I'm new here, but I thought about this question the other day, and figured this was as good a place to post it as any, so here it goes:
Which do you prefer (and why), given the following scenario?
In lane N, you can pretty much lead all of the sets and "set the pace" for the lane in the workouts with your masters club. Are you more likely to stay in this lane or try to move to the next lane (N-1 in my pool), and try to "hang on" there at the end of the lane?
I'm sort of looking at this right now -- I can pretty much lead my lane, but I have been trying hard to work up the nerve to jump into lane 1 in my pool. I think the difference is that most of the Lane 2 types like me were last really competitive in high school, whereas the Lane 1 types are mostly former collegiate swimmers (one of them is actually going to China for American Samoa, I think). I swam a little in college, but only on my own. I'm back in it now after more than 15 years, and I'm starting to make some progress...
Discuss!
Twosox
Parents
Former Member
I have two reasons for not moving up a lane:
1) I prefer to swim faster on a longer interval
2) I find it easier to swim fly from the front of the lane
When people from my lane try going up a lane they usually end up swimming with very little rest which is ok if aerobic endurance is your only goal but is not as good for developing speed.
Our workouts aren't differentiated by distance/sprint and the people one lane up are generally endurance oriented. In a slower lane I don't have to argue with people who believe that recovery time between intervals is basically wasted time.
As Rich observed with masters generally I find our club tends to swim the slow sets too fast and the fast sets too slow. I can beat most of the people one lane up in a 50 but they beat me in a 200 and destroy me in a 400. Right now I am more interested in learning to swim faster.
I have two reasons for not moving up a lane:
1) I prefer to swim faster on a longer interval
2) I find it easier to swim fly from the front of the lane
When people from my lane try going up a lane they usually end up swimming with very little rest which is ok if aerobic endurance is your only goal but is not as good for developing speed.
Our workouts aren't differentiated by distance/sprint and the people one lane up are generally endurance oriented. In a slower lane I don't have to argue with people who believe that recovery time between intervals is basically wasted time.
As Rich observed with masters generally I find our club tends to swim the slow sets too fast and the fast sets too slow. I can beat most of the people one lane up in a 50 but they beat me in a 200 and destroy me in a 400. Right now I am more interested in learning to swim faster.
