Race Club Article

Craig III You bring out an interesting point about comparing older age group swimmers from the 1970s and early 1980s to the swimmers these days. Personally, I don't find a lot of improvement in the depth of the heats from then to now. I agree there are many overweight kids these days, more now than then it seems. The top talent has marginally improved over the last 3 decades, but not as much compared to the preceeding decades in the 50s and 60s compared to the 70s and 80s. Questions: Did this "over training" a quarter of a century ago help or hinder in the end ? Are we lacking on aerobic base in some of our age group kids these days ? Personally, I think the super yardage teams like Mission Viejo back then went a bit overboard. It simply burnt out too many kids mentally. But, I think there is purpose for an aerobic base early in your career. I do remember swimming 2wice a day (8-10K or so) 2 days a week when I was 12 in the summers. Highschool was harder (10K-12K) 3 days a week plus weights and Texas in the early 80's was even harder intensity and slightly more yardage still. I suggest that the concept of "base" has been slightly lost on a the vast middle talent group of swimmers these days...... i.e. the average "John Smiths" out there. I have spoken to college coaches now that feel that their incoming Freshman don't have sufficient base compared to the 1980s. They have to train many of their Freshman very hard the first 2 years where as before it was already there for the taking. John Smith

Craig III You bring out an interesting point about comparing older age group swimmers from the 1970s and early 1980s to the swimmers these days. Personally, I don't find a lot of improvement in the depth of the heats from then to now. I agree there are many overweight kids these days, more now than then it seems. The top talent has marginally improved over the last 3 decades, but not as much compared to the preceeding decades in the 50s and 60s compared to the 70s and 80s. Questions: Did this "over training" a quarter of a century ago help or hinder in the end ? Are we lacking on aerobic base in some of our age group kids these days ? Personally, I think the super yardage teams like Mission Viejo back then went a bit overboard. It simply burnt out too many kids mentally. But, I think there is purpose for an aerobic base early in your career. I do remember swimming 2wice a day (8-10K or so) 2 days a week when I was 12 in the summers. Highschool was harder (10K-12K) 3 days a week plus weights and Texas in the early 80's was even harder intensity and slightly more yardage still. I suggest that the concept of "base" has been slightly lost on a the vast middle talent group of swimmers these days...... i.e. the average "John Smiths" out there. I have spoken to college coaches now that feel that their incoming Freshman don't have sufficient base compared to the 1980s. They have to train many of their Freshman very hard the first 2 years where as before it was already there for the taking. John Smith