Can someone please explain in simplified terms what EN1, EN2 and EN3 actually mean?
Experienced thoughts on how often each system should be trained?
For someone who swims mid-long distance freestyle, which energy systems take dominance, if any?
(clearly I'm lost!)
Thanks
:)
Former Member
From what I've read:
En1--basic endurance. Faster than warmup but slower than En2.
En2--anaerobic threshold, a pace you can determine from a timed swim (like a T-2000). Swim 2000 (or 1000) yards for time, trying to maintain an even pace. Calculate your average 100 pace to use as your threshold pace for sets.
En3--overload endurance, which will be similar to race pace. Very high intensity.
Many coaches use heart rate to guage effort. I've read that, at least for distance and middle distance swimmers, a large percentage of training should be En1, adding more En3 as the season progresses. Basic endurance sets can also be descended down to En2 or En3 pace.
You can find an explanation and link to the energy systems here penguin0.best.vwh.net/.../help.html
Which energy system to train and when is a VERY large part of what swim coaching is about. If you want to understand what is going on, get acopy of "Championship Swim Training". He lays out the systems pretty well and how to construct a training plan.
There is no one answer to how much to train each system because that number changes throughout the year. You divide the year up into phases (mesocycles) that have varying emphases. Each different emphasis means a different relative amount of each type of training.
I know I didn't answer the question, but the link will help you and the book certainly will.
Originally posted by gull80
Another way to define this, using heart rate:
En1: Max HR - 30-60 bpm
En2: Max HR - 10-20 bpm
En3: Max HR (which you can calculate by 220-age)
This is surprising. Based on this calculation, no part of my routine workout would ever fall even in En2 (180 - 10 to 20 = 170 - 160). My heartrate goes to 155 for some brief period (155 being about 85% of max at 40 years old). Most of my workout time is spent in the 135 to 145 bpm range. Maybe I need to reevaluate my workout levels.
I guess the question is, what is your perceived level of exertion during your workouts? You can rate it on a scale of 1-20, and use this instead of heart rate (I have a hard time doing this) to distinguish between En-1, En-2, and En-3.
Are you taking any medication (like a beta blocker) that might blunt your heart rate response?
