Advice Needed - Focus on endurance or technique?

I'm increasingly of the opinion that you cannot separate technique and conditioning. One difficulty is that it's hard to objectively assess the quality of a person's technique, so when someone is swimming faster than they were, we don't know where the improvement has come from. And even if their technique could be proven to have improved, it may only have been made possible by an accompanying improvement in conditioning. I normally train 5 times a week in the following pattern - train, train, rest, train, train, train, rest. The interesting thing is that my technique feels at its best on the days after I have had a day's rest, because my muscles are fresher and I'm better able to make my body move in the way I want it to. It's approx 18 months since I started Masters swimming, i.e. joined a club, though I had been swimming by myself prior to that. When I first joined the club, if we did a lactate tolerance set of 10 x 100m free on 3:00, I could only just do each one sub 1:20. Now I can do 10 x 100m free on 1:30 at an average of 1:10, so clearly there has been a drastic improvement in some department! I do believe that my technique has improved, however I also believe that no matter how much time I had spent working on technique at low speed, that alone would never have got me to where I am now, because when I'm repeating 1:10 on 1:30 I'm using a very large number of muscles all over my body to keep everything moving the right way, particularly core body muscles. Even now, when those muscles get tired, I then become unable to sustain the quality of technique that I'm aiming for. I don't agree that you can't develop both technique and conditioning at the same time. I think that with practice you can concentrate on technique while working hard. Your limbs might be too tired to do what you want them to do, but I think that as long as you're trying to perform the correct movements, it will all come good with time. I'm also not convinced that it's as hard as some people say to change your technique, I've been constantly evolving my own technique over time. I think it's important to a) develop a sense of awareness of what your body is doing while swimming along, b) have a mental model of what your body should be doing, and c) gradually bring what your body is actually doing closer to your mental model over time.

I say, Amen, to Notveryfast, We are in agreement, even though technique is crucial. Swimming slow with technique will keep a swimmer swimming slow with technique. No top-of-the-line aerobic base will be developed, so even though a swimmer may have a beautiful stroke, they won't swim at higher speeds and feel well doing it. This also applies to the one mile swim in triathlons. People get in and swim a mile. I don't swim a mile; I swim 400s all through it. My race pace is my 400 time and I usually get to the finish much faster than those who swim a "mile." Physical conditioning is crucial to swimming technical. As you mentioned, even though the stroke may start to fail or fall apart at the end of some highly challenging sets, the person "knows" this is happening and it is due to fatigue. And I especially liked your mentioning about developing your own swim style. I have always taught the basic things that need to happen with anyone's stroke, but if a swimmer's stroke looks different from another's, so be it. Or, even body position in/on the water. Keeping a person's stroke as natural for them as possible, will make it much easier for them to swim and they will not be working against what is normal for them. There is more than one way to swim correctly. :drink: Here, have a drink on me for your excellent observations!!! Donna

Leonard Great analogy. I'm gonna steal that one for sure. I do say it takes twice as long to unlearn a stroke error as to learn correct technique from the start, but the wood grain analogy is more pithy. Feel free - I used it with my racewalkers and it seemed to resonate, at least with those who had some woodworking experience. Nice pun, BTW. -LBJ

Everyone needs some baseline sets to help determine if they're improving or not. If your trying to improve endurance and technique, try using a 500 yard swim as one of your baseline sets. After you've tried swimming a 500 a few times, use your best time as your baseline. Then follow these tips and training strategies and I think you'll see a lot of improvement in both your technique and endurance. First focus on improving your propulsion by improving your Early Vertical Forearm position. Go to the thread EVF training to learn more. The websites show great streamlining techniques and most importantly EVF technique. Now, take your baseline time, let's say 7:30 and take a time that will show you that you are really improving. Let's say 6:40. Now, when beginners train, we should expect them to drop a lot more than a seasoned swimmer and the times above, assume that the swimmer is not seasoned. With that being said, the goals you set for yourself must be realistic. The goal setting is very important and it is difficult but the important thing is that you've set a goal that is realistic and fits you as an individual. Here comes the great set. I want to swim a 6:40 and have worked conscientiously and consistently to improve my EVF. I want you to swim 20 x 25 @ 1min and maintain 20 second 25's. Now this should be easy and if it's not, increase the interval. When you become comfortable and are able to maintain 18 second 25's, you reduce the interval by 5 seconds until the interval drops to 20 seconds. The two seconds under your pace gives you the confidence to repeat 20-25's at 20 seconds, which will get you your goal time. Please email me if you are confused and please go to www.techpaddle.com for more EVF information.

