The 200 distance seems to be the dividing line for most sprinters. Long distance swims may have a positive side in terms of providing recovery from all out efforts (but perhaps that's about it).
The reason for me mentioning about the 400 is that it is the purest aerobic capacity swim event of all.
Takes a good 2 minutes before reaching your max o2peak.
One of the most popular vo2max training approach nowadays is the famous 5x5. 5 times 5 min at highest possible speed over the duration.
In swimming world, such a workout goes as follow:
5 x 400 on 10min. All out effort over the distance (that is best possible avg).
It sucks I know, sprinters probably hate this, but the reason why it is still on their menu lies down to the fact that anaerobic capacity is highly dependent on this fitness component. In other words, 100 specialists who spend time (earlier in the season) on developing their best 400 are probably not wasting their time.
Here. This is just one little example among hundreds. In the article above, anaerobic capacity is measured by tracking the max o2 accumulated deficit. To the best of my knowledge, an capacity is almost always tested this way.
bjsm.bmj.com/.../45.abstract
If you improve your max o2 peak, without neglecting your training for the sprint events, that increases your an capacity by delaying the o2 deficit. Very simple yet widely accepted little equation.
The 200 distance seems to be the dividing line for most sprinters. Long distance swims may have a positive side in terms of providing recovery from all out efforts (but perhaps that's about it).
The reason for me mentioning about the 400 is that it is the purest aerobic capacity swim event of all.
Takes a good 2 minutes before reaching your max o2peak.
One of the most popular vo2max training approach nowadays is the famous 5x5. 5 times 5 min at highest possible speed over the duration.
In swimming world, such a workout goes as follow:
5 x 400 on 10min. All out effort over the distance (that is best possible avg).
It sucks I know, sprinters probably hate this, but the reason why it is still on their menu lies down to the fact that anaerobic capacity is highly dependent on this fitness component. In other words, 100 specialists who spend time (earlier in the season) on developing their best 400 are probably not wasting their time.
Here. This is just one little example among hundreds. In the article above, anaerobic capacity is measured by tracking the max o2 accumulated deficit. To the best of my knowledge, an capacity is almost always tested this way.
bjsm.bmj.com/.../45.abstract
If you improve your max o2 peak, without neglecting your training for the sprint events, that increases your an capacity by delaying the o2 deficit. Very simple yet widely accepted little equation.
