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My new sport - track swimmer ... just like track cycling - they stay faster MUCH longer than us swimmers - WHY ???

Erik Hochstein

This is part of my Sprint Journey mission - I have looked into running to see how they train - but then also into a sport where you do not carry your own weight and see how they train and compete and how they compete at an older age - my conclusion -  almost all SWIMMERS train like road cyclists -- or open water swimmers - when we should all train like track cyclists if we compete in "track swimming" as in a pool !! My proof - and yes there are differences in what you need to stay "fast" for swimming vs cycling but the times these folks post are mind numbing for us swimmers !!

Sprint record - 10sec event  65y old is 1.2s slower than 30-50 year olds which btw all have same record - a 50y old is same speed as a 30y old !!!

500m time trial - similar to 75 Free - they lower the distance as people age which I am sure people think is st....d  - but 40y old record is 32,9 vs 60 year is 33.9 --- only 1 second slower !!!

1hr time trial - big event - no difference between age 30 and 50 !!!

Link to records NOT a trick or spam link :) 

https://assets.ctfassets.net/761l7gh5x5an/1oje3ZC4hM2yxZAPSC7iSC/76c9154f86a0abd7c190d7cd51aa63a5/20230202_Masters_Best_Performances_Men.pdf

Another obvious thing - almost all them records are set within last 5 years for cycling .... I think I know the main reason but lets see what others think too ...

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  • OK, I think I may understand a little better. But…what if you don’t want to be fast/sprinter? And, and you want to be a long distance endurance swimmer? There’s a mantra “train” like you race. I certainly understand that slow swimming results in being a slow swimmer. After decades of doing open water swimming in the summers, a some pool speed work…training for triathlon, and a few other open water events up to 2-mile swims. I decided to train for a local 7-mile marathon ocean swim in the summer of 2020. I began that in the autumn of 2019. I gave up speed work and focused only on increasing my endurance. Actually, I did that event two years in a row. So it was a long time not doing speed drills. When I finally did go back to speed work…I found I had experienced a significant loss of speed (but I still had no problem going long). So back to my original question — what if you want to be long and slow?
    Dan
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  • OK, I think I may understand a little better. But…what if you don’t want to be fast/sprinter? And, and you want to be a long distance endurance swimmer? There’s a mantra “train” like you race. I certainly understand that slow swimming results in being a slow swimmer. After decades of doing open water swimming in the summers, a some pool speed work…training for triathlon, and a few other open water events up to 2-mile swims. I decided to train for a local 7-mile marathon ocean swim in the summer of 2020. I began that in the autumn of 2019. I gave up speed work and focused only on increasing my endurance. Actually, I did that event two years in a row. So it was a long time not doing speed drills. When I finally did go back to speed work…I found I had experienced a significant loss of speed (but I still had no problem going long). So back to my original question — what if you want to be long and slow?
    Dan
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  • in reply to ForceDJ

    Nice - great to have goals and to train for something - I was "out" of it for way too long - part of what learned very much coming back - you don't use you lose it ... we all know it - we can all tell it to others but feeling it yourself - ouch !!  Part of my reason and motivation to swim again and swim for a long long time in terms of age is longevity - and no matter who you believe out there - you live longer with having good endurance AND good real strength -- if you don't use it you lose it ... yes we all lose some as we age but not doing anything makes you lose it 10x faster (not sure real number) ... anyways long story -- but also for you - I would argue and bet that losing the speed also impacted your endurance abilities quite a bit in a negative way - if you just do 1 real sprint workout every other week - you will swim faster in your next super long distance event.  Got my first real meet tomorrow - we shall see how close I get Slight smile