Okay, I think I've finally figured this out.
If I suck at sprinting on land, the same will hold true in water, so I'll be bad at the 50, 100, 200 and 400. (Though the 400 is borderline sprinting).
If I'm a distance runner, I should be okay with the 800 and up.
But...I shouldn't stop doing sprint workouts because they help so much (like during my sophomore track season, my event was the 2 mile, but I could nail the 200 yard sprint faster than any of the distance runners).
I think I got that right...of course, swimming takes more out of you...that whole, holding your breath thing.
Its interesting, but my running coach used to make me do some sprints while holding my breathe. He'd pace me at breathing out every other time my left foot would hit the ground. Then we'd speed up and he'd make me breath every third left foot, then every fourth.
My swim coach has me do the same thing, mostly at the END of the hour (!), by breathing every 3rd for a 50, then every 5th for a 50, then every 7th for a 50, then every 9th for a 50, then one length underwater.
In both instances, my lung capacity got better!
Its interesting, but my running coach used to make me do some sprints while holding my breathe. He'd pace me at breathing out every other time my left foot would hit the ground. Then we'd speed up and he'd make me breath every third left foot, then every fourth.
My swim coach has me do the same thing, mostly at the END of the hour (!), by breathing every 3rd for a 50, then every 5th for a 50, then every 7th for a 50, then every 9th for a 50, then one length underwater.
In both instances, my lung capacity got better!
