On another thread, there was a reference to having a "focus event." I was wondering how many of us have focus events and what they are. Is it a good thing to have a focus event to help direct your training?
I have an event that always seems to be my "best" event (50 back), but I wouldn't say I focus on it exclusively at all. More apt to focus on sprinting in general.
Thoughts?
Parents
Former Member
The rule of thumb I remember from another life when my knees let me run without a care was that to complete a certain distance you need to practice at one-third the race distance on a regular basis.
Skip
Yes, that was the wisdom for the marathon that came out of the 1970's. The rule was that if you averaged 1/3 the race distance per day for 8 weeks before the race, you could complete it (as opposed to race it.) I think that's true for running, but I think that swimming is more forgiving in that regard - i.e. you can get by with less due to the fact that you are not pounding your legs and swimming is more of a full-body exercise. Experience also skews this, both for swimming and running. I used to hop into marathons with little prep and racewalk them in about 4 hours (fastest was about 3:26) - it was painful, but I knew I could finish and did.
I also think that the newer energy drinks (e.g. Accelerade) help as well and in a long swim, you have a boat right there to give you one whenever you want.
Barring bad luck, Donna will have this in the bag.
-LBJ
The rule of thumb I remember from another life when my knees let me run without a care was that to complete a certain distance you need to practice at one-third the race distance on a regular basis.
Skip
Yes, that was the wisdom for the marathon that came out of the 1970's. The rule was that if you averaged 1/3 the race distance per day for 8 weeks before the race, you could complete it (as opposed to race it.) I think that's true for running, but I think that swimming is more forgiving in that regard - i.e. you can get by with less due to the fact that you are not pounding your legs and swimming is more of a full-body exercise. Experience also skews this, both for swimming and running. I used to hop into marathons with little prep and racewalk them in about 4 hours (fastest was about 3:26) - it was painful, but I knew I could finish and did.
I also think that the newer energy drinks (e.g. Accelerade) help as well and in a long swim, you have a boat right there to give you one whenever you want.
Barring bad luck, Donna will have this in the bag.
-LBJ
