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?
So? I am using the points to compare one event to another. Entering an age of 8 works just as well as 32, what matters is that I use the same age for all my comparisons. The number by itself is rather meaningless to me.
The "problem" -- if you want to call it that -- is that their scoring system is skewed to USA-swimming standards and they train a lot more than the typical masters swimmer. Based on my competitiveness at USA-S meets I am better at the shorter races, while compared to masters I am better at longer races. For me, since my level of training is closer to USMS than USAS, I'd probably rather use a masters-based rating system.
I seem to remember in Dara Torres' book "Age is Just a Number" that she mentioned some research that seemed to show that one's sprinting ability seemed to regress more slowly with age than distance swimming. But it may be an affect of having less time to train (or being more prone to injuries if one tries to train with the same volume).
So? I am using the points to compare one event to another. Entering an age of 8 works just as well as 32, what matters is that I use the same age for all my comparisons. The number by itself is rather meaningless to me.
The "problem" -- if you want to call it that -- is that their scoring system is skewed to USA-swimming standards and they train a lot more than the typical masters swimmer. Based on my competitiveness at USA-S meets I am better at the shorter races, while compared to masters I am better at longer races. For me, since my level of training is closer to USMS than USAS, I'd probably rather use a masters-based rating system.
I seem to remember in Dara Torres' book "Age is Just a Number" that she mentioned some research that seemed to show that one's sprinting ability seemed to regress more slowly with age than distance swimming. But it may be an affect of having less time to train (or being more prone to injuries if one tries to train with the same volume).