Hey dorian -- I'm not sure what your goals are. If I recall correctly, you're a new swimmer like me. It sounds like we've each approached swimming differently. You've focused (primarily) on stamina -- practicing laps very often -- whereas I've focused (primarily) on stroke technique -- taking four lessons per week, plus TI drills. The result is that I'm almost certain you could beat me in a 25 yard sprint. And if that's your goal, great. Personally, I just want to swim well and enjoy myself. I don't want to compete and I don't have any particular fitness goals -- although if I become more fit, I'm certainly not going to complain. The result of focusing on stroke technique is that I can swim 25 yards of freestyle with a 2-beat kick and just a few strokes, breathing maybe twice or three times and be very relaxed at the other end. And I'm just a beginner. I think the thing to remember is that the vast majority of folks on this board are competitive, life-long swimmers whereas you and I are new swimmers. We have completely different goals than a competitive swimmer. I used to be into body building. I didn't want to be arnold. I just wanted to build a bit of muscle. I had the same problem as I have with swimming -- all of the advice is geared toward people who want to be huge and ripped. Supplements. Complicated diet plans. Tricky workouts. The secret to body building for average Joe is good form, high intensity, rest, water, and a balanced 'meat and potatoes' diet. The rest of the stuff is crap that you can throw out unless you want to be a pro body builder and not just a dude with nice pecs. If I were training for a competition, I'm sure I would be terribly concerned with my stamina and endurance. But the only thing I'm training for is that time when I accidently get thrown off a boat, or that time when I go on vacation and I want to impress everyone by swimming effortlessly across the hotel's pool. For those situations, it's stroke technique that I'll need. I think there's a false dilemma between the positions of KaizenSwimmer and islandsox (er, Terry and Donna?). In order to compete, you obviously need stamina. And in order to be world-class, I would guess that you need your "own" style of stroke -- but I have no idea. And I suppose that's Donna's point. But whether you're a beginner swimmer or an expert swimmer, why wouldn't you want to swim in the most comfortable, efficient and easiet way possible? And I think that's Terry's point. I don't see how the two are incompatible. Anyway, yay for swimming. I'm hopelessly addicted now...

hey alphathree, good to hear from you. I do have to disagree with your views. First of all i mainly work on technique. There's not a single lap where i don't think about my body/hands/legs. I swim 25 yard laps because i do not have a teacher and the best way for me to work on technique is applying ideas in real time and space. whenever i work on a new element i try to focus and feel it as i swim, then compare it to the time it took to execute it (at moderate tempo). True stroke technique can stand the test of time, literally. I don't think working on stamina/endurance and technique should contradict each other. if anything, the better technique i apply during my laps improve my swimming capabilities. I also think a "beginner" like you and I can be as competitive as everyone else. maybe it's just my mentality but in my eyes i have no limits. My current goals are first of all enjoying, because that's the only reason i go to the pool 5 days a week. my second is to be the best swimmer i can be in the shortest time possible. in other words, perfect my movements as much as possible and develop enough stamina/endurance for a 3 mile run. those are my goals. Here's my take on swimming TI/stamina as you call it. you can have long beautiful strokes and you can swim fast like a hurricane, but combining both is where the true "sweet spot" is. maximizing your speed and efficiency, that's what i'm trying to do.