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.
Although they don't do very much yardage, I don't know that the general philosophy is quite as radical as it is implied in the article. The comparable 11-12 group at our local big swim club (NOVA) swims more than 2500 but nowhere near the 8,000 - 10,000 yards quoted in the article. I would guess they go about 5000 per practice and are limited to a max of 5 practices a week. And they are quite fast.
Others' experiences may be different, but most good coaches around here still stress mechanics at this age and are careful to avoid burnout. In my experience, the swimmers themselves (and their parents!) are often the ones pushing for more, not the coaches.
Although they don't do very much yardage, I don't know that the general philosophy is quite as radical as it is implied in the article. The comparable 11-12 group at our local big swim club (NOVA) swims more than 2500 but nowhere near the 8,000 - 10,000 yards quoted in the article. I would guess they go about 5000 per practice and are limited to a max of 5 practices a week. And they are quite fast.
Others' experiences may be different, but most good coaches around here still stress mechanics at this age and are careful to avoid burnout. In my experience, the swimmers themselves (and their parents!) are often the ones pushing for more, not the coaches.
