I have been following a few training logs here and I note a heavy emphasis on "race-pace" training with ample recovery time. I have to assume this works well since the people posting are swimming far faster than I. so here is the question: when performing a high intensity set like that, is the emphasis on maintaining the speed, taking as much recovery time as you need to keep up the speed, or should you maintain the selected turn-over time and struggle to maintain the speed in the face of increasing fatigue? If you are finding a pace too steep to maintain the speed, do you slip to a slower pace, or should you just take a break and restart the set at the same pace after a bit of recovery? I am specifically refering to speed sets done at 90 percent of race-pace or better.
The same question should be applied to stroke technique: as I fatigue my stroke tends to break-up a bit (Ok: a lot). In training should I select paces that allow me to always maintain a "perfect" stroke, or should I push into the "red zone" where I am fatigued enough that my stroke is getting ragged? BTW: my "ragged" stroke is quite a bit faster than my technical stroke, but it really is quite "splashy". My daughter actually calls me "Dr.Splashy" when she teases me.
It is difficult for me to believe that if Grant Hackett stopped training like Grant Hackett and started training like Cesar Cielo that his 50 time would improve and his 1500M time would improve.
You don't think that Hackett incorporated speed work in his training? But le's leave the top .1% of the 10% of the human race that swims out of the picture.
What I see from the traditional Masters swimmer is a hesitancy to do speed work. Thinking that the only way to get faster swimming the longer events such as the 500 and up is to swim more 500s and up. Neglecting speed training is missing a key ingredient in improving. Or as Ande says to 'swimming faster, faster'. Does that mean 100% of the time doing sprint training? Heck no. But does that mean there should be some all-up sprints in the training plan? Oh yeah.
It is difficult for me to believe that if Grant Hackett stopped training like Grant Hackett and started training like Cesar Cielo that his 50 time would improve and his 1500M time would improve.
You don't think that Hackett incorporated speed work in his training? But le's leave the top .1% of the 10% of the human race that swims out of the picture.
What I see from the traditional Masters swimmer is a hesitancy to do speed work. Thinking that the only way to get faster swimming the longer events such as the 500 and up is to swim more 500s and up. Neglecting speed training is missing a key ingredient in improving. Or as Ande says to 'swimming faster, faster'. Does that mean 100% of the time doing sprint training? Heck no. But does that mean there should be some all-up sprints in the training plan? Oh yeah.
