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?
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I vote that sprinters do not need aerobic training. Back in college, when I was way faster, we did a lot of race speed and a lot of lactate sets.
Go sprinters, go!
I have to agree with this comment. The best results I have had are a direct result of race paced training. I have managed to take 7 seconds off my 200 free time since January by swimming it just like I would in a race during practice. Going all out and getting my splits. Getting my body to get used to the lactic acid build up and learning to cope with the associated pain. Prior to this I was doing sets of 5 x 200m at 3:30 or 3:00 and my time just stayed the same. Now I will only do one 200 in a practice (and not everyday either) but I will do it FAST for time and good splits. Afterwards I might do 100's on 1:20 or even 200's on 3:00 but just cruising, concentrating on my stroke and not really exerting myself too much.
Here's a bit of a digression. I have always had this sneaking suspicion that our current speeds are determined by how far we pushed ourselves in our youths. So if we raised out lactate threshold so that our body could accept the pain of doing a, say, 53 sec 100 when we were young it shouldn't be too difficult to get close to that again when we are older.
It's like your body has memory of this pain and if you could cope with it before, you can probably cope with it now (as long as your heart doesn't pack up)! However, if you never crossed this threshold in your youth, and even though you may be just as physically gifted as the person in the lane next to you who did, it is going to be much more difficult to beat them.
I am not saying that it is not possible. Just that it is going to be more difficult. In fact, I am hoping that I can do it myself. I was only really a useful swimmer when I was younger and stopped swimming at age 16 so I feel I never really developed my potential. I am hoping I can surpass some of those times this year.
I vote that sprinters do not need aerobic training. Back in college, when I was way faster, we did a lot of race speed and a lot of lactate sets.
Go sprinters, go!
I have to agree with this comment. The best results I have had are a direct result of race paced training. I have managed to take 7 seconds off my 200 free time since January by swimming it just like I would in a race during practice. Going all out and getting my splits. Getting my body to get used to the lactic acid build up and learning to cope with the associated pain. Prior to this I was doing sets of 5 x 200m at 3:30 or 3:00 and my time just stayed the same. Now I will only do one 200 in a practice (and not everyday either) but I will do it FAST for time and good splits. Afterwards I might do 100's on 1:20 or even 200's on 3:00 but just cruising, concentrating on my stroke and not really exerting myself too much.
Here's a bit of a digression. I have always had this sneaking suspicion that our current speeds are determined by how far we pushed ourselves in our youths. So if we raised out lactate threshold so that our body could accept the pain of doing a, say, 53 sec 100 when we were young it shouldn't be too difficult to get close to that again when we are older.
It's like your body has memory of this pain and if you could cope with it before, you can probably cope with it now (as long as your heart doesn't pack up)! However, if you never crossed this threshold in your youth, and even though you may be just as physically gifted as the person in the lane next to you who did, it is going to be much more difficult to beat them.
I am not saying that it is not possible. Just that it is going to be more difficult. In fact, I am hoping that I can do it myself. I was only really a useful swimmer when I was younger and stopped swimming at age 16 so I feel I never really developed my potential. I am hoping I can surpass some of those times this year.
