Looking at one-hour results, and just finishing New England Masters SCY Championships at Harvard, how is it that older swimmers are getting faster and faster, and pretty much everyone is getting faster and faster compared to a few years ago when there seemed to be more mortal swimmers?
What are older (45+ women; at this point 65+ men) swimmers doing that keeps them at such elite levels? Weights? Extensive training? How much of both? How do they have jobs and families and train? The field of fast swimmers is getting deeper and deeper. Anyone have idea as to why?
I want to know the secrets. Are the people who race now self-selecting more and more as elite swimmers? Has everyone swum all their lives? I know to swim hard you have to train hard, but I am baffled by sudden increase in amazing fast times and so many records getting broken.
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I think you can realistically swim pretty well with about five hours of training per week if you make the most out of those five hours.
If that's what is meant by training smarter, I agree with that. Every top Masters swimmer I've spoken with has said the same thing--their main sets are pretty intense. When you hear terms like training smarter or less is more, there is a tendency to conclude that you don't need to push yourself (probably because that's what we want to believe).
I think you can realistically swim pretty well with about five hours of training per week if you make the most out of those five hours.
If that's what is meant by training smarter, I agree with that. Every top Masters swimmer I've spoken with has said the same thing--their main sets are pretty intense. When you hear terms like training smarter or less is more, there is a tendency to conclude that you don't need to push yourself (probably because that's what we want to believe).
