I am a runner and using swimming (right now) mostly for crosstraining, please don't hurt me. :D I know what these different zones are for running, but I don't know how they would correspond to actually swimming (putting them in practice). For runners, at least in the basic plan I'm following (Lydiard), you are not supposed to do any anaerobic training in your base phase (which I'm in), or very very little. I want to make sure that I am not going into anything more intense than LT, or at least be knowledgeable of what it takes to go into each zone.
I must add - I love swimming, I am thinking of maybe doing a triathlon one day or perhaps joining a club.
Thanks for the help!
-x
Whoa, that's really interesting. In swimming you save intervals with full recovery for the end of the season? In running it is the reverse, you do full recovery in base and work your way down to less recovery, generally.
I'm not sure I'm with you on that idea. I follow Roy Benson's ideas on training for running and his last phase is speed - 95-100% efforts with lots of recovery between each effort. With both running and swimming, you want to start off easy and allow your body to adjust.
Mid-season running or swimming is rough either way you cut it. For me, I used to do 5ks and 10ks, so mid to late season, I was doing 12 x 400s on the track at 90 -95% effort with a 100M recovery. This would translate in swimming to doing 12 x 100 with a 20 -30 second rest. Last phase, on the hard days of both running or swimming, the focus should be on short speed with race pace efforts with lots of recovery. Of course the few days before a race, you don't want to be doing race-pace efforts.
I think one thing runners often wonder about is why there is such short rest (30 seconds) on the swims early on. Remember, instead of swimming a straight 400 at 75 -80%, you are breaking it into 8 x 50s build at the same effort level. The 400 is broken up so that you can maintain perfect stroke. I think of it like a run out at the track where you are striding the straights at 80% and jogging the curves for recovery. The only difference here is that you are stopping to get your recovery on the swim.
Check out The Runner's Coach by Roy Benson to see the phases I'm talking about. Correct me if I am wrong, but whether you are training to run an 800 or a marathon, don't you need more recovery time the closer you get to your race?
Whoa, that's really interesting. In swimming you save intervals with full recovery for the end of the season? In running it is the reverse, you do full recovery in base and work your way down to less recovery, generally.
I'm not sure I'm with you on that idea. I follow Roy Benson's ideas on training for running and his last phase is speed - 95-100% efforts with lots of recovery between each effort. With both running and swimming, you want to start off easy and allow your body to adjust.
Mid-season running or swimming is rough either way you cut it. For me, I used to do 5ks and 10ks, so mid to late season, I was doing 12 x 400s on the track at 90 -95% effort with a 100M recovery. This would translate in swimming to doing 12 x 100 with a 20 -30 second rest. Last phase, on the hard days of both running or swimming, the focus should be on short speed with race pace efforts with lots of recovery. Of course the few days before a race, you don't want to be doing race-pace efforts.
I think one thing runners often wonder about is why there is such short rest (30 seconds) on the swims early on. Remember, instead of swimming a straight 400 at 75 -80%, you are breaking it into 8 x 50s build at the same effort level. The 400 is broken up so that you can maintain perfect stroke. I think of it like a run out at the track where you are striding the straights at 80% and jogging the curves for recovery. The only difference here is that you are stopping to get your recovery on the swim.
Check out The Runner's Coach by Roy Benson to see the phases I'm talking about. Correct me if I am wrong, but whether you are training to run an 800 or a marathon, don't you need more recovery time the closer you get to your race?
