles behind the pace I need to be at to hit that goal. I just don't have the desire to get to the pool as often, or stay in as long, as I usually do.
With that introduction my question really is: how do YOU train long term? Do you try to stay consistent or do you vary from year to year? Historically I've been very consistent, but I wonder if intentionally varying things is a better long term strategy.
Kirk,
Here's how I vary things and it seems to work:
Own the whole order of events throughout the year
Don't get in a racing rut
I'll enter events on a whim just because they look good in the order and skip events I "should" swim
Change up your event focus every time you're going to point to a big meet. Examples:
2011 Mesa Nats - I pretended to be a sprinter and did the 50 free, 50 fly, 100 fly, 100 IM and 200 fly (OK, that wasn't a sprint, but I swam the first 150 like it was!)
2012 Greenboro Nats - While I did do my 'traditional' favorite events (e.g., 400 IM, 500 free, 200 fly), I threw in 3 fun events (50 fly, 100 fly, 100 IM0
2014 Santa Clara Nats - I did 200s of all the strokes, 200 IM and 400IM.
2015 San Antonio Nats - 50, 200 & 500 free, 100 back, 50 & 100 ***
Don't go hard all the time, all the year -
I almost never go a year where I train hard for each of the three "course seasons" - SCY, LCM and SCM.
The only year I did that, 2012, I blew out my shoulder and then paid for it all of 2013 and part of 2014
I almost always take it easier in the summer because family vacations usually mean I can't make it to a big meet and because it downright sucks training in Arizona in the summer.
What this has usually meant is that I'm very motivated for the SCM season.
Take some time completely away if needed
I had an awesome Nationals in Austin in the spring of 2008, it being the first time I had been back to Nationals since 2003, and left there hugely motivated to train.
I then took about 8 weeks completely off that summer, but came back in the fall more energized than ever.
I am planning to take 2-3 weeks this summer where I don't swim at all - it'll make for a much rougher return to the La Jolla Rough Water swim in September, but will be better for me physically and mentally in the long run
Play the 'ego-boosting course game' where you shamelessly rest and swim events in a course you've never or rarely swum before so you can notch a best time
It is amazing the tricks a little positive reinforcement can do for you - I did this at San Antonio Nats with the 50 & 100 *** (events I had never tapered/shaved for as a Masters swimmer) and it still felt awesome to drop a couple seconds in my 100 ***
I'm going to try that again in a couple of weeks with the 200 LCM ***
Heck, I've even started to keep a set of 'altitude best times' for when I go up to race in Flagstaff
Kirk,
Here's how I vary things and it seems to work:
Own the whole order of events throughout the year
Don't get in a racing rut
I'll enter events on a whim just because they look good in the order and skip events I "should" swim
Change up your event focus every time you're going to point to a big meet. Examples:
2011 Mesa Nats - I pretended to be a sprinter and did the 50 free, 50 fly, 100 fly, 100 IM and 200 fly (OK, that wasn't a sprint, but I swam the first 150 like it was!)
2012 Greenboro Nats - While I did do my 'traditional' favorite events (e.g., 400 IM, 500 free, 200 fly), I threw in 3 fun events (50 fly, 100 fly, 100 IM0
2014 Santa Clara Nats - I did 200s of all the strokes, 200 IM and 400IM.
2015 San Antonio Nats - 50, 200 & 500 free, 100 back, 50 & 100 ***
Don't go hard all the time, all the year -
I almost never go a year where I train hard for each of the three "course seasons" - SCY, LCM and SCM.
The only year I did that, 2012, I blew out my shoulder and then paid for it all of 2013 and part of 2014
I almost always take it easier in the summer because family vacations usually mean I can't make it to a big meet and because it downright sucks training in Arizona in the summer.
What this has usually meant is that I'm very motivated for the SCM season.
Take some time completely away if needed
I had an awesome Nationals in Austin in the spring of 2008, it being the first time I had been back to Nationals since 2003, and left there hugely motivated to train.
I then took about 8 weeks completely off that summer, but came back in the fall more energized than ever.
I am planning to take 2-3 weeks this summer where I don't swim at all - it'll make for a much rougher return to the La Jolla Rough Water swim in September, but will be better for me physically and mentally in the long run
Play the 'ego-boosting course game' where you shamelessly rest and swim events in a course you've never or rarely swum before so you can notch a best time
It is amazing the tricks a little positive reinforcement can do for you - I did this at San Antonio Nats with the 50 & 100 *** (events I had never tapered/shaved for as a Masters swimmer) and it still felt awesome to drop a couple seconds in my 100 ***
I'm going to try that again in a couple of weeks with the 200 LCM ***
Heck, I've even started to keep a set of 'altitude best times' for when I go up to race in Flagstaff
