Coaches and Sprinting

I coach in a really small pool, with a huge range of swimmers crammed into two and a half lanes. Distance is hard, because people get run over, but I still do it with them. We also do a lot of stroke. Sprints are hard because not everyone wants to race, and people want to get those yards in. However, I occasionally do sprint sets, but it is hard when for half the lane swimmers get tons of rest, and for the other half of the lane, they are kind of cheated out of really getting to sprint. We only have three practices a week, an hour for each (the limits of our Y). It's hard to find the balance. I'm working on it. One of our previous coaches, much more experienced than I am, regularly would have us do a sprint at the end of practice for time, and regularly had us do what for me was continuous threshold training. Since I am not a sprinter, that helped me with my pace for distance. What is a good amount of rest for a sprint of 100? Of 50? Of 200 (based on my group: most swimmers sprint a 100 free on 1:20 or 1:35, but a few sprint on 1:05 or 1:15? The 1:20, 1:15, and 1:05 sprinters are all in the same lane. The 1:25, 1:30, 1:35 sprinters are all in the next lane. The 1:45, 1:50 sprinters are in the next lane.)? We have an exuberantly enthusiastic team that likes to go to meets, just not superfast swimmers except for a very few. 2:30 for the 100 for the fastest group? 2:45 for the next fastest? 3:00 for the last group? Still learning; appreciate feedback. My coach of the last few years left - and it was a sad day for me. He understood sprinting and lactic production sets. Every Friday the focus of the workout was lactic production. We repeated a 3 week cycle as follows: Week1: 12 x 50 on 2:00 best effort on every one Week2: 6 x 100 on 4:00 best effort..... Week3: 100 free on 4:00 best effort 2 x 50 free on 2:00 best effort 4 x 25 free on 1:00 best effort (repeat one time) These sets will hurt and you will likely die midway through. But you will get faster and your body will adapt to the lactic buildup.

My coach of the last few years left - and it was a sad day for me. He understood sprinting and lactic production sets. Every Friday the focus of the workout was lactic production. We repeated a 3 week cycle as follows: Week1: 12 x 50 on 2:00 best effort on every one Week2: 6 x 100 on 4:00 best effort..... Week3: 100 free on 4:00 best effort 2 x 50 free on 2:00 best effort 4 x 25 free on 1:00 best effort (repeat one time) These sets will hurt and you will likely die midway through. But you will get faster and your body will adapt to the lactic buildup. Thanks to everyone for the feedback on sprint times/distance. We are gearing up for a big meet in 10 days. I am coaching this Thursday (the day after tomorrow). Would it be a good idea to give the Week 3 set for people, or is this too close to the meet? And are sprints of free good for helping people who are sprinting stroke to get ready, or should I throw in an option of stroke sprints? Where I swim (different team), we have been doing regular practices, then going to the blocks and doing 4 x 50 sprints for every practice the last 3 or 4 practices. Yah. I do not like to sprint!

I see more and more teams starting to follow the kind of calender that Ahelee mentioned...but as many here have pointed out it can be a bit of a challenge coaching larger groups with diverse interests...even if it is ultimately to ehri benefit to do this type of training. I think as a rule coaches need to explain/sell the concept...start by calling it "speed" work vs. "sprinting". As Grant Hackett's coach pointed out in an ASCA article last year...all swimming is about speed...Hackett can go 49+ in the 100 (LCM) but is a forace in the mile and even the 10k. I'm proud to say that I've been "selling" this to a group of multisport athletes I coach and today...after months...one of them even got on the blocks (wetsuit and all) for a set of fast 50's.

Years ago (OK, half a lifetime ago) my college coach famously said: "In order to swim fast one must swim fast." Pause for a Zen moment...now ponder that pearl of wisdom. That comment was directed at the entire team (both men and women), not just the sprinters. Speed work is essential in all aspects of swimming. One must vary speeds to discover feel, pace, and threshold limits. Simply swimming moderate/slow distance sets will help, but adding sprint sets will make a distance swimmer a better swimmer. Ditto for triathletes, especially during the start of a swimming leg. Mix it up, vary your speed, and get out of your comfort zone! That is the only way to stay fresh and improve your performance. So swim fast, at least every now and then.

The research shows that specific trainining (race pace / lactate) is critical to improved performance. A set in and of itself can contribute to an increase in cardiovascular and general fitness but if you want to be good at a specific race, you must train for that race.

We have been adding in a lot more sprinting and lactic acid sets this year, I have never sprinted this much as a Masters swimmer, from the blocks no less. I am very tired a lot of the time but I am hoping for a payoff come short course nationals in May . . .

They were totally into it, and it was a change from what we usually do. They were really tired after doing the set but didn't hate it. I think all the swimmers on the team I coach like to see their progression and have benchmarks, so I think doing this sort of set every now and again is a good idea. Exactly! The coach has to sell the idea, too: get fired up, push the swimmers in a positive way, encourage trash-talk and some racing, joke about (in a nice way!) the Sammy Save-ups. We have a good time on test-set day even though it is painful. Sometimes we have age-groupers practice with us for one reason or another. One time we had a 14-year-old girl, quite shy, who was initially taken aback by the banter. She was doing 200 IMs next to a masters swimmer and with each rep, he was getting closer and closer to beating her (she was holding pace, he was getting faster). When the coach noticed and asked, "Are you going to let the old guy beat you," she fired right back with "he wouldn't be able to win if he hadn't been loafing on the early ones!" Everyone cracked up. These are hard sets but fun too. Newer swimmers can chart their improvement. Old hands can try to hold times that they did when younger. We have plenty of non-competing swimmers who do the sets, and they must not mind too much b/c they keep coming back.

We have plenty of non-competing swimmers who do the sets, and they must not mind too much b/c they keep coming back. In my group, most swimmers will do/tolerate a set like this once a week. Even then, the coach usually offers some sort of alternative. Today, we had our Fast Set, but the coach offered a longer alternative (actually a timed mile and some other stuff). Having just done a timed mile on Wed, I opted for the fast set, as did everyone else. We've had cases where some swimmers will get out of the workout lanes and do longer sets on their own in the lap lanes if they don't like the sets.

...I am back from Mexico where I worked mostly with special need swimmers. I really enjoyed this. Quick digression - George, I would love to read more about your work with special needs swimmers. (I think you mentioned one qualified for trials with Paralympics?) Would you be interested in writing something for the online USMS newsletter, or perhaps the magazine? :applaud:

For me, as a coach, I concentrate on what that particular swimmer's goals are. If they aren't going to compete in meets then I don't really focus on speed, but I focus on the fitness and enjoyment of the sport. However, if someone is looking to qualify for nat's then I will be looking to design a practice that concentrates on speed and race technique. Overall, it all depends on the swimmers in the pool. I agree that there are different swimming populations with different needs. Even among competitive athletes, some will have pretty different needs than others (eg triathletes and OW-focused swimmers, compared to sprinters). Neophyte swimmers may need a lot more technique-oriented coaching than others. But I disagree very strongly with the notion that speed-work -- maybe "high intensity" work is more apt -- is not appropriate for fitness-focused swimmers. Most spinning classes, for example, will vary the tempo and intensity during the course of the exercise. Why shouldn't swim practices do the same?