Much has been discussed on this topic but i wanted to revisit it after watching the track & field championships and remembering debates about how much pool training time swimmers put in relative to a runner competing in the equivalent event (a 400m runner to 100m swimmer).
What got my attention on this again was a recent article in Men's Fitness about Jeremy Wariner, specifically his training week during mid-season:
M= 200's: 8 x 200's two minutes followed by 40 yd sprints w/20 seconds rest
T= 350m: 2 x 350's followed by 1 x 300, one minute rest then a 100m to simulate the end of the race
W= 450m: 2 x 450's each under 1:00 with 9 minutes rest between each
Th= 90m: Recovery day each run in an "X" pattern
F= 100m: last run of the week is multiple 100m sprints
That's an insanely lower amount of training time than even i put in....Ande & Jazz come to mind.
More of this in an excellent article:
"Elite coaching special - Clyde Hart coach to Michael Johnson and Jeremy Wariner"
Here's are a couple of excerpt:
Clyde believes the principles of training are the same for many events: "I trained Michael Johnson like I trained a four minute miler. A four minute miler was doing a lot of the same things Michael Johnson was - a lot of the same things in training but more of them.
"The longest workout we have ever done - not counting warm up and warm down - would be under 20min, I think we have never worked more than 20min. That's not counting the Fall phase.”
So here's my challenge...I'm going to pick one of the next seasons (either SCM this fall or SCY in the spring) and try and adapt to this regime...anyone else game?
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Hofffam - Your opinion reeks of middle-distance/distance swimming snobbery. A high school boy is not mediocre if he swims a 23 or 24 in 50 free, especially considering that it may be his first year swimming and he may participate in other sports. Also, there are boys that are primarily 500 swimmers that do a high 21 or low 22 in 50 free. A 21 for a 15 year old is not mediocre. Also, there are boys that are pure sprinters that do a 21 in 50 free that will beat the 500 guy that does a high 21 or low 22. The 500 guy is still good in a 50.
Also, according to Dan Benardot in his book, Nutrition for Serious Athletes, in a swim lasting 25 seconds, up to 20% of the energy source is aerobic. Good luck convincing a swim coach that aerobic training for a guy specializing in a 50 has no value whatsoever.
That's funny. I am not a middle distance swimmer. I have been around high school swimming in Texas for years now. A 23-24 second 50 free is a solid time but common. An elite male high school 50 free is low 21 to low 20s. None of these swims are by 500 free swimmers. Yes a few good 500 swimmers will go 22 sec 50s, but not many. I suggest that a 500 swimmer who swims 21 secs is probably not a 500 swimmer but a 200 swimmer.
I am merely suggesting that the good 500 free swimmer that is also good at the 50 is probably good because of great stroke mechanics - not because their aerobic capacity helps them in the 50.
Many articles confirm the nearly pure anerobic nature of a 25 second race (whatever the sport). One good one:
www.brianmac.co.uk/energy.htm
And I never said nor do I believe aerobic training has no value to a sprinter. It is useful and probably required for the 100. It is also helpful in surviving workouts. Aerobic work also helps keep body fat down. But I agree with the original premise of this post - that if racing speed for sprints is a priority - then aerobic training has minimal value.
Interval training began with track - and swimming adopted it later. Elite track sprinters almost never run slow in practice except for warmup and warmdown. I have read that some of this is due to a fear by coaches that the number of short twitch fibers is fixed at a certain age and cannot be increased. So the training is optimized to develop the short twitch fibers. Longer training sets emphasize slow twitch fibers.
Hofffam - Your opinion reeks of middle-distance/distance swimming snobbery. A high school boy is not mediocre if he swims a 23 or 24 in 50 free, especially considering that it may be his first year swimming and he may participate in other sports. Also, there are boys that are primarily 500 swimmers that do a high 21 or low 22 in 50 free. A 21 for a 15 year old is not mediocre. Also, there are boys that are pure sprinters that do a 21 in 50 free that will beat the 500 guy that does a high 21 or low 22. The 500 guy is still good in a 50.
Also, according to Dan Benardot in his book, Nutrition for Serious Athletes, in a swim lasting 25 seconds, up to 20% of the energy source is aerobic. Good luck convincing a swim coach that aerobic training for a guy specializing in a 50 has no value whatsoever.
That's funny. I am not a middle distance swimmer. I have been around high school swimming in Texas for years now. A 23-24 second 50 free is a solid time but common. An elite male high school 50 free is low 21 to low 20s. None of these swims are by 500 free swimmers. Yes a few good 500 swimmers will go 22 sec 50s, but not many. I suggest that a 500 swimmer who swims 21 secs is probably not a 500 swimmer but a 200 swimmer.
I am merely suggesting that the good 500 free swimmer that is also good at the 50 is probably good because of great stroke mechanics - not because their aerobic capacity helps them in the 50.
Many articles confirm the nearly pure anerobic nature of a 25 second race (whatever the sport). One good one:
www.brianmac.co.uk/energy.htm
And I never said nor do I believe aerobic training has no value to a sprinter. It is useful and probably required for the 100. It is also helpful in surviving workouts. Aerobic work also helps keep body fat down. But I agree with the original premise of this post - that if racing speed for sprints is a priority - then aerobic training has minimal value.
Interval training began with track - and swimming adopted it later. Elite track sprinters almost never run slow in practice except for warmup and warmdown. I have read that some of this is due to a fear by coaches that the number of short twitch fibers is fixed at a certain age and cannot be increased. So the training is optimized to develop the short twitch fibers. Longer training sets emphasize slow twitch fibers.
