To quote Gull: What is the right mix of technique and endurance for a Masters athlete (who wants to be competitive, say, at Nationals) with a finite amount of time to train?
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Former Member
As you note, I have always been a slow learner when it comes to sports. I was frustrated about that as a kid. In baseball I got stuck in right field where I'd present the least liability. In basketball, I played defense but was never a scorer. In cross-country I finished last out of hundreds in a major HS invitational. In soccer I sprained my ankles through clumsiness. And in swimming I got cut from the first team I tried out for at age 12 and qualified only for the "novice" championship (swimming against freshmen) as a HS senior.
As an adult I've realized it can be an advantage. It's taught me patience. It's helped me relate to other slow learners. And it's given me hope that I can keep learning year after year after year.
After spending March to August focused on distance free, for the 1500/1650 and the OW season, I decided to train as a 400 IMer for balance Sept through Dec. The progress I made was thrilling. Two weeks ago, in the middle of a 3600-yard IM set with Dave I swam the fastest 400 IM -- meet or practice -- since 1994. You can imagine how exciting that was.
This all sounds a little revenge of the nerds to me. I've seen it at work in other settings too. You weren't good when you were young, but now that you're older and wise, you've used guile to get better and some of the best have dropped out. So now you can play with the big boys like Jonty. You might have noticed, but Donna is one of those big boys. She's got the creds. And I don't believe respect is due only to people with creds.
I guess I'm glad I had some success in sports as a youth. I might not be more patient, but I don't have a tude either. And as an adult, I still find plenty of things "thrilling" -- like runing my first marathon, running my son's first 10K with him, or competing in my first OW swim. Good stuff.
You could go back and answer the question I posed several pages ago. You said, agreeing with Allen Stark -- another big boy because he's a world champion -- that 7 weeks of endurance was plenty. I questioned that, noting that if you were doing distance swimming, perhaps as big boy Paul noted, a different program was in order. So I asked your views. Certainly relevant to the topic of the thread.
As you note, I have always been a slow learner when it comes to sports. I was frustrated about that as a kid. In baseball I got stuck in right field where I'd present the least liability. In basketball, I played defense but was never a scorer. In cross-country I finished last out of hundreds in a major HS invitational. In soccer I sprained my ankles through clumsiness. And in swimming I got cut from the first team I tried out for at age 12 and qualified only for the "novice" championship (swimming against freshmen) as a HS senior.
As an adult I've realized it can be an advantage. It's taught me patience. It's helped me relate to other slow learners. And it's given me hope that I can keep learning year after year after year.
After spending March to August focused on distance free, for the 1500/1650 and the OW season, I decided to train as a 400 IMer for balance Sept through Dec. The progress I made was thrilling. Two weeks ago, in the middle of a 3600-yard IM set with Dave I swam the fastest 400 IM -- meet or practice -- since 1994. You can imagine how exciting that was.
This all sounds a little revenge of the nerds to me. I've seen it at work in other settings too. You weren't good when you were young, but now that you're older and wise, you've used guile to get better and some of the best have dropped out. So now you can play with the big boys like Jonty. You might have noticed, but Donna is one of those big boys. She's got the creds. And I don't believe respect is due only to people with creds.
I guess I'm glad I had some success in sports as a youth. I might not be more patient, but I don't have a tude either. And as an adult, I still find plenty of things "thrilling" -- like runing my first marathon, running my son's first 10K with him, or competing in my first OW swim. Good stuff.
You could go back and answer the question I posed several pages ago. You said, agreeing with Allen Stark -- another big boy because he's a world champion -- that 7 weeks of endurance was plenty. I questioned that, noting that if you were doing distance swimming, perhaps as big boy Paul noted, a different program was in order. So I asked your views. Certainly relevant to the topic of the thread.
