As I crawled back into the pool today fat and out of shape, I wondered: Don't sprinters need some minimal aerobic work? I see that Ande is doing none whatsoever and Paul advises not "fighting fat" in the pool. I do a lot of race pace training and cross training. But still, is just a little aerobic work called for? I can tell I don't need any for 50s, but my 100s could use a little something. I don't think I have the substantial swimming aerobic base that people like Ande have because I was out of the pool for so many years .. So I'm either taking my 100s out too slow for fear of dying or actually dying. Does aerobic work help counter this? Or do I need more lactate work such as doing 100s with huge amounts of rest?
So I've been reading through this whole thread (way cool thread, Fortress), but haven't said anything because I don't really feel qualified to speak to this topic.
However, I think that Chris and Leslie have nailed it when they said that too many masters practices are at medium speed. I think part of the problem is that when many masters (certainly me included!!!) think "aerobic workout" they think of a medium speed type set. Medium speed doesn't mean easy, but it is nowhere near race-speed or even max workout speed.
For me, I think aerobic set and I think something like:
15x100 - First 5 on 1:30, 2nd 5 on 1:25, last 5 back on 1:30 fastest speed on the last 5. For me, 1:30 is a pretty doable interval and 1:25 is doable also, though unpleasant. I'll certainly be hurting by the end of this set but if I'm really honest with myself, I'm still going medium speed.
Maybe part of what is needed is a mind shift... that aerobic can also mean ouch ouch ouch speed. Of all these posts, this one from Rich Abrahams has stuck with me (exerpted):
Personally, I like to work on all the different energy systems, although not at the same workout. Since I sometimes (foolishly) compete in the 200 free, I do some high level aerobic work once or twice a week, but the sets are never more than 1,000 meters. An example would be 4 X 50's with 10 seconds rest (i.e. broken 200's) X 5 with about 2 minutes rest between the broken swims. I subtract the 30 seconds of rest intervals to get my cumulative time and try to be within 5 seconds of my best 200 time.
My thought was, "Holy crap!!! That's an aerobic workout!" Our team has coached workouts, and they are often very good workouts, well thought out. However, we hardly ever do sets along these lines. I can't imagine that adding such high-intensity aerobic workouts wouldn't help your 100's... kinda span the gap between all-out 25s/50s and repeat 100s/200s at medium aerobic speed.
So I've been reading through this whole thread (way cool thread, Fortress), but haven't said anything because I don't really feel qualified to speak to this topic.
However, I think that Chris and Leslie have nailed it when they said that too many masters practices are at medium speed. I think part of the problem is that when many masters (certainly me included!!!) think "aerobic workout" they think of a medium speed type set. Medium speed doesn't mean easy, but it is nowhere near race-speed or even max workout speed.
For me, I think aerobic set and I think something like:
15x100 - First 5 on 1:30, 2nd 5 on 1:25, last 5 back on 1:30 fastest speed on the last 5. For me, 1:30 is a pretty doable interval and 1:25 is doable also, though unpleasant. I'll certainly be hurting by the end of this set but if I'm really honest with myself, I'm still going medium speed.
Maybe part of what is needed is a mind shift... that aerobic can also mean ouch ouch ouch speed. Of all these posts, this one from Rich Abrahams has stuck with me (exerpted):
Personally, I like to work on all the different energy systems, although not at the same workout. Since I sometimes (foolishly) compete in the 200 free, I do some high level aerobic work once or twice a week, but the sets are never more than 1,000 meters. An example would be 4 X 50's with 10 seconds rest (i.e. broken 200's) X 5 with about 2 minutes rest between the broken swims. I subtract the 30 seconds of rest intervals to get my cumulative time and try to be within 5 seconds of my best 200 time.
My thought was, "Holy crap!!! That's an aerobic workout!" Our team has coached workouts, and they are often very good workouts, well thought out. However, we hardly ever do sets along these lines. I can't imagine that adding such high-intensity aerobic workouts wouldn't help your 100's... kinda span the gap between all-out 25s/50s and repeat 100s/200s at medium aerobic speed.
