I would love to see what kind of yardage some of you are doing out there. Just ball park numbers. I realize there is much more to swimming than how many yards one does, and training for different events entails differences in yardages, but I would still like to see what everyone is doing so I can know where I fall within the "norm". Also, if anyone knows, I would like to know what some of the masters All American's do as far as yardage. I see times for Jeff Commins in the *** and IM events and wonder how much he must train.
I probably should have asked for everyones yardage as well as training goals and times they are producing with the yardage. I am curious to know if those who put in 20K are doing better/worse/same as those who put in 15K, 12K, 10K or less. I just recently moved from 6-8K per week to 12-14K and am swimming much faster times all around, but I am only putting in 4 days per week, which leaves me plenty of rest days for recovery. I really want to know if putting in another 4-6K per week would make me much faster or not.
I had considerable drops in times this fall when I increased the frequency of my swims and the overall weekly yardage (from 11k in the spring to 20k peak average for the 8 weeks leading up to my big meet). I focus principally on mid-distance free and IMs, but dropped times from the 50 up to the 800, and did well in open water swims from a mile up to 3 miles.
Like everything, there are "diminishing returns" on incremental yardage. I believe that I can continue to get faster this year by averaging 20K during my peak periods. I do supplement this with weights, core work and the occasional lunacy of running.
If I had more time to train, I think to really reach my (age adjusted) potential in my two target events (400 IM, 500 free), I would need to do:
5 to 6 swimming workouts a week, totally 25K to 30K with primary emphasis on technique and quality
3 full body weight lifting sessions per week
2 to 3 sessions of core work (e.g., strictly core, Pilates, yoga or some fusion thereof)
I probably should have asked for everyones yardage as well as training goals and times they are producing with the yardage. I am curious to know if those who put in 20K are doing better/worse/same as those who put in 15K, 12K, 10K or less. I just recently moved from 6-8K per week to 12-14K and am swimming much faster times all around, but I am only putting in 4 days per week, which leaves me plenty of rest days for recovery. I really want to know if putting in another 4-6K per week would make me much faster or not.
I had considerable drops in times this fall when I increased the frequency of my swims and the overall weekly yardage (from 11k in the spring to 20k peak average for the 8 weeks leading up to my big meet). I focus principally on mid-distance free and IMs, but dropped times from the 50 up to the 800, and did well in open water swims from a mile up to 3 miles.
Like everything, there are "diminishing returns" on incremental yardage. I believe that I can continue to get faster this year by averaging 20K during my peak periods. I do supplement this with weights, core work and the occasional lunacy of running.
If I had more time to train, I think to really reach my (age adjusted) potential in my two target events (400 IM, 500 free), I would need to do:
5 to 6 swimming workouts a week, totally 25K to 30K with primary emphasis on technique and quality
3 full body weight lifting sessions per week
2 to 3 sessions of core work (e.g., strictly core, Pilates, yoga or some fusion thereof)
