I recently read a fascinating book on Sprinting (author- Samuel James Freas). The book emphasizes the importance of swimming all out during practice in addition to dryland exercises. Although the sequence of daily workouts consist of recovery, fast, and superfast workouts, the book does seem to focus on the college age swimmer. QUESTION...How many times during the week should a middle age Master swim fast/ superfast workouts? I have heard that too much anaerobic training may be detrimental. I am in search of the right mix between anaerobic and aerobic that will allow a Sprinter to significantly improve their times.
Chuck
Parents
Former Member
The Freas book is geared for the younger swimmer. I am 48, I concentrate solely on sprints in meets. I only do 2 sprint workouts a week because my body cannot take more. I would like to do more, but it causes too much lingering fatigue. A true sprint workout is like a weight lifting session in which the muscle is broken down and needs a lot of time for repair. When I was younger, one day off would have been enough, but now it's 3! Each person is different, however.
I have found that swimming all out in training makes a huge difference for a sprinter. Most masters workouts are designed for the endurance swimer. Even when they say they are doing a sprint workout, they are really doing endurance work (e.g., 10 50s with 15 seconds rest). Masters swimmers will often feel sore the day after a meet when they swim a 50. This means they are not trained for sprinting, they are swimming at max speed for the first time since the last meet.
The main thing I got from Freas' book is that you must swim with maximum effort for each sprint and then rest until you feel fresh enough for another. I usually will rest 3-4 minutes between each 50. The article about Richard Abrahams in SWIM magazine describes something similar
www.swiminfo.com/.../200211-01swim_art.asp
I have hit a plateau in my sprint times, so I am trying weights and vasa training next. Any advice about weights, please comment.
The Freas book is geared for the younger swimmer. I am 48, I concentrate solely on sprints in meets. I only do 2 sprint workouts a week because my body cannot take more. I would like to do more, but it causes too much lingering fatigue. A true sprint workout is like a weight lifting session in which the muscle is broken down and needs a lot of time for repair. When I was younger, one day off would have been enough, but now it's 3! Each person is different, however.
I have found that swimming all out in training makes a huge difference for a sprinter. Most masters workouts are designed for the endurance swimer. Even when they say they are doing a sprint workout, they are really doing endurance work (e.g., 10 50s with 15 seconds rest). Masters swimmers will often feel sore the day after a meet when they swim a 50. This means they are not trained for sprinting, they are swimming at max speed for the first time since the last meet.
The main thing I got from Freas' book is that you must swim with maximum effort for each sprint and then rest until you feel fresh enough for another. I usually will rest 3-4 minutes between each 50. The article about Richard Abrahams in SWIM magazine describes something similar
www.swiminfo.com/.../200211-01swim_art.asp
I have hit a plateau in my sprint times, so I am trying weights and vasa training next. Any advice about weights, please comment.
