How do you determine whether you would be better off training and racing sprints or distance events?
I'm back into competitive training this winter after ~2 decades since high school. I used to coach age group, and I've been hitting some master's practices, so I'm not without direction for what I should be doing to get back in shape. I am, however, clueless about distance swimming.
I have no exposure to distance racing or training so I am starting to read up on it (Maglischo). In high school, with the longest event being the 500 free, everyone was a "sprinter" whether they were suited to it or not.
Since I'm basically rebuilding myself from the ground up, I am wondering whether I might give distance a try? What sorts of physiology, technique or psychology lend themselves to doing distance as opposed to sprinting? Or does this not really matter for a nearly 40-year-old masters swimmer that's been out of the pool for nearly forever?
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Former Member
I'm not sure I agree with this. A former swimmer with reasonable technique can probably swim a fast 50 or 100 much easier with little training than a fast 200 or 500.
Hey Dan,
I am assuming Jeff just started back. First six months back, my 50 times dropped from really unimpressive to just unimpressive. But my endurance went from not being able to swim anything to being able to swim a 5k practice, and my repeats times dropped from 100s on 2:00 to 100s on 1:25. Those improvements made me feel great, but my 50 off the blocks time made me feel horrible. The ability to practice better let me get to a point where training for competition made sense again.
Now if Jeff knew he just wanted to swim sprints, he could probably skip straight to fast training with lots of rest, and see some impressive improvement, but since he is undetermined, I think middle distance or distance training will make him happier. Once he has an aerobic base, he can go in any direction.
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Former Member
I'm not sure I agree with this. A former swimmer with reasonable technique can probably swim a fast 50 or 100 much easier with little training than a fast 200 or 500.
Hey Dan,
I am assuming Jeff just started back. First six months back, my 50 times dropped from really unimpressive to just unimpressive. But my endurance went from not being able to swim anything to being able to swim a 5k practice, and my repeats times dropped from 100s on 2:00 to 100s on 1:25. Those improvements made me feel great, but my 50 off the blocks time made me feel horrible. The ability to practice better let me get to a point where training for competition made sense again.
Now if Jeff knew he just wanted to swim sprints, he could probably skip straight to fast training with lots of rest, and see some impressive improvement, but since he is undetermined, I think middle distance or distance training will make him happier. Once he has an aerobic base, he can go in any direction.
