I have a new ( young ) coach. He includes breath control sets. Does any one else think this could be dangerous for older (56 years old) swimmers? My MD thought it was crazy. I have noticed quite a few Masters swimmers dying from strokes. An old coach of mine said USA Swimming had banned hypoxic training for kids for a while.
We did a bunch of hypoxic stuff this week and also hard kicking. Our state champs are next weekend in Bend, Oregon, elevation 3600 feet. We are basically at sea level. I believe the coaches are trying to mimic swimming with less air as we will be doing that next weekend. I know I am dead tired this week and swimming hard at practice felt a lot like at 400 IM I did in Bend two years ago - owch! Lactic acidosis. Every fiber in my body hurt after that swim, but by the third and final day of the meet I was swimming PR's and felt pretty good. I would love to avoid a repeat of that 400 IM experience this month (Yes I entered again, what was I thinking?) so I tried to work the hypoxic sets properly. Wore me out. I will let you know if it works next week!
Obviously you don't swim hypoxically til you pass out, but if you usually breathe every stroke, and then do a set breathing every third stroke, that is getting one third the air you are used to getting.
We did a bunch of hypoxic stuff this week and also hard kicking. Our state champs are next weekend in Bend, Oregon, elevation 3600 feet. We are basically at sea level. I believe the coaches are trying to mimic swimming with less air as we will be doing that next weekend. I know I am dead tired this week and swimming hard at practice felt a lot like at 400 IM I did in Bend two years ago - owch! Lactic acidosis. Every fiber in my body hurt after that swim, but by the third and final day of the meet I was swimming PR's and felt pretty good. I would love to avoid a repeat of that 400 IM experience this month (Yes I entered again, what was I thinking?) so I tried to work the hypoxic sets properly. Wore me out. I will let you know if it works next week!
Obviously you don't swim hypoxically til you pass out, but if you usually breathe every stroke, and then do a set breathing every third stroke, that is getting one third the air you are used to getting.
