During our swimming careers we have all experienced the feeling of "being in-shape" and not quite "in-shape".
My question is this; From a physiological or Kinesiological standpoint, what is happening in your body when you can so easily go from being in-shape to losing that in a matter of a week or two?
I'm an old masters swimmer now but even swimming High School, Club or College whenever I would go on a vacation or get sick for a week, it took two - three weeks to get back to where I was before the vacation or sickness?
What is happening in our body when we can swim a 1:07 BR and then two weeks later can't break 1:10???
Thanks in advance for your answers and opinions...
:confused:
Remember the biorhythm calculators?
Hey, I lived in California at the time...we were all over biorhythms! I am pretty sure we owned a calculator and (I was 8 at the time) I would be worried whenever a meet occured near a double- or (shudder!) triple-critical day.
It has indeed gone the way of the dodo; more info is in (of course!) wikipedia:
en.wikipedia.org/.../Biorhythms
Early in my academic career -- maybe in the mid-90s -- I tried to illustrate the phenomenon of interference to a class using biorhythms. That was the first of a string of gaffes over the years by which I illustrated my cultural ignorance: not a single student knew what biorhythms were. (But they know all about I Love Lucy or 70s music. Go figure.)
Following 5 months of competitive training (approximately 9,000 yards.d-1, 6 d.wk-1), three groups of eight male swimmers performed 4 wk of either reduced training (3,000 yard.session-1) or inactivity
...
These results suggest that aerobic capacity is maintained over 4 wk of moderately reduced training (3 sessions.wk-1) in well-trained swimmers. Muscular strength was not diminished over 4 wk of reduced training or inactivity, but the ability to generate power during swimming was significantly reduced in all groups.
Thank you for posting this, Erik. I remembered that study (or a similar one) but you saved me the trouble of finding it. To me, the explanation is what Jazz and others have stated: you lose, essentially, the "muscle memory" of efficient swimming. It also suggests that the effects can be slowed simply by easy swimming.
Our college coaches always told us to just jump in and do some easy laps a couple times per week during the break, for exactly this reason.
Rule of thumb: the conditioning and other physical adaptations to training that took months or even years to acquire will not completely disappear in a matter of weeks.
Remember the biorhythm calculators?
Hey, I lived in California at the time...we were all over biorhythms! I am pretty sure we owned a calculator and (I was 8 at the time) I would be worried whenever a meet occured near a double- or (shudder!) triple-critical day.
It has indeed gone the way of the dodo; more info is in (of course!) wikipedia:
en.wikipedia.org/.../Biorhythms
Early in my academic career -- maybe in the mid-90s -- I tried to illustrate the phenomenon of interference to a class using biorhythms. That was the first of a string of gaffes over the years by which I illustrated my cultural ignorance: not a single student knew what biorhythms were. (But they know all about I Love Lucy or 70s music. Go figure.)
Following 5 months of competitive training (approximately 9,000 yards.d-1, 6 d.wk-1), three groups of eight male swimmers performed 4 wk of either reduced training (3,000 yard.session-1) or inactivity
...
These results suggest that aerobic capacity is maintained over 4 wk of moderately reduced training (3 sessions.wk-1) in well-trained swimmers. Muscular strength was not diminished over 4 wk of reduced training or inactivity, but the ability to generate power during swimming was significantly reduced in all groups.
Thank you for posting this, Erik. I remembered that study (or a similar one) but you saved me the trouble of finding it. To me, the explanation is what Jazz and others have stated: you lose, essentially, the "muscle memory" of efficient swimming. It also suggests that the effects can be slowed simply by easy swimming.
Our college coaches always told us to just jump in and do some easy laps a couple times per week during the break, for exactly this reason.
Rule of thumb: the conditioning and other physical adaptations to training that took months or even years to acquire will not completely disappear in a matter of weeks.
