Masters swimmer Erik Hochstein posted an interesting question over on the Timed Fianls site: www.timedfinals.com/.../
Basically, Stefan Nystrand swam the 2nd fastest 100 m free in history last week in Paris (47.91). Stefan says he trains 20K max per week in the pool with only two days per work of dryland. He swims either all out or easy, nothing in between.
So what do you think? Is this possible? Are swimmers and coaches too hung up on putting in yardage? Is this "less is more" philosophy something we'll see more of? It is certainly appealing to Masters swimmers who usually have a limited amount of time to train.
Former Member
So for someone like me who is new to swimming and is hoping to someday swim in a meet, how many yards is appropiate for a 45 Y/O Male?
I'm not an expert by any means but you should probably get 120,000 yards in a week at bare minimum. :thhbbb:
Actually it would depend on what you want out of yourself as a swimmer.
Well, no one has mentioned that it may have to do with what event a person is going to swim. A 50 M free doesn't need mega yardage, nor does a mile swim, but a person who may be going for a distance swim, really distance, 20K per week is rather introductory.
But quicksilver made the most sense to me. Oh, I'm only swimming about 28 miles a week now. And it is not garbage yards, trust me. Lots of focus on speed sets within those miles, eye on technique/body position/hand-arm entry, etc. But I suppose I am in the minority here.
There's no way to say that one person's formula can work well for someone else.
Anyone can put in mega yards with no guarantee of improvement based solely on how much time they spend in the pool.
Swimming is unique in that stroke mechanics has everything to do with how fast one will travel through the water.
My goal to get ready for 2008 is 3500m a day 6 days a week. It will be combinations of of Max V02, aerobic and aenerobic swimming, only swimming crawl and fly no drills. I may cheat on the fly and do one arm fly so I can finish my workouts (drill???). That is going to be a huge jump for me, as I like the 1000m a day.
I cannot start today but tomorrow I can.
I swim 1800-2400 yd 4 times per week and lift weights and stationary bike twice a week.All my swimming is either warmup,cool down or race pace(except from the end of SCM season until 15 weeks before a taper meet when I do long slow stuff and lots of drills.) I never take time off from working out unless I am sick.I think it is easier to stay in shape than get in shape.I also think sustainability is an important concept in workout planning and that workouts need to be fun and/or challenging,if you don't look forward to workout something needs to be changed.
I swim 1800-2400 yd 4 times per week
I'm always amazed when I hear people train like this and can still swim fast. I try to swim 20K per week and I feel like that's barely enough.
I'm always amazed when I hear people train like this and can still swim fast. I try to swim 20K per week and I feel like that's barely enough.
The key to Allen's training is that the majority of it is done at race pace.
