I have a problem that I hope the more seasoned swimmers here might be able to clarify for me. First, some background: I never swam competitively. I started swimming 'seriously' in Dec/Jan, knowing how to swim, but not knowing how to structure a decent workout program. I'd like to think that I've improved in the latter regard. I swim 6-7x a week for about 60-90mins at a time, getting in anywhere from 2500 to 4000yds a session. I don't have a race that I focus on, but I tend to enjoy 50 fr/bk, 100 fr & 100 IM---so basically, the shorter stuff. Most of my workouts involve strong effort sets with a good amount of rest.
Now...here's my question. Do I need to be doing sets like Nx100 or Nx50 on an interval that gives me :5-:10 seconds rest? If so, how often should I be doing these? Since I'm a beginner, I feel like I need to add stuff like this to my workout, just to improve my overall conditioning. But am I wrong?
I've started doing the following main set every Sunday: 12x100 broken into 3 rounds of 4x100s as fr/IM/bk, on intervals that give me :5-:10 rest; followed by 9x100 broken into 3 rds of 3x100 of the same. My goal is to progress enough each week so that I can lower the intervals. This has been working OK for the past few weeks, in the sense that my intervals are coming down. But I feel like that's all I'm getting out of it---getting better at swimming 100 repeats, and apparently not much else. Is this worth it if I don't ever plan on racing a 200+ distance?
Sorry for the long post but I'd really appreciate any input on this! I swim solo so I have nobody else that I can discuss these things with.
(Incidentally, today is Sunday, and I'm about to head to the pool to do the workout mentioned above. I'm really starting to dread it. It's a tough workout for me---which is fine, if it weren't for the nagging voice in the back of my head telling me that it's tough and pointless, which makes it even more tough! Am I just being a wimp?)
Thanks for the responses!
I think the following quote is on the money:
The moment it feels like drudgery, I know there's a problem.
On Sunday I was just not looking forward to swimming at all. It felt like something I had to do, as opposed to something I wanted to do. My bike ride to the pool felt like I was doing a mountain stage in the Tour, and then my warm-up when I finally got there felt like it was going in slow motion. So I just stopped and asked myself, "why am I doing this?"
I decided to scratch my planned 100 repeat workout, and instead did this:
5x{100 strong @ I; 50 strong @ I}
100ez
3x{2x100 best avg @ I; 50 ez @ I}
100ez
2x{100 for time @ I; 50 ez @ I}
(where I is an interval that gave me :30 rest on the 100s in the first bit)
I was much happier with this workout, and I also feel like I didn't deviate too much from my plan. Going forwards I think I'm going to stop doing regularly scheduled short-rest 100s---maybe only doing them when I feel like it. The benefits for my sanity seem like they will outweigh the loss of training benefits (if any!).
Thanks for the responses!
I think the following quote is on the money:
The moment it feels like drudgery, I know there's a problem.
On Sunday I was just not looking forward to swimming at all. It felt like something I had to do, as opposed to something I wanted to do. My bike ride to the pool felt like I was doing a mountain stage in the Tour, and then my warm-up when I finally got there felt like it was going in slow motion. So I just stopped and asked myself, "why am I doing this?"
I decided to scratch my planned 100 repeat workout, and instead did this:
5x{100 strong @ I; 50 strong @ I}
100ez
3x{2x100 best avg @ I; 50 ez @ I}
100ez
2x{100 for time @ I; 50 ez @ I}
(where I is an interval that gave me :30 rest on the 100s in the first bit)
I was much happier with this workout, and I also feel like I didn't deviate too much from my plan. Going forwards I think I'm going to stop doing regularly scheduled short-rest 100s---maybe only doing them when I feel like it. The benefits for my sanity seem like they will outweigh the loss of training benefits (if any!).
