I don't get it ... Couple questions ...

Fort, the waves aren't consistent enough in Texas. P.S. my name is spelled Jesse, no "i" ;) Swimstud, my shirt is on, just not in my avatar.

Oh Mindful One: I think if you're going to take up the 200 free, you might need to do some engine building. Just IMHO. Paul Smith sounds like an evil Smith if he's trying to get you to do this awful event. I'd rather swim in the ocean than do the 200 free. Does your masters team have a sprint lane? When you coach your practice, do you divvy up the sprinters and distance folk? I'm doing 200 crawl debutant at NEM :) well i use the term "doing" loosely...bit like your shoulders... :eek:

im going to start concentrating on the 100/200 now, it's hard to get away from the distance type practices since that's what i have always done for the past 3 years. today i did a fun set that i really enjoyed it was 2x through it wasn't as boring as 10x200 free on 2:30 and i got some sprinting done as well I'd love to be able to swim with a great program like the on Ande is on, but I'm really happy here and summer is coming up which means lifeguarding on the beach which means adrenaline rushes almost everyday from making rescues.

Do any masters teams have sprint lanes or just lanes with different intervals? Thanks. :)Most teams have usually one coach...unless it's a kids team... which could have three on deck at a time. So breaking the pool up into various groups could pose a challenge. Each lane normally has it's own interval based on skill level. I've found in some people's eagerness to move up a lane...they spend more energy on staying with the interval...rather than focusing on sound technique. A few eager beavers resorted to using their fins to join the fast lane...or they simply went one hard and then sat out for one repeat on the wall. Not a great way to improve in my opinion. Usually all it takes is one or two practices to discover where you belong. Better to establish a good stroke first...and then make the move to "build the engine". ...exactly as Kirk said it.

Welcome Nicky to Masters and the forum. You posed some good questions and I think you got a lot of great answers and advice. Without sound swimming technique, you will make progress but only up to a point. I think that engine building will only be built to so many rpm's that way. And then you would have a new problem of having to correct poor technique. So, not to repeat what others have said, I believe technique is first and foremost and even during the technique process, your body is building an engine along the way, just a small engine. And engine to me means top conditioning and stamina. And as your swim technique improves, so does the engine building: tighter intervals, sprint work, distance work, dryland devices. All of this adds up and you can certainly tell when you engine is running more smoothly because you will feel better swimming harder and faster. And with all the chit-chat about vessel shaping, well, my vessel lost its shape a long time ago so I use as perfect technique as possible, as well as an engine running some high rpm's. When I swam for Masters in California, the lanes were designed according to speed. And within those lanes when sprints rolled around, the sprinters would lead off. On longer sets, the mid to distance people would lead off; rarely had any problems doing it this way. donna

And with all the chit-chat about vessel shaping, well, my vessel lost its shape a long time ago so I use as perfect technique as possible, as well as an engine running some high rpm's. Let me clarify my thoughts again on that Donna. As a novice, and DD fan, I think the body composition aspect of vessel is not as important as the technique aspect: hitting tight streamlines, not swimming against yourself, not wasting energy in your stroke etc etc.--perfect techinique in other words. So I hope we can consider that we're in agreement on this. The body composition may make the difference bwtween two otherwise equally well trained swimmers but I bet that there are skinny guys I am faster than and some rather larger guys that will leave me in their wake.

think of engine building as getting in shape and technique work can be called transmission building

The Fortress, From the looks of your latest avatar, it seems you have a case of mono. Hope you get over it. AJ

here is a good article about masters sprinting www.usms.org/.../articledisplay.php enjoy Jesse, this looks like just another reason to move to Texas. :rofl: I'm going to try the following workout. It looks pretty fun. Better go stretch. "Believe it or not, you can train to race 50s by doing sprints of half that distance in practice. Apart from warm-up and warm-down, this need be your only set. It is staggeringly simple: 8 x 25 kick, a full recovery, and then 16 x 25 swim. The key is to use long rest intervals, with a work-to-rest ratio of at least 1:4. Otherwise, lactate build-up will hamper your explosiveness." Nicky: As to question No. 1, I think you need engine building for the longer events. This issue was discussed at some length on the "How to train as a vessel shaper?" thread. I'm sure I used to train more than I needed to (not the last few months, however). I think some former AAU/USS swimmers who grew up on engine building and mega yardage find it hard to kick the habit or really embrace aerobic lite sprint training. I'm getting there out of necessity and an obsession with technique. And there are the endorphins ... If I really just did the above sprint workout, I would need to do some serious cross-training, which I already do. As to question No. 2, my team does a lot of yardage. I do the sprint training on my own and don't or can't always work out with my team.

here is a good article about masters sprinting www.usms.org/.../articledisplay.php enjoy