Training for the 1500/1650: Suggestions?

Is it true sprinters are not swimmers they are body builders.

It finally hit me around 900, and by then I had passed the point of no return physically. Yeah I know what you mean here. This is why I think that your issue is more one of breathing strategy than pacing. Let me clarify. Very simple. I am a triathlon coach (not a swimming coach). In triathlon, like you know, threshold is the most important component. We know from coaching in cycling and running that even at MAXLASS (highest threshold level one may reach) the **bottleneck** to performance is more muscle related than breathing related. A large majority of athletes routinely complain about the fact that they have hard time getting out of breath. Muscles scream first, well before the lungs. How does this translate? Say you start a cycling threshold set too fast, before running out of breath you gradually slow down the pace. Nothing to bring you to a point where you'd feel like giving up on the remaining of the set though. You just slow down and it pisses you off but nothing to throw away to whole set. So when I read from your post that everything was running relatively smoothly until you rapidly got to a point where you felt like quitting the set I thought that the **bottleneck** you experimented isn't related to some limitation in your Threshold as much as an accumulated o2 deficit that prevented you from fully exploiting this Threshold. If I was you, I would be very careful with this SDK you give after every flip turn as well as breathing frequency. Otherwise, you may sometimes hit a wall during the event that is not related to a Threshold limitation. The air you breathe is pure fuel (you already know this). If you have the choice between using more or less fuel, always favor more fuel for longish events. If you ever get to a point where you can nail a 1500 all out and never run out of breath (meaning you don't use all the fuel available) then you'll have the option of using a more restrictive breathing strategy, but I doubt you'll ever reach this point though. And even if you did, the other option would be to add more kick which would burn this extra fuel.

I can't help but thinking that by slowing down the pace, you could have done a solid overall performance over 1500 but I also understand your reaction. When you write that you didn't think it would have been possible to sustain this effort for 600 more meters. What happened exactly. Your O2 accumulated deficit was too high? Question. Are you sure breathing every 3 early in this event is a good strategy for you? I have been breathing every third in training so that it now feels more natural than every other, and my stroke is more symmetric with better rotation. But perhaps that pattern contributed to an oxygen debt. I believe that I could have finished strong if I had split a 5:15-5:20 on the second 400, but for some reason I began splitting 1:16s, totally unaware that I was going that fast. It finally hit me around 900, and by then I had passed the point of no return physically. Mentally it might have helped to know that I was that far ahead of pace (although the voice in my head was pretty loud).

I train to hold the pace from 300 thru 1200 & then build up speed if I can.

I started breathing bilaterally a few years ago primarily to deal with impingement problems in my left shoulder. It took quite awhile for it to feel natural. Now it does. My 400 free on Saturday was a Masters best for me, and I was breathing bilaterally the entire way. I think that my stroke may be more efficient because I am more symmetric. But the question about oxygen debt in longer races is a legitimate one. At Beijing all of the swimmers in the final of the 1500 were breathing every other. You might try always breathing to the same side of the pool, so that you breathe to your own right one way and your own left the other way. I used to breathe every third arm for similar reasons as you, but I am faster with more oxygen.

I could be wrong about this, but it seems to me female swimmers are much more likely to breathe bilaterally than males are. My theory is that females are more likely to listen to their coaches' advice and lots of coaches advocate breathing to both sides.

I am curious about the bilateral breathing. Do you do this because you can detect actual improvement in your swimming performance, or do you do it based on the theoretical belief that it balances your stroke in some way? I started breathing bilaterally a few years ago primarily to deal with impingement problems in my left shoulder. It took quite awhile for it to feel natural. Now it does. My 400 free on Saturday was a Masters best for me, and I was breathing bilaterally the entire way. I think that my stroke may be more efficient because I am more symmetric. But the question about oxygen debt in longer races is a legitimate one. At Beijing all of the swimmers in the final of the 1500 were breathing every other. Taking one SDK off the wall on every turn was a struggle initially, now my turns don't feel right if I don't.

You might try always breathing to the same side of the pool, so that you breathe to your own right one way and your own left the other way. This is what I often do. Recently, I joined a squad - we train in a choppy pool. I usually lead sets or start 2nd or 3rd. I like to breathe on this inside lane side (that would be left hand side) to go then on the rope side (right side) on way back. Anyway, no matter the pattern, this is how I maintain this crucial ability, which is to be able to see the competition wherever it is. I even think about breathing on the side at butterfly once in a while for the same reason. As to the balance thing. I see nothing wrong in specializing each arm. The arm on the side you breathe has a different role than the arm on the non breathing side, and there's nothing wrong with that. Indirectly, I guess I am against breathing every 3, unless in certain exceptions (females, 2beat kickers with high turnover etc).

I could be wrong about this, but it seems to me female swimmers are much more likely to breathe bilaterally than males are. My theory is that females are more likely to listen to their coaches' advice and lots of coaches advocate breathing to both sides. That's funny ;-) Truth of the matter though is well. Two very simple things: 1. Females have a higher turnover. Even if they'd breathe every 3 then endup breathing more often than for instance when GBrain is breathing every 3 (given his turnover rate). 2. Females have a lowerbody that floats better, which means that with a proper technique they can really swim real energy efficient 2 beat kick. Bring me any coach that advocates restricting O2 intake during a threshold based event, I may have a word or two for him.... Principle is relatively simple. It's a matter of bottleneck. You don't want your performance to be limited by O2 Accumulated deficit for the good reason that at threshold level, the bottleneck should (hopefully) not be there. Things are different at Vo2Peak or even over this level. And by the way, same goes with those nicely fashioned push off with dolphin kicking (underwater). Very nice when you see world class athletes performing these, but they can be very harmful for performance over 1500. They can literally kill your event.

What breathing pattern did you use, same as the race?