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?
Former Member
To a reader not quite so anxious to peevishly dissect any post I make, this would infer nothing zen at all, but a highly practical consciousness of adjusting effort, repeat length, etc so the training in question is restorative not fatiguing.
That's very peevish of you. I don't think Islandsox was trying to dissect your post. She was merely saying that some things come naturally after awhile. I believe they do and your recent post reflects that "imprinting" process.
Mindful: attentive, alert to, aware of, cognizant of, conscious of, heedul, observant of, vigilant, watchful, focused on, etc.
If you get real jazzed up, you can use hep to or plugged in.
I also agree with Allen's wife's use of "reverie." It's a nice peacful feeling when you get in the zone and just go. Great stress reliever.
Lots of variety in word choice.
And to Slowfish, I have been swimming the one mile triathlon swim for, now, this will be my 6th year and I am almost 59. I never look at it as a one-mile swim, I break mine down into 4x400 swims and train accordingly. If a swimmer can do repeat 400s or even 200s relatively quickly with minimum rest, then the mile will more seem like a pleasant experience. But you have to train at lower yardage and higher intensity with rest, of course, to get there. Swimming a mile does not necessarily produce a fast mile. And when I had a great 800m free back in the Masters Nationals some 11 years ago or so, I had never swam the 800 free in total; I always broke it up into intervals.
So, I think and it is my opinion only, that endurance is necessary, but to produce a solid swim of a mile or less at a faster time, interval training is a must. A swimmer must get used to swimming fast in training because when race day comes about, they are better prepared if they choose to "take it out."Donna
This is good advice. Most tris work on their swimming a lot in the off-season. Good time to work on technique and build some endurance because, come spring, swimming usually gets the back burner. If you can't do longer swims/intervals without stroke difficulties, start with the sets of 200s or so that Allen recommends. When your start to improve, you can do longer intervals/sets and then gradually knock down the interval time and pick up speed. At some point, you might want to do a benchmark swim at your target distance of 800 or 1500. Then go back to the interval training and take aim at your benchmark again.
That must have been me, then. But I was responding to a post by Dave in response to a post by Islandsox, not to a post by you. There was no "dissection" going on. You gotta lighten up!! I said to Dave jokingly:
He, he, he. Are you guys doing mindful yoga up there in New Paltz too? I guess "focus" or "concentrate" is OK. Just change it up a bit;constantly being told to be "mindful" is a bit preachy to my ears that's all. "In the moment" is kinda "zen" for me, I'm guess. Is "zen" a TI word too? I know "art" is. Different strokes for different folks, as Allen said.
I see the benefits of zen, and I'm sure I'd live longer if I was more zen and meditated more, but I'm generally too hyper. I sure wish I could be more "zen" amidst chaotic traffic, which I'm about to go encounter on the way to my allergy shot ...:coffee: I will try to "focus" on my stroke mechanics a bit while I am doing a bit more endurance work this afternoon. I'm sure my mechanics have gone to hell this last month. And since I'm supposed to be working on breaststroke, I'll have to really focus or I'll go so slow that I fall asleep ... I'm going to break out my new monofin too, so I'll have to concentrate on that. I'll probably be exhausted after all this intense focus ....
I would just like to add that I do have a book on ashtanga yoga and have been known to do poses around the house to the great amusement of my children. However, they are not more flexible than me, so I do not take much crap.
That doesn't sound all that peevish to me. I saw the benefits of "zen." I owned up to owning a yoga book. In fact, I was really poking fun at myself regarding my recent poor training and my sub-par breaststroke. The only posts of yours that I recall having dissected are when you (1) make incorrect statements regarding the origin of shoulder injuries, or (2) peevishly call sprinters "turners" instead of "swimmers." I can't really dissect your endurance posts, as I am not a distance swimmer. I can only ask questions ... In fact, I agree that trying to use a rational process for managing one's physical efforts is good. Poking fun at your word choice is just forum humor, inane though it may be.
Maybe a joke is called for. Here a good one. You'll especially like the first part ...
