No one is gonna like me saying this, but most masters athletes are not burning anywhere near the calories they think they are. Most are probably burning 200-250 calories per hour max. To burn the kind of calories the olympians report, you have to be running your heart rate in the 165-180 range for the better part of 2 hours in each practice where they are covering 16-20,000 yards/day.
I've wondered about this quite a bit recently. The workout computer on the stationary bike at the gym reports that I burn ~320 calories in half-hour session. I wonder how accurate this is. (Multiple bikes produce similar results.) That would translate to well over 600 calories per hour, which is a lot if the chart on the wall that compares the calorie consumption rate of various activities can be believed. It "feel like" I work harder than that in most pool workouts, but a calorie consumption rate >600/hour doesn't sound believable. Of course I do take set breaks during a 80-90 minute swim workout so I'm not running at that rate 100% of the time, but in a 90 minute workout at least some days I would be running hot for 75-80 minutes. Of course it has been months since I have been able to do this on account of life getting in the way... grrrrrr.
No one is gonna like me saying this, but most masters athletes are not burning anywhere near the calories they think they are. Most are probably burning 200-250 calories per hour max. To burn the kind of calories the olympians report, you have to be running your heart rate in the 165-180 range for the better part of 2 hours in each practice where they are covering 16-20,000 yards/day.
I've wondered about this quite a bit recently. The workout computer on the stationary bike at the gym reports that I burn ~320 calories in half-hour session. I wonder how accurate this is. (Multiple bikes produce similar results.) That would translate to well over 600 calories per hour, which is a lot if the chart on the wall that compares the calorie consumption rate of various activities can be believed. It "feel like" I work harder than that in most pool workouts, but a calorie consumption rate >600/hour doesn't sound believable. Of course I do take set breaks during a 80-90 minute swim workout so I'm not running at that rate 100% of the time, but in a 90 minute workout at least some days I would be running hot for 75-80 minutes. Of course it has been months since I have been able to do this on account of life getting in the way... grrrrrr.
