Coaches and Sprinting

We who lift believe this is a rationalization for him to avoid picking up anything more than a 3 pound weight. I think you meant 3 pint weight?

Jim, Jim! What's next? Kicking sand in this weakling's face? Have you bested my 53.25 100 yet this season? You probably have, and if so, DO NOT READ the next sentence. Drive for show, putt for dough. Leslie, this may seem a bit counterintuitive, but there is one way to get me to stop railing about the unfair advantage of the B70. And that is to help me get my absolute best times while wearing one. Only if this happens will I have an incentive to join you in a fine case of folie a deux. The incentive will indeed transform as if by magic the moment I begin setting PRs in a B70. Right now, or course, it's still in my interest to think that all my "betters" are beating me solely because of superior technology. However, if my own times do manage to leap frog past theirs, then I will gladly join you in believing till my dying breath that the B70 provided at most a borderline trivial benefit to me, that the vast majority of my improvement is a case of....hmmm, let's see. Practices haven't been going that well. No weightlifting whatsoever. I got it! I have more character than the people I beat! Yes, I am sure of it. If my times drop via a B70, it will be because I have miraculously, and completely independently of the suit, rallied a leap of personal character to the fore! And if I continue to swim in the mediocre fashion that has become more rule than exception, it is because others (like Mr. Clemmons and his merciless bullying tactics and calling of attention to my weakness!) are cheating through technology and the kind of psychological warfare tactics not practiced quite so brutally since the days of Don Shollander in the urinals of whatever the Olympics he practiced them!

done done done and done!

Jim, Jim! What's next? Kicking sand in this weakling's face? Have you bested my 53.25 100 yet this season? No, I failed miserably. Only a 53.31...what you don't want to know is what I swam beforehand. Still think I could go a mid to low 52, rested.

For the first time I have recently had an ex-competitive sprinter (NCAA from the early 90's) as a Masters coach. He 'manages' the reps and sets I swim (or don't swim) in a lane with mostly fast 30 & 40-something middle/long distance women. (FINA masters top 10'ers or equivalent). I go last in the lane so don’t get in the way. After my first serious meet of the year, I can report that it makes a huge difference to follow a 'coach-managed sprinter program' within a standard master's set-up. As has been said here often, the 'managing' has to do with how much to sit out (rest) and which reps to do at what pace (mostly when to go easy or really fast). Especially important was how he managed the taper period (two weeks in this case) – no thinking required; just follow the coach's orders. Anyway it worked well - at age 68, this weekend I did an LCM 50 free in 27.50, LCM 100 in 1:02.81 & LCM 50fly of 30.68 – improvements over my times two years ago of 27.90, 1:04 something & 31.02 respectively. The right coach can indeed delay the ravages of aging - except for fly swims. I'm still trying to figure out fly; maybe I should get a monofin…. A spin-off benefit of a coach who knows what he is doing is that I have been more consistent in attending practice (3 x /week) and dragging myself off once a week to the weight room (not coached). I know I should do more, especially weights – it does help. Ian.

Jim I would like to have you as part of the family. First four things that must happen. 1. You must cheer for the Vancouver Canucks hockey team... 2. You must cheer for the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team... 3. You must cheer for the Toronto Raptors basketball team... 4. Most important cheer for the Hamilton Tiger Cats football team...

Jim, thank god! Let me reiterate, a little bit louder this time! Drive for show (as in the 25k, 1560 and/or 1650, etc.) and putt for dough (as in the 100, marquee event, where a .06 second victory is to swimming what the pleistocene era is to the geological time scale.) I am quite sure that rested you could have gone faster! Maybe even .05 seconds faster. I am also quite sure you, well, DIDN'T! Ah, the crowing of a weakling! What a wonderful sound to the ears of the weaking who makes the crowing sound! Ian, I must say that when I saw that you had posted a reply, my heart leapt up. A bidding war! I thought. George and Ian have to come to fisticuffs over the rights to adopt me and call me son! Alas, the only good news in your missive was that you did wear a B70, and despite incredibly good times, it didn't make a tremendous amount of difference. I am left praying that I, similarly be-suited, might soon experience tremendous time drops too, at which point I guarantee I will proclaim that the suit did not make any appreciable difference for me either! Zip! Nil! Nada! Bupkis! I will swim not for personal glory, though--only to make you proud enough of my efforts to reconsider the adoption matter that is so very close to both of our hearts. Like an East German begging to be free of his nation's tyranny, please Ian! Do not forsake your greatest admirer! Allow me to escape the land of impoverishing freedom of markets if not souls! Oh, and it goes without saying I am George's greatest admirer, too. And for that matter, given his proximity to cheap pharmaceuticals available at every bodega without a prescription, the epic distance swimmer Jim "Long Drive Champ" Clemmons as wel--one year or two years my senior, 06 seconds my inferior, but in every other way my very defintion of a hero and favorite rich uncle who knows how to help his nephew! And I don't mean tough love! Quite the opposite.

