In "Swimming Anatomy", Ian McLeod notes that drills, kicks, and pulls should generally be done after full-stroke work, for the same reason that isolation work should be done after muscle-group work in the gym -- if you tire a small group of muscles, they will limit your performance when you try to work the larger group, so you won't get the complete workout on the group that you otherwise would have.
Since I'm returning to swimming without a coach, I wondered what other general principles people follow in their workouts.
It will help me as I try to structure my own workouts going forward.
Thanks.
1. warm up: I do the same warm-up every single time: 2 lengths super easy free style with open turns, 1 length back, 3 lengths free with flip turns increasing to cruise speed by the last length.
2. Kick set about 300 yards on the 2 out of 3 days my knee feels up to it. This is something I am trying to overcome fround zero just a few months ago. If I was going to do drills I would do them here because I wouldn't want to be fatigued. It seems you might even find something to emphasize for the main set? But I don't do drills because I don't know how to do them.
3. Main set: usually about 1500 yards, some kind of endurance set like 100s that incorporates some descending.
4. Some short sprints if I am not too burned out. Might do a 50 fly if nothing else.
5. cool down 100 yards
...Don't follow this kind of routine because I don't know what I am doing. But I thought I would post it anyway to show where I am at in case anyone cares to comment. A question that has been nagging me is: what kind of sets do you do before a sprint set? I am trying to incorporate more sprinting, maybe 1 out of 4 times doing a set like 10 x 50 or 5 x 100 all out. But I'm too tired to do it if I do a full endurance set first.
Should I swim a set of like 4x200s at moderate effort first? I always feel like it is a waste of time swimming at low efforts or trying to build any endurance with such minimal yardage. I'm fascinated by the anatomy of the workouts. I swim 3 times a week and want to make the most of them. I feel on one hand like I am not in near the shape on want to be in, so I'm not even sure that decreasing rest intervals and pileing up the yardage isn't the way to go. Yet I've decreased my 100 interval from 2:15 to 1:45 in about a year but still stuck swimming them in about 1:30, while my 100 time has improved only 5 seconds to 1:03.
I agree with the prior post about sprinting one day/week max and additionally I don't start sprints until 15 weeks before my taper meet.You want your muscles and tendons to be acclimated to the stress first.If you are going to do a sprint workout do it for the main set when you are fresh.This is my favorite sprint set-15X100 on the 2:30 ,sprint the first 25(get your time) then swim the next 75 for recovery.Have your goal time for the 25 in mind and if you aren't making it,give yourself more recovery time.During the 75s think about your stroke and how to make the next 25 faster.I am doing mostly BR sprints and free recovery and each 25 I'll try to focus on one thing-head position,keeping my elbows in front of my shoulders,etc.
1. warm up: I do the same warm-up every single time: 2 lengths super easy free style with open turns, 1 length back, 3 lengths free with flip turns increasing to cruise speed by the last length.
2. Kick set about 300 yards on the 2 out of 3 days my knee feels up to it. This is something I am trying to overcome fround zero just a few months ago. If I was going to do drills I would do them here because I wouldn't want to be fatigued. It seems you might even find something to emphasize for the main set? But I don't do drills because I don't know how to do them.
3. Main set: usually about 1500 yards, some kind of endurance set like 100s that incorporates some descending.
4. Some short sprints if I am not too burned out. Might do a 50 fly if nothing else.
5. cool down 100 yards
...Don't follow this kind of routine because I don't know what I am doing. But I thought I would post it anyway to show where I am at in case anyone cares to comment. A question that has been nagging me is: what kind of sets do you do before a sprint set? I am trying to incorporate more sprinting, maybe 1 out of 4 times doing a set like 10 x 50 or 5 x 100 all out. But I'm too tired to do it if I do a full endurance set first.
Should I swim a set of like 4x200s at moderate effort first? I always feel like it is a waste of time swimming at low efforts or trying to build any endurance with such minimal yardage. I'm fascinated by the anatomy of the workouts. I swim 3 times a week and want to make the most of them. I feel on one hand like I am not in near the shape on want to be in, so I'm not even sure that decreasing rest intervals and pileing up the yardage isn't the way to go. Yet I've decreased my 100 interval from 2:15 to 1:45 in about a year but still stuck swimming them in about 1:30, while my 100 time has improved only 5 seconds to 1:03.
I agree with the prior post about sprinting one day/week max and additionally I don't start sprints until 15 weeks before my taper meet.You want your muscles and tendons to be acclimated to the stress first.If you are going to do a sprint workout do it for the main set when you are fresh.This is my favorite sprint set-15X100 on the 2:30 ,sprint the first 25(get your time) then swim the next 75 for recovery.Have your goal time for the 25 in mind and if you aren't making it,give yourself more recovery time.During the 75s think about your stroke and how to make the next 25 faster.I am doing mostly BR sprints and free recovery and each 25 I'll try to focus on one thing-head position,keeping my elbows in front of my shoulders,etc.
