Hi all,
I'm the Slow Swimmer in Residence at my swim practices, and this often means that I'm maybe halfway done with a set when people are moving on to the next one. Usually, I have the slow lane to myself, which widens my options somewhat (if I don't, I do whatever the others are doing, even if it means moving on to the next set before I'm done with the previous one).
Since I almost NEVER finish my sets the same time as the others (unless I get to the practice earlier... that allows me to come out even with the others at least on the first set), would I benefit more from (a), (b) or (c)?:
(a) jump to the sets that others are doing even if not finished with all the repeats (ex.: 10x100; others have moved on to 250s. I have done 5-6 100s... following this option, I'd stop doing the 100s and move ahead to the 250s).
(b) finish the set I'm doing, then start on whatever set others are doing, even if they're, let's say, two or more sets ahead of me.
(c) finish the set I'm doing, then move on to the next one in the order the coach listed, only skipping ahead if the time allotted for the workout is drawing to a close and I need the warmdown.
Underlying all this, I guess what I am asking is whether it's better to do fewer repetitions but more of the sets that everyone's doing or all the repetitions but finish fewer sets.
Some might say I should retire to the open lap swim, but I'm not ready to do that. ;)
Thanks for your help!
Parents
Former Member
Fish:
let me give you two perspectives: One as a coach and the other as a swimmer.
As a coach, I try to put together a workout to fit the alloted practice time, tailored necessarily to the fastest swimmers. Sometimes I do a workout as Paul suggests (having everyone go on the same clock) and sometimes not. The main thing here is that (in spite of what a coach may tell you) there are no absolute right ways to train. A whole variety of things work for people. When I would see a swimmer who couldn't keep up but who insisted on finishing the particular part of the set as I wrote it (damn the torpedos...) my thought would always be 'here is a swimmer who takes the instructions waaaay too literally.' Be flexible & drop something if you need to.
As a swimmer, I really dislike swimming with someone who is finishing the kick set, say, (maybe only half way through) when the rest of us in the lane are switching to doing IM. This is very disruptive to the other swimmers in the lane.
If you wind up only getting 75% of the work done on each set, at least you will have gone through the entire range of disciplines that the coach intended. If you drop an entire part, you may have missed the main point of the workout for the day.
As as example, last spring I was in Bend OR swimming with Bob Bruce's team. The day I was there the set was a baker's dozen (no, not Dennis Baker) 100 SCM IM on 2:05. Well, that's a bit too fast for me. So, I did a set of 5 and sat one out and then repeated. In the end, I got 11 of the 13 done & worked pretty hard. I was happy and always started on the same clock as the others in the lane so I wouldn't be in the way.
Hope this view helps.
-- mel
Fish:
let me give you two perspectives: One as a coach and the other as a swimmer.
As a coach, I try to put together a workout to fit the alloted practice time, tailored necessarily to the fastest swimmers. Sometimes I do a workout as Paul suggests (having everyone go on the same clock) and sometimes not. The main thing here is that (in spite of what a coach may tell you) there are no absolute right ways to train. A whole variety of things work for people. When I would see a swimmer who couldn't keep up but who insisted on finishing the particular part of the set as I wrote it (damn the torpedos...) my thought would always be 'here is a swimmer who takes the instructions waaaay too literally.' Be flexible & drop something if you need to.
As a swimmer, I really dislike swimming with someone who is finishing the kick set, say, (maybe only half way through) when the rest of us in the lane are switching to doing IM. This is very disruptive to the other swimmers in the lane.
If you wind up only getting 75% of the work done on each set, at least you will have gone through the entire range of disciplines that the coach intended. If you drop an entire part, you may have missed the main point of the workout for the day.
As as example, last spring I was in Bend OR swimming with Bob Bruce's team. The day I was there the set was a baker's dozen (no, not Dennis Baker) 100 SCM IM on 2:05. Well, that's a bit too fast for me. So, I did a set of 5 and sat one out and then repeated. In the end, I got 11 of the 13 done & worked pretty hard. I was happy and always started on the same clock as the others in the lane so I wouldn't be in the way.
Hope this view helps.
-- mel