A purely subjective wild ass guess is that the suit itself is worth something like 0.1 secs per dive and turn and 0.3 secs per 50m swum at my pace. However the suit is one of many factors: This year’s time = Last year’s time + age time effect – new tech suit effect – sprint specific coaching effect – weights benefit +/- training effort I think there is some discrimination going on here ... When I say things like this, I get a laundry list of reasons why I am extremely delusional. But you got off scot free, Ian! Jim is BS-ing you though. He has had a great year in the pool. No reason for it not to continue, despite the hypochondriasis. Carry on with the wine drinking and fast swimming!

Yes Jim, I patronize NZ products – mostly their Marlborough region Sauvignon Blanc but also their swim apparel. It’s funny though, with all the talk about buoyancy (mostly by people who haven’t tried them, I’m sure), I found there was no extra buoyancy. None. Zero. Zip. In fact, I felt gypped because I expected some magic floating feeling and there was nothing. But…..it is slippery. I noticed it on the first push-off from the wall – you go further than normal. This saves a few strokes after the dive and each turn. (I’m looking forward to a short course meet) As per Ande’s recommendation, I tried the suit at a practice. On a purely subjective basis, in a set of SCM 100’s free, a rep with the suit that felt like it was swum in 1:20 was actually done 1:15 - so it seems to provide some reduction of effort. Not being one of these 9% body-fat 20-somethings, I get the benefit of the compression that you get with all full body suits (the “jiggle factor” benefit which is very big in sprints). At 6’ and 165lb, I took a size 26 – seems good so far. In all, it just seems like a logical step in technological progress but hardly a giant step. The biggest improvement for me came from a very sprint specific 50m focus but I have to say I was a bit (pleasantly) surprised with my 100m time. A 100 is the beginning of long distance for me. A purely subjective wild ass guess is that the suit itself is worth something like 0.1 secs per dive and turn and 0.3 secs per 50m swum at my pace. However the suit is one of many factors: This year’s time = Last year’s time + age time effect – new tech suit effect – sprint specific coaching effect – weights benefit +/- training effort I have room for improvement in the weights and training effort departments (at least until the age effect becomes exponential) Unlike Jim, I believe in all this but have to battle my laziness habit and actually do it (get my butt to the gym & pool). Ian. PS: Jim, haven’t you heard? – they’re building a zillion dollar wall along the border – to keep you from escaping? You won’t be able to get out. In the meanwhile, just go get a loan from one of your government-owned banks and get yourself a B70 – you will be pleased by the results (do weights too – don’t do as I don’t do, do as Fort says).

Alas, the only good news in your missive was that you did wear a B70, and despite incredibly good times, it didn't make a tremendous amount of difference. I am left praying that I, similarly be-suited, might soon experience tremendous time drops too, at which point I guarantee I will proclaim that the suit did not make any appreciable difference for me either! Zip! Nil! Nada! Bupkis! Thinking about my last meet, I have come to realize that these suits are truly miraculous.:bow: I wore a tech suit on my first event of the meet and then wore briefs only for all other events. Now, it goes without saying that the tech-suited event was my best of the meet. But consider!!! My best brief-clad race was the one immediately following that race. And my worst brief-clad race was the last one of the meet! What other conclusion can we draw from this, other than the fact that the effects of this incredible technology last well beyond the time you actually wear the suits??? The longer it was since I last touched, felt or smelled the suit, the worse my performance. As a matter of fact, I had a mild case of sniffles before my first race. GONE! And so was my mild elbow pain! I pity those who attempt to train in any "old school" manner. I have knowledge of ongoing experiments...these are secret, pending publication, but I feel compelled to share some of the results: actually practicing in the water is no longer necessary! All you need to do is roll out of bed, put on the suit, get back in bed and grab another 30 minutes of sleep. With a proper-fitting suit, the results of this behavior are completely indistinguishable from spending an equivalent amount of time training in the pool. Or lifting weights. Experts were divided as to the mechanism, but the several speculated that the suits hampered breathing, resulting in hypoxic training. And we all know what that's worth.