Speed and endurance-question about practice pattens

Make the distance in "A" 100's and you can achieve great results. If you only do "B" you will be really good at swimming slow.

My own answer: I personally tend to choose (a), because I think in the process of improving speed you will have increased endurance, too, even though your new endurance capacity has not been tested by actual long distance swimming (suppose some day you suddenly need to swim long distance, you may be surprised to find that you can swim much longer than months ago). On the other hand, simply swimming long distance is not going to improve your speed much. (I know my question sounds a little odd, so please bear with me :)) Well, first of all, I don't know why this is an either/or question. Mjgold talks about how he would get bored with distance swims...I would be bored to tears with only one type of training, particularly if it consisted of all 25s. But to get to your question: while doing 25 repeats can help your endurance some, it is not good training for longer events. As others have said, you get good at the things you practice...if you want to have a good mile or OW swim, that's the kind of training you should do. And besides the physiological aspects of training, in order to have a good sense of pacing, you need to do longer swims at fast pace. You need to learn how hard you can push your body and still stay at lactate threshold. If all you do is 25s, I guarantee you'll be terrible at pacing no matter how much endurance you think you've gained. (How much endurace you DO gain depends on how much rest you take between 25s, and how many you do.) Bottom line: if you want to be good at sprinting 25s and 50s, go for A. If you want to be a well-rounded, versatlie swimer, vary your training a little more than either plan.

You're missing the point. It's a desert island type of question I think. Obviously doing just one or the other is stupid, and there's no reason why you can't do both, but he's trying to have a little fun by seeing what people would choose if they only could do one. So, before you attack me, try not taking it so seriously. Um, Michael? You might want to consider switching to decaf if you are perceiving Chris' comment as an attack.

You're missing the point. It's a desert island type of question I think. Obviously doing just one or the other is stupid, and there's no reason why you can't do both, but he's trying to have a little fun by seeing what people would choose if they only could do one. So, before you attack me, try not taking it so seriously. Attack you? Hmmm, you need to dial the sensitivity down a little, I think. I got the point and answered the question as posed, I think: IMO training only 25s doesn't prep you adequately for racing long swims.

Well, I personally often find Chris quite rude ... :lmao: :smooch:

Swimming like most sports is very specific. If you want to get faster you need to reduce your 25 time (from a push-off). If you have a specific distance you want to improve on then you need to train with distance in mind. In my opinion, swimmers should train like the world class runners train. If you want to train for a marathon then get you'd better get some yardage under your belt. If you want to improve your sprinting, then do a lot of it. I believe speed is the most elusive swimming trait that is rarely over-emphasized by swimming coaches. A one second drop from a push-off can relate to great drops in a 100 or 200. You need to rest a lot between bouts if you're going to get faster. If you want to improve you cardio, you should try keeping your target HR (220 minus your age) in that zone for periodically longer periods of time. Experiment for a time to see what training regime gets you the results you're looking for. Don't forget to train smarter and that means improving the technical aspects of your swimming. Good luck!

That's the one thing that I wish our coaches encouraged more. When our lanes don't meet the intervals, we're supposed to just go, not rest for 30 seconds. They also do the stroke work at a very slow pace, so I get stuck behind someone when I'm trying to do breaststroke at race pace (even when I'm leading the lane!).

Thanks for the comments. There is no doubt that for speed, you should train for speed, and for endurance, you should train for endurance. Please read my question carefully :). Another way to ask my question is: if you can only do ONE of (a) and (b), which one would you choose, for as much improvment as you can get? Alternatively, which practice pattern (if you can only stick to one) will give you more in making progress in swimming? My own answer: I personally tend to choose (a), because I think in the process of improving speed you will have increased endurance, too, even though your new endurance capacity has not been tested by actual long distance swimming (suppose some day you suddenly need to swim long distance, you may be surprised to find that you can swim much longer than months ago). On the other hand, simply swimming long distance is not going to improve your speed much. (I know my question sounds a little odd, so please bear with me :))

I'd prefer A. I would rather work on speed and do shorter lengths than spend the whole practice doing one long-ass swim. You might have to wake me up halfway through so I don't drown from boredom.

Well, first of all, I don't know why this is an either/or question. Mjgold talks about how he would get bored with distance swims...I would be bored to tears with only one type of training, particularly if it consisted of all 25s. But to get to your question: while doing 25 repeats can help your endurance some, it is not good training for longer events. As others have said, you get good at the things you practice...if you want to have a good mile or OW swim, that's the kind of training you should do. And besides the physiological aspects of training, in order to have a good sense of pacing, you need to do longer swims at fast pace. You need to learn how hard you can push your body and still stay at lactate threshold. If all you do is 25s, I guarantee you'll be terrible at pacing no matter how much endurance you think you've gained. (How much endurace you DO gain depends on how much rest you take between 25s, and how many you do.) Bottom line: if you want to be good at sprinting 25s and 50s, go for A. If you want to be a well-rounded, versatlie swimer, vary your training a little more than either plan. You're missing the point. It's a desert island type of question I think. Obviously doing just one or the other is stupid, and there's no reason why you can't do both, but he's trying to have a little fun by seeing what people would choose if they only could do one. So, before you attack me, try not taking it so seriously.