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?
Good points. I did notice your impressive range at nationals, in the 50 thru 500; very nice. (But somehow I missed your 200 fly? :))
The fitness aspect of cycling/spinning or running is unquestioned (as well as for weight control). But is it really so hard to do the same in the pool? The 1-hour postal swim hurts just as bad as a 40 km bike time trial, after all, and probably has a similar affect on HR.
As an aside, my triathlete/cyclist friends always marvel about -- and don't quite understand -- swimmers training for hours for events that last mere minutes.
Chris, I swam a 200 fly once in college as punishment for coming to a Saturday workout hungover...I never showed up like that again which should indicate the level of passion I have for that particular event!
As for the overtraining we do to swim such short races..that same idea is what The Race Club basically was founded on. Ever see the interview with Mike Bottom about "cat mentality"? pretty intriguing:
www.flocasts.org/.../speakers.php
another interesting clip
www.flocasts.org/.../speakers.php
Good points. I did notice your impressive range at nationals, in the 50 thru 500; very nice. (But somehow I missed your 200 fly? :))
The fitness aspect of cycling/spinning or running is unquestioned (as well as for weight control). But is it really so hard to do the same in the pool? The 1-hour postal swim hurts just as bad as a 40 km bike time trial, after all, and probably has a similar affect on HR.
As an aside, my triathlete/cyclist friends always marvel about -- and don't quite understand -- swimmers training for hours for events that last mere minutes.
Chris, I swam a 200 fly once in college as punishment for coming to a Saturday workout hungover...I never showed up like that again which should indicate the level of passion I have for that particular event!
As for the overtraining we do to swim such short races..that same idea is what The Race Club basically was founded on. Ever see the interview with Mike Bottom about "cat mentality"? pretty intriguing:
www.flocasts.org/.../speakers.php
another interesting clip
www.flocasts.org/.../speakers.php
