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?
We have a serious problem with obesity in our country today, and I give credit to anyone who does something to try to combat it. Sure, walking on a treadmill while reading/watching tv for 30 min isn't the quickest way to shed some pounds, but it is better than sitting on the couch. I'd hate to discourage someone like that, for fear they may stop entirely.
I guess I'd consider myself a fitness swimmer, since I don't compete. I pretty much just go with the flow at workouts, whatever the coach says so I don't have to move to another lane. I'll do speed sets when they're assigned, but I really don't see why I need it. I enjoy swimming, and do other things to help my overall fitness (like lifting weights, core work, and running). When I'm in the pool, I usually like cranking out as many yards/meters as I can, in the limited time I have.
Mr. Nelson...my point is that to many people are training with the "all or nothing" mindset...I'm suggesting people think outside the box and change things up on a frequent basis....especially those who don't understand the training zones and the fact that quality work is important.
Timm...if its obestity your concerned about those people would be better served doing 30 minutes of resistance training vs. 30-60 minutes of low level obesity which would have more impact on weight loss. And the reality is even before doing ANY workouts diet needs to be addressed.
Also, with regard to your question of "needing" quality/speed work in the pool...if you want to maintain the same swimming speed in practice and not make jumps in your ability to swim faster times on faster intervals...but rather to stagnate or regress than the "bang out as many yards as possible" strategy if fine.
All the other things you do (weights/running) are fine for general fitness but if you want to specifically get faster in running/swimming you have to train faster in those sports just as if you want to get stringer in the weight room you'll need to lift harder and change your routine on a regular basis.
We have a serious problem with obesity in our country today, and I give credit to anyone who does something to try to combat it. Sure, walking on a treadmill while reading/watching tv for 30 min isn't the quickest way to shed some pounds, but it is better than sitting on the couch. I'd hate to discourage someone like that, for fear they may stop entirely.
I guess I'd consider myself a fitness swimmer, since I don't compete. I pretty much just go with the flow at workouts, whatever the coach says so I don't have to move to another lane. I'll do speed sets when they're assigned, but I really don't see why I need it. I enjoy swimming, and do other things to help my overall fitness (like lifting weights, core work, and running). When I'm in the pool, I usually like cranking out as many yards/meters as I can, in the limited time I have.
Mr. Nelson...my point is that to many people are training with the "all or nothing" mindset...I'm suggesting people think outside the box and change things up on a frequent basis....especially those who don't understand the training zones and the fact that quality work is important.
Timm...if its obestity your concerned about those people would be better served doing 30 minutes of resistance training vs. 30-60 minutes of low level obesity which would have more impact on weight loss. And the reality is even before doing ANY workouts diet needs to be addressed.
Also, with regard to your question of "needing" quality/speed work in the pool...if you want to maintain the same swimming speed in practice and not make jumps in your ability to swim faster times on faster intervals...but rather to stagnate or regress than the "bang out as many yards as possible" strategy if fine.
All the other things you do (weights/running) are fine for general fitness but if you want to specifically get faster in running/swimming you have to train faster in those sports just as if you want to get stringer in the weight room you'll need to lift harder and change your routine on a regular basis.