Laws of Competitive Swimming
UNIVERSAL LAWS AFFECTING COMPETITIVE SWIMMERS
(much like Sir Isaac Newton’s laws of motion)
*Law of Competitive Gravity*
When left unattended, a swimmer will gravitate to the worst technique possible.
*Law of Inertia*
A swimmer at rest will tend to remain at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. A swimmer in motion will tend to rest as soon as possible unless acted upon by an outside force.
*Conservation of Matter*
Matter or Mass can neither be created nor destroyed, except by 11-18 year old females, when it can magically appear in the most inopportune places and quantities imaginable.
*Opposition Principle*
When asked to kick rapidly, swimmers tend not to; when told not to kick, swimmers tend to kick rapidly.
*Space, Time Continuum*
When swimming Breaststroke or Butterfly in practice, swimmers hands are attracted to the turning wall, each hand at a different speed, at different times, at different points not in the same plane.
*Laws of Acceleration & Momentum*
The law of acceleration may only apply for 3 minutes after coach reminds swimmer it is important, then the law of Momentum becomes dominant soon to be replaced by the law of Inertia.
*Law of Static Levels*
Swimmers will automatically seek their own comfort level and tend to attract others to so the same.
* Mind over Matter*
The mind can overcome many obstacles during competition but the same does not usually apply during practices.
*Law of Finite Attraction*
Even after carefully explaining the efficiency and effectiveness of an ideal stroke rate, within 3 minutes swimmer will invariably lose the ability to count strokes and think about any related concept. See similar anomaly under Law of Acceleration.
* Relativity *
The position of the swimmer’s body in relation to the position it is supposed to be in, may vary up to +or- 100%.
*Vertical and Horizontal Telemetry *
When rotated 90 degrees from the vertical to supine or sublime position, the brain loses most of its ability to function.
*Historical Principle of Babylon*
Within 3 minutes of the start of coach speaking, the swimmers begin hearing unrecognizable tongues. See similar anomaly under Law of Finite Attraction.
*Fluid Mechanics*
The amount of fluids the bladder can retain is directly proportional to the difficulty of the middle of the current practice set. The same principle seems to apply to ripping caps and broken goggle straps, but no scientific evidence connecting the 3 has been documented.
This is my favorite post EVER! Seriously, fantastic! :woot: I'm copying it and showing it to my teammates, if that is alright, I promise to cite it appropriately ...
I should submit my wordy posts to you for editing before submission.
Well and succinctly said.
And shorter repeats can be more restorative than longer ones.
I agree with absolutely every little thing that you said. ;)
Hey guys: Thanks for the kudos regarding "The Laws," but I cannot claim authorship. Darn. It's just in my email joke bag. I just though it was a good one. Shows what slugs we can all be ...
Point made, thank you very much. I wasn't referring to Islandsox. Another poster referred to my word choice as preachy.
That must have been me, then. But I was responding to a post by Dave in response to a post by Islandsox, not to a post by you. There was no "dissection" going on. You gotta lighten up!! I said to Dave jokingly:
He, he, he. Are you guys doing mindful yoga up there in New Paltz too? I guess "focus" or "concentrate" is OK. Just change it up a bit;constantly being told to be "mindful" is a bit preachy to my ears that's all. "In the moment" is kinda "zen" for me, I'm guess. Is "zen" a TI word too? I know "art" is. Different strokes for different folks, as Allen said.
I see the benefits of zen, and I'm sure I'd live longer if I was more zen and meditated more, but I'm generally too hyper. I sure wish I could be more "zen" amidst chaotic traffic, which I'm about to go encounter on the way to my allergy shot ...:coffee: I will try to "focus" on my stroke mechanics a bit while I am doing a bit more endurance work this afternoon. I'm sure my mechanics have gone to hell this last month. And since I'm supposed to be working on breaststroke, I'll have to really focus or I'll go so slow that I fall asleep ... I'm going to break out my new monofin too, so I'll have to concentrate on that. I'll probably be exhausted after all this intense focus ....
I would just like to add that I do have a book on ashtanga yoga and have been known to do poses around the house to the great amusement of my children. However, they are not more flexible than me, so I do not take much crap.
