Ande....having read your blog and a few others and seeing some of the times you've posted...as well as some of the mnd boggling in season/unrested swims going on this college and USS season I thought I'd bring up the topic of swimming fast in workout and in unrested meets.
Having always been a VERY slow workout swimmer as well as a poor untapered swimmer I'm always amazed at how fast others can go in those situations. But I have noticed that those same swimmers don't necessarilly have big drops for meets they rest and shave for.
So after seeing Michael Klueh from Texas go 4:11 unrested in the 500, my evil twin go 21.8/47.7 unrested (and at altitude), hearing you went 22.0 50 free and 2:00 in the 200 back at workout the question for everyone is what do you see in your own situations?
Note; one thing that a few of us have noticed is that big old clydesadle types like me usually are the ones that drop the most from resting....little jackrabbits like JS swim fast all the time and don't seem to take as big of drops rested.
Yay, my first post....
As far as training hard, I end up training as fast as I can for as long as I can. I prefer to lift weights prior to workout if possible, but do so only 50% of the time. I make sure to get in at least a few hundred warm-up and warm-down, so that doesn't leave much time in between. I wear 3-5 drag suits so training is tougher for the 20,000 yards a week I am currently putting in. I have found it very difficult to become fatigued in a 1 hour Masters workout, so I push it every day.
On the other hand, some days (usually by about Thursday) my upper body is completely worn out, so I make it a point to focus on kicking, stroke drill, or an off stroke that doesn't hurt so bad. I've trained this way as long as I can remember without shoulder problems. If something doesn't feel right, I back off and work on drills/technique until things feel good again.
I always drop at race time... rested or unrested. Just getting out of a monster drag suit into a fast suit and a prior day of rest is enough for me to get a big boost. Resting 2-3 weeks results in 1.5 to 2.5 sec per 100 improvement from the mid-season swims.
Yay, my first post....
As far as training hard, I end up training as fast as I can for as long as I can. I prefer to lift weights prior to workout if possible, but do so only 50% of the time. I make sure to get in at least a few hundred warm-up and warm-down, so that doesn't leave much time in between. I wear 3-5 drag suits so training is tougher for the 20,000 yards a week I am currently putting in. I have found it very difficult to become fatigued in a 1 hour Masters workout, so I push it every day.
On the other hand, some days (usually by about Thursday) my upper body is completely worn out, so I make it a point to focus on kicking, stroke drill, or an off stroke that doesn't hurt so bad. I've trained this way as long as I can remember without shoulder problems. If something doesn't feel right, I back off and work on drills/technique until things feel good again.
I always drop at race time... rested or unrested. Just getting out of a monster drag suit into a fast suit and a prior day of rest is enough for me to get a big boost. Resting 2-3 weeks results in 1.5 to 2.5 sec per 100 improvement from the mid-season swims.
