In this thread Fortress said:
Interesting Race Club thread. There was one post concluding that lactate tolerance was the key for the last 15 meters of a 100, not aerobic capacity.
Which leads to something I've been thinking about lately. I'm sure we've all had races where you try to give it everything you've got at the end and you absolutely turn to jello. I assume this is the lactic acid kicking in. When it hits you slow down very quickly. So how can we train to improve that tolerance?
Here's an article by Genadijus Sokolovas on the USA Swimming website: www.usaswimming.org/.../ViewMiscArticle.aspx
In it he talks about lactate tolerance type sets:
Anaerobic Metabolism (Anaerobic-Glycolitic) is the non-oxidative process of recycling of ATP from glycogen. Glycogen is stored in the muscle cells. Glycogen fairly rapidly recycles ATP, but it is slower than from CP. Anaerobic metabolism produces lactate. It is the main energy system for exercise bouts of 30 sec until 3 min. When distances are longer, aerobic metabolism predominates. Anaerobic metabolism has high power, middle capacity, and low efficiency.
Examples of swimming sets and distances that develop anaerobic metabolism: distances of 50 to 300 M/Y, high intensity swimming sets with a short rest interval (i.e., 6-16 x 25 M/Y, 4-8 x 50 M/Y, 2-4 x 100 M/Y, 2 x 200 M/Y with rest interval 20-30 sec etc.).
Anyway, I'm finally getting to my point here. The standard way to do this is using fixed sets like this, but has anyone tried something like swimming absolutely all-out until you hit that lactate "jello" feel where you feel yourself slowing down? At that point maybe do some very slow "active rest" swimming then repeat, etc. The goal being to build up the time/distance you can keep up that all-out speed. It seems like actually confronting that lactate wall like this would be a great way to help with lactate tolerance in races.
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Former Member
Okay, now I KNOW my coach lurks on this forum! Today's first main set: 8 x 50 on 3:00 from the blocks.
Quick, someone suggest an easy set! Don't you all think working on two-arm backstroke drills is a good lactate tolerance set?
You know it's funny... last night I was swimmin', you know folks, and after practice there was this decent fellow in the next lane. It looked like he was pretty good, and I watched him for a few minutes, then I wondered what set he was doing... I noticed a piece of paper stuck to a kick board, a little wet around the edges, and there was a work-out written on it... So I check the paper...
5x(4X50)
first 4 on 1:10
second on 1:00
third on :50
fourth on :40
fifth round on 1:20 Descend set 1-20 last one ALL OUT
That set looked pretty familiar... So I ask this decent swimmer where he got the work-out. He answers, "from the internet." He was on short rest at the time and he continued on...
Then I started to think it over a little more... That set looked very familiar, close to something I've posted in my 2-week cycle...
So I keep watching this decent fellow...
Soon he's getting more rest, and he says, "You know this set is great, because as you descend you get tired trying to make the short interval, but then the abundance of rest on the last four makes you feel so good. The last 50 All-out feels better than anything. I'm able to do this set and go pretty near as fast as I've ever gone from a push in work-out."
So I continue to watch him push a 27.3 LCM on the last one...
"Whoa, good work man..." we continue to chat...
Then he looks at me, "hey, are you that guy with the goggles, who posts work-outs?"
Ummmm.... (This is where I feel deja-vu, only different)
So, right there it changed for me... It's hard to explain the feeling I was left with, except to say that it was genuine... It turns out he is a master swimmer nearly 40, and doesn't train with a club because of his busy work schedule. We talked for quite some time about different training approaches and the reality of swimming as we age, and how priorities can shift altering the ideal program. Trying to figure out what is most effective for an aging athlete became the next phase of the discussion, and that's when I agreed that it isn't so much about doing what works to be an Olympian, (That is very intense, and could cause burn-out) but doing what works to maintain and prolong race preparation over the years... Two very different concepts.
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Former Member
Okay, now I KNOW my coach lurks on this forum! Today's first main set: 8 x 50 on 3:00 from the blocks.
Quick, someone suggest an easy set! Don't you all think working on two-arm backstroke drills is a good lactate tolerance set?
You know it's funny... last night I was swimmin', you know folks, and after practice there was this decent fellow in the next lane. It looked like he was pretty good, and I watched him for a few minutes, then I wondered what set he was doing... I noticed a piece of paper stuck to a kick board, a little wet around the edges, and there was a work-out written on it... So I check the paper...
5x(4X50)
first 4 on 1:10
second on 1:00
third on :50
fourth on :40
fifth round on 1:20 Descend set 1-20 last one ALL OUT
That set looked pretty familiar... So I ask this decent swimmer where he got the work-out. He answers, "from the internet." He was on short rest at the time and he continued on...
Then I started to think it over a little more... That set looked very familiar, close to something I've posted in my 2-week cycle...
So I keep watching this decent fellow...
Soon he's getting more rest, and he says, "You know this set is great, because as you descend you get tired trying to make the short interval, but then the abundance of rest on the last four makes you feel so good. The last 50 All-out feels better than anything. I'm able to do this set and go pretty near as fast as I've ever gone from a push in work-out."
So I continue to watch him push a 27.3 LCM on the last one...
"Whoa, good work man..." we continue to chat...
Then he looks at me, "hey, are you that guy with the goggles, who posts work-outs?"
Ummmm.... (This is where I feel deja-vu, only different)
So, right there it changed for me... It's hard to explain the feeling I was left with, except to say that it was genuine... It turns out he is a master swimmer nearly 40, and doesn't train with a club because of his busy work schedule. We talked for quite some time about different training approaches and the reality of swimming as we age, and how priorities can shift altering the ideal program. Trying to figure out what is most effective for an aging athlete became the next phase of the discussion, and that's when I agreed that it isn't so much about doing what works to be an Olympian, (That is very intense, and could cause burn-out) but doing what works to maintain and prolong race preparation over the years... Two very different concepts.