That doesn't sound all that peevish to me. I saw the benefits of "zen." I owned up to owning a yoga book. In fact, I was really poking fun at myself regarding my recent poor training and my sub-par breaststroke. The only posts of yours that I recall having dissected are when you (1) make incorrect statements regarding the origin of shoulder injuries, or (2) peevishly call sprinters "turners" instead of "swimmers." I can't really dissect your endurance posts, as I am not a distance swimmer. I can only ask questions ... In fact, I agree that trying to use a rational process for managing one's physical efforts is good. Poking fun at your word choice is just forum humor, inane though it may be.
Maybe a joke is called for. Here a good one. You'll especially like the first part ...
Laws of Competitive Swimming
UNIVERSAL LAWS AFFECTING COMPETITIVE SWIMMERS
(much like Sir Isaac Newton’s laws of motion)
*Law of Competitive Gravity*
When left unattended, a swimmer will gravitate to the worst technique possible.
*Law of Inertia*
A swimmer at rest will tend to remain at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. A swimmer in motion will tend to rest as soon as possible unless acted upon by an outside force.
*Conservation of Matter*
Matter or Mass can neither be created nor destroyed, except by 11-18 year old females, when it can magically appear in the most inopportune places and quantities imaginable.
*Opposition Principle*
When asked to kick rapidly, swimmers tend not to; when told not to kick, swimmers tend to kick rapidly.
*Space, Time Continuum*
When swimming Breaststroke or Butterfly in practice, swimmers hands are attracted to the turning wall, each hand at a different speed, at different times, at different points not in the same plane.
*Laws of Acceleration & Momentum*
The law of acceleration may only apply for 3 minutes after coach reminds swimmer it is important, then the law of Momentum becomes dominant soon to be replaced by the law of Inertia.
*Law of Static Levels*
Swimmers will automatically seek their own comfort level and tend to attract others to so the same.
* Mind over Matter*
The mind can overcome many obstacles during competition but the same does not usually apply during practices.
*Law of Finite Attraction*
Even after carefully explaining the efficiency and effectiveness of an ideal stroke rate, within 3 minutes swimmer will invariably lose the ability to count strokes and think about any related concept. See similar anomaly under Law of Acceleration.
* Relativity *
The position of the swimmer’s body in relation to the position it is supposed to be in, may vary up to +or- 100%.
*Vertical and Horizontal Telemetry *
When rotated 90 degrees from the vertical to supine or sublime position, the brain loses most of its ability to function.
*Historical Principle of Babylon*
Within 3 minutes of the start of coach speaking, the swimmers begin hearing unrecognizable tongues. See similar anomaly under Law of Finite Attraction.
*Fluid Mechanics*
The amount of fluids the bladder can retain is directly proportional to the difficulty of the middle of the current practice set. The same principle seems to apply to ripping caps and broken goggle straps, but no scientific evidence connecting the 3 has been documented.
Leslie- the 'Laws' post is already a big contender for most creative for 2007. Bravo!
A well-designed workout should be a coach's symphony. Any part of that workout that prevents the rest of the symphony from being swum as designed renders the balance as just so much noise.
I like this one the best:
"*Vertical and Horizontal Telemetry *
When rotated 90 degrees from the vertical to supine or sublime position, the brain loses most of its ability to function."
Just goes to prove that mindful and neural is hard to do and it is especially hard to do using Kilmartin's 4-stroke theory on free.:rofl:
Donna
OR after doing the 5 x 500 one week I may conclude that 500 repeats compromise the recovery and imprinting and decide to skip the Masters workout on a subsequent Tuesday night (when we ALWAYS do 500s) and do a longish set of shorter repeats at mid-day.
Why would anyone want to skip 5x500? That's My kind of set!!!
:banana: :banana:
The above joke explains why one should seek the open water. No counting.
Amen, brother. Its one lap, baby!
Speaking of open water, I just registered for the Chesapeake Bay 4.4 mi Swim Lottery. Here's hoping I get in!
