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.
Wow, you're really a fan of those things. Other than the risk of inflicting a serious injury on yourself or a lanemate, what is it that they provide that fins don't?
As a MF fan (who rarely gets a chance to use it), the benefits over fins are:
1) Better engagement of entire body for SDKs.
2) Works the core like no other swim drill can
3) Improved feedback on proper streamline. This one really surprised me.
Now, don't get me wrong, can the above be attained with traditional fins? Sure, but having used both, I find that the degree that each can be attained is greatly increased with a MF vs traditional fins. But that might just be me.
Paul
This brings me back to my main question, which I think has been answered now. People swimming fast times are very focused on their training and train a lot. As to how they fit all this training in with the rest of their lives, I am still a little baffled. I am guessing most train before their day begins and they pack in family time between 6 and 9 pm and on the weekends.
I'm not claiming to be fast at anything but I think I fit my training in pretty well with the rest of my life. Today was a good example.
- up at 6:10 am, kids, dogs, breakfast.
- Left my house at 7:10 am. Biked to the gym, swam 3000 yards (main set 10x50 fly, felt strong), then biked to work. Workout time was only 1:30 because I had a 9 am meeting. Otherwise I might have stretched to 2 hours, mainly with more biking.
- Did not have time in my schedule today for a midday run.
- Biked home, took a calculated risk with That Bride by going a little bit out of my way to add mileage to help make up for the morning shortfall. Made it home just in time for dinner. Sometimes that sort of thing backfires but not today. :groovy:
- Did the dishes and then took my son to the park about 1.25 miles away. I ran there while he rode his bike. He is only 7 so I literally gave him a hand getting up the hills. Once there he played on the playground and watched a nearby little league game while I ran laps around the park and kept an eye on him. (It's a small park, we're talking 90 second laps here.) Then we came home just in time for me to help put my 5 year old daughter to bed. I ran 10K which is great for a weekday run. Total workout time for the day: 3 hours even. A little bit later I read a few pages of Harry Potter to my son to put him to bed.
- And here I am babbling on usms.org. This will not turn into a training blog, especially since I pretty much repeat the above every weekday. Sometimes I am able to run in the middle of the day, and other times I am not able to run until both kids are asleep. Some days the main set is medley and/or anaerobic. It would be the most boring blog ever.
The following factors ALL are important in determining performance:
-- the amount of training
-- the quality of training and coaching
-- swimming background
-- genetics
-- a good team environment
These are great points and are right on, I but would add:
-- willingness/motivation of the swimmer to suffer and push it in training
This is my own personal failing: I don't really care enough - just don't want to embarrass myself at a meet. My excuse is that there's more to life than busting a gut in the pool.
I'm lucky enough on all the other points on your list to offset my lazyness to some extent and enjoy the swimming overall.
Ian.
Wow, you're really a fan of those things. Other than the risk of inflicting a serious injury on yourself or a lanemate, what is it that they provide that fins don't?
It's so much simpler to just buy a monofin. :)
Chris,
Paul and I have decide you are disqualified from masters nationals.
You train too much.
Some of us attempt to buy our speed (LZRs etc), others of us work for it...:p
But hey, I'm no Dennis Baker. Nor do I own a tutu of any color...
I'm not sure what you want to hear, but the answer to your question just isn't that simple ("neglect family and train a lot"). The following factors ALL are important in determining performance:
-- the amount of training
-- the quality of training and coaching
-- swimming background
-- genetics
-- a good team environment
I know one elite swimmer -- many WRs, etc -- who had a child and also moved away from an area with regularly coached workouts. His training suffered as expected; I doubt he trains any more than you do. He no longer sets FINA/USMS records but because of his talent level and swimming savvy he still regularly places in the top 3 in his age group and contends for first place finishes at nationals. There are others who train like crazy and struggle to make the Top 10.
how true chris, masters swimmers have sooo many ex olympians (i think all in my age group) and collegiate swimmers unless you are athletically gifted, it is almost impossible to place top ten. i moved a year ago and left a strong masters team and a coach who prepared us for races and nationals. we also were very social:wiggle: where i swim now, it is like work, people come in, swim and leave. i did not swim in college, however, i still used to place top ten regional. I have only been back in the water a year, after bad accident and am now getting antsy that my times, haven't dropped. I lifted, swam and did yoga yesterday and today was dead in the pool:cane: since my surgery, I don't recover like before, part of it is age(40's i guess). you can do mega yards, but if you don't have technique, fuggitaboutit.
how true chris, masters swimmers have sooo many ex olympians (i think all in my age group) and collegiate swimmers unless you are athletically gifted, it is almost impossible to place top ten. i moved a year ago and left a strong masters team and a coach who prepared us for races and nationals. we also were very social:wiggle: where i swim now, it is like work, people come in, swim and leave. i did not swim in college, however, i still used to place top ten regional. I have only been back in the water a year, after bad accident and am now getting antsy that my times, haven't dropped. I lifted, swam and did yoga yesterday and today was dead in the pool:cane: since my surgery, I don't recover like before, part of it is age(40's i guess). you can do mega yards, but if you don't have technique, fuggitaboutit.
BAH! You are all wrong. I am not an ex-Olympian, swam only 3 months in college, don't do yoga, am seriously height challenged, am a total klutz, have a shoulder on a string, am prone to overuse injuries and am not a professional masters swimmer, but I still make top ten. By process of elimination this must mean that the MONOFIN is the path to success. Or maybe it's cuz I can still do the splitz at my advanced age. :mooning:
I feel fat and out of shape too - we only did 5000 today. It was stroke and drill day. :mad::mad:
Only 5000? Except for an occasional longer swim with the HS kids, that's the most I ever do...and *I* get booted off the island by the Smiths? Hmph.
I also see you don't usually swim anything over a 200.
Ouch, that really hurt... :)
I swim the 500 too I just haven't had a chance to swim a rested one in 2 years (ie since I've upped my swimming training intensity). Last year at nationals I broke my hand before I got a chance to swim it. I also do open water swims (not the real long ones, 5K was my longest) in the summers and do okay; they're kind of fun.
