How do these swimmers swim so fast?

That's not only a week's worth of yardage but unless you are a kid or a miler/open water devotee the kind of workout that moves me to another lane to workout on my own...(S)he...thought you were a sprinter? I'd be outta there big time! However, (S)he-Man is not just a whimpy sprinter anymore. She just set the Georgia record in both the 50 free and the 1650 free. :applaud: I'm going to go float around today and do some fast 25s. That's plenty at the moment.

Interval was 1:09 per 100 pace - so not a scary interval by any means. 3x500 on 5:45 after the preceding stuff sounds like no cup of tea to me!

Going for records is not the reason to swim - they always get broken. I swim so that I can eat & drink whatever I like. Ian. Sigh, a true soulmate. :wine: Isobel: Most mortal people, except the most extraordinarily talented, cannot do everything. Speaking for the women, I believe the ones landing in the top ten either: (1) work part time non-seriously and train whenever they can and while kidlets are in school; (2) do not work and train like mad; or (3) do not have kids and train when not working. I do not believe there is a woman who is a full time CEO of a corporation/uber serious career woman with multiple children holding WRs or regularly making top ten. But I could be wrong. Something has to give. For me, flexibility is key. I train at wildly varying times depending on the fam's schedule.

This kind of workout cannot be good for kids unless they are strong and have already developed really good strokes. It is a challenging masters workout -- and certainly a credit to (S)he-man's conditioning and work ethic -- but fairly routine (light even) for the kids around here. Geoff Brown (NOVA coach) once commented to me that kids' strokes are pretty well "burned in" by the time they hit 12 -- especially in freestyle -- if they've been swimming since a fairly early age. Certainly stroke changes are possible but they are difficult to make. That's why stroke mechanics are so important in the little ones.

Aren't you a sprinter? It's four weeks from nationals and you're training for the Tour de France. Seriously, there are times to keep the trap shut. Having competed against She-Man, let me attest to her training methods as being sound. I mean, it's not the 425 yard workout like you are accustomed to, but I suspect she might be on to something with the swim thing.

Very cool set. Thanks Paul! The only thing I laughed at was #6 - running dive from pool edge. Old lady running full speed on wet pool deck = 1 wipeout + 1 less masters swimmer! I wish! :laugh2::laugh2: 3-6 weeks out in particular but all season long sparingly use fins for full blown sprint work (swim sets not kick sets). This will help keep the feel of race pace even when your are veery broken down...if your shoulders can handle it use the smaller paddles with fins for "power" sprints, here's an example of the sprint circuit we'll do 2x a week: - warm up of 400-600 fartlek - 2 sets of variables; 1 set is 4 x 50's as follows, #1 easy to fast (to the feet), #2 fast to easy (to the feet), #3 all easy (to the feet), #4 all fast (hand touch) - Station #1: 4 x 25's power kick @ :50 (under water kick as far/as fast as you can ideally the full length, if not surface and swim easy free to the wall). - Station #2: 4 x 25's w/Powercord using fins & paddles @ 1:00 - Station #3: 4 x 50's cruise w/max of 1 breath per lap @ 1:30 - Station #4: 4 x 25's with fins/paddles 15yd "blast"/20 yard cruise - Station #5: 4 x 25's from a dive all out, no gear, no interval - Station #6: 4 x running dive from pool edge into full speed turns, no interval

When masters swim slow, they swim too fast. When they swim fast, they swim too slow. Sweet fancy moses! This happened to me and my group this morning. BTW, I was swimming with the kids so it applies to them as well. When it was time to swim SLOW, they went FAST. When it was time to swim FAST, they were dead tired. Main set was: 1x1500 neg split 2x750 neg split 3x500 neg split Descend by rounds. Interval was 1:09 per 100 pace - so not a scary interval by any means. Swimmer A - Ascended the whole thing; he started out scary fast w/ 6 beat kick (I knew this was wrong) and almost lapped me on the 1500; by the 1st 750, I was ahead; he got out on the 500s. Swimmer B - Ahead of me on the 1500; then it flip flopped for the 750 where I got way ahead; then he disappeared on the second 750 and 1.5 of the 500s only to reappear for the last 1.5 500s Swimmer C - swam the whole thing at a slow pace but he did complete the set Anyway, I thought it was going to be a very long practice as these guys were swimming circles around me during warm up (again, full on 6 beat kicks during the 4x450 warm up) only to die right after the first 1500. Very interesting. I see what you guys are talking about. I managed to descend; however, my 1st and 2nd 500 were pretty close with the 2nd one being only about 2 seconds faster than my 1st. Knocked off a good 10 seconds for the 3rd 500. I still went out too fast on the 1500 AND went too fast in warm up. It's sort of like we were all trying to claim our territory and position in the pack up front. Very silly. Right on w/ your assessment Rich. I'm trying hard to SLOW DOWN my warm up and BE PATIENT on the long sets.:shakeshead: It is swimming 101. But you throw in some testosterone and it makes things a bit dicier.

the kind of workout that moves me to another lane to workout on my own This kind of workout cannot be good for kids unless they are strong and have already developed really good strokes. If not, the kids are burning-in all their bad habits over a long time/distance. (the same is true for 90% of masters doing this kind of set) Better to have pacing sets with some stroke correction. Perhaps what is needed is a bit of 'less is more'. I sure as heck would be in another lane (in a lesser lane than Paul's though...) Ian.

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. Isobel, Going back to your original question.......... The secret to swimming fast at 65 is to have been fast at 18. (to old forumites this might sound a bit "ion-esque" but it is true) In the shorter stuff, i.e. the 50, a 65 y/o shouldn't have to train that much. I swim 3 times a week, sometimes 4 (total about 8000 to 9000 metres a week) and do weights once or twice a week and usually make the top 3 in the FINA world lists. To do well in long distance, I assume you have to do the 5 to 7 days a week that you are hearing about. In general, the really good guys are not the 65+ but the 55's and younger. The competition is also much tougher/deeper with the younger age groups so even the sprinters seem to be in the water 5 days/week (like you, I wonder how they find the time). At college, these younger guys were also a lot faster than we (65+) ever were, so expect the older records to keep falling as these guys age up. Going for records is not the reason to swim - they always get broken. I swim so that I can eat & drink whatever I like. Ian.

Interval was 1:09 per 100 pace - so not a scary interval by any means. Oops, I think I wandered into the wrong forum--I thought this was the Masters website. Sorry.