I have always thought that one cannot store O2 in the body.How is a "debt" created then?? It seems to me that a better description would be "Oxygen need".......
Some of us are puzzled by the following questions:
1. At what point during a short race does the discomfort of not breathing become a real need ?
2. We all know that you can swim faster at free and fly without the breathing process interfering with our stroke. We also know that swimming a longer distance requires a constant O2 intake. Is this a time thing or a distance problem ?
Emmet, and others, weigh in here will you ??
Bert
Bert,
I think the answer to your question is time, provided you are giving it your maximal effort. If you swim comfortably below your lactate threshhold, you can go all day. However, if you are doing an all out sprint, the demands on your muscles are so great that they burn carbs in the absence of 02, in the process giving off lactic acid (that horrible stuff that makes you whimper in the water!) I read some place that this all-out anaerobic effort can last only 8-9 seconds before you produce enough lactic acid to compromise your continued performance.
Eventually, you will also start burning fat in the presence of 02, which is a much more efficient energy system (aerobic), and much more sustainable for long term performance.
The 100 IM is one of the many gray zone events: if you don't work hard enough to generate a miserable degree of lactic acid, you won't get a good time. But if you all-out sprint from the get go, you may well generate so much lactic acid too soon that your limbs turn to tungsten by the middle of the 3rd length. It's hard to paddle with tungsten oars!
I think your coach is right in advising you to take a couple breaths on the first 25 fly. yes, this will slow you down a bit in the beginning. But it will help ensure that your system has at least some oxygen circulating in your blood stream when you've exhausted all "anaerobic fuel" and need to switch to predominately aerobic fat-burning in the latter lengths.
I apologize to the exercise physiologists out there is some of this is overly simplistic. Bert, if you want to read a sensational book, check out Brian Sharkey's Fitness & Health (Human Kinetics) at your library. A superb explanation of how the body's various energy systems work, how to optimally train them, etc.
Bert,
I think the answer to your question is time, provided you are giving it your maximal effort. If you swim comfortably below your lactate threshhold, you can go all day. However, if you are doing an all out sprint, the demands on your muscles are so great that they burn carbs in the absence of 02, in the process giving off lactic acid (that horrible stuff that makes you whimper in the water!) I read some place that this all-out anaerobic effort can last only 8-9 seconds before you produce enough lactic acid to compromise your continued performance.
Eventually, you will also start burning fat in the presence of 02, which is a much more efficient energy system (aerobic), and much more sustainable for long term performance.
The 100 IM is one of the many gray zone events: if you don't work hard enough to generate a miserable degree of lactic acid, you won't get a good time. But if you all-out sprint from the get go, you may well generate so much lactic acid too soon that your limbs turn to tungsten by the middle of the 3rd length. It's hard to paddle with tungsten oars!
I think your coach is right in advising you to take a couple breaths on the first 25 fly. yes, this will slow you down a bit in the beginning. But it will help ensure that your system has at least some oxygen circulating in your blood stream when you've exhausted all "anaerobic fuel" and need to switch to predominately aerobic fat-burning in the latter lengths.
I apologize to the exercise physiologists out there is some of this is overly simplistic. Bert, if you want to read a sensational book, check out Brian Sharkey's Fitness & Health (Human Kinetics) at your library. A superb explanation of how the body's various energy systems work, how to optimally train them, etc.
