Training article - For everyone!

For 50/100 specialists, is there any benefit to building long aerobic swims into a workout? Yes. The benefits are manifold, even for 50m specialists. As long as it doesn't interfere with the core of the program, the portion aimed at building anaerobic power. So far it has been pointed out that even the 100 has a significant aerobic component Quite simple here. If it's getting you completely out of breath before the end of the event, then there's a significant aerobic component to it. Should typical aerobic pace swimming be consigned to recovery and working on technique? No. Or let's put is this way. All base mileage should be seen as an opportunity to improve technical aspects, when not used for recovering. For example, in the case of a freestyle specialist, there's always a few critical phases in the stroke, such as high elbow catch, efficiency (and role) of the arm non breathing side. We all loose a fair bit of water there. A question may be about kicking timing. Not a bad idea to make it six beat. All 2beat base mileage done on a severe stroke count diet. Etc... Other examples? A 100 back specalist performing free base mileage. Why not sdking a lot so you increase volume of sdk quite a lot. There's always something good that can come out of base mileage. As a coach, suffice to explain what we expect, sort of outside of the box thinking. Has anyone tried the four minute approach in swim training? The 15 second approach? No. This may work. It may make the sets longer but on the other hand, it may help preserve a better technique throughout the set, and it may add a slight neuromuscular power sort of touch to it. The downside though, is that it will take longer to reach your max o2 peak, if you keep stopping every 15sec for 15sec. In the cycling world, I'd say that most of the time, the usual typical vo2max development interval format is very simple: 5x5min, max sustainable power over the duration. You reach your max hr (minus 2 or 3 beats) during every of these. The equivalent in swimming would be 5x400, best possible effort. Rest, unlimited. Limited by time available for the workout. Rest can and should be active, not passive. So a swimming set would look as follow: 5 x | 400 fast on 6 minutes (given you perform the bout in 5min roughly) | 50m backstroke very relaxed on 1:30 | 50m kick very relaxed on 1:30 | 100 very relaxed, stroke of your choice on 3 Total set duration : 60min Time spent at Vo2Max : 15min (5x3min) Now, some may be thinking, are you crazy dammit? No. First, a 100m specialist probably doesn't need the maximal dose of vo2max training development. And this workout (above) is pretty much the maximal does. It relates more to 200/400 specialists really. A good variation for a sprinter (100m) could be 5 x (400 then 300 then 200 then 100 then 50). The 3 first bouts allows to reach his aerobic capacity, the 100 his anaerobic capacity, and well. The 50 that's for desert. Of course, all bouts (400,300...) are done at max possible avg speed over the distance. There's no 90% or 95% there. One may miss the max part of vo2max if committing into sub max efforts.

For 50/100 specialists, is there any benefit to building long aerobic swims into a workout? Yes. The benefits are manifold, even for 50m specialists. As long as it doesn't interfere with the core of the program, the portion aimed at building anaerobic power. So far it has been pointed out that even the 100 has a significant aerobic component Quite simple here. If it's getting you completely out of breath before the end of the event, then there's a significant aerobic component to it. Should typical aerobic pace swimming be consigned to recovery and working on technique? No. Or let's put is this way. All base mileage should be seen as an opportunity to improve technical aspects, when not used for recovering. For example, in the case of a freestyle specialist, there's always a few critical phases in the stroke, such as high elbow catch, efficiency (and role) of the arm non breathing side. We all loose a fair bit of water there. A question may be about kicking timing. Not a bad idea to make it six beat. All 2beat base mileage done on a severe stroke count diet. Etc... Other examples? A 100 back specalist performing free base mileage. Why not sdking a lot so you increase volume of sdk quite a lot. There's always something good that can come out of base mileage. As a coach, suffice to explain what we expect, sort of outside of the box thinking. Has anyone tried the four minute approach in swim training? The 15 second approach? No. This may work. It may make the sets longer but on the other hand, it may help preserve a better technique throughout the set, and it may add a slight neuromuscular power sort of touch to it. The downside though, is that it will take longer to reach your max o2 peak, if you keep stopping every 15sec for 15sec. In the cycling world, I'd say that most of the time, the usual typical vo2max development interval format is very simple: 5x5min, max sustainable power over the duration. You reach your max hr (minus 2 or 3 beats) during every of these. The equivalent in swimming would be 5x400, best possible effort. Rest, unlimited. Limited by time available for the workout. Rest can and should be active, not passive. So a swimming set would look as follow: 5 x | 400 fast on 6 minutes (given you perform the bout in 5min roughly) | 50m backstroke very relaxed on 1:30 | 50m kick very relaxed on 1:30 | 100 very relaxed, stroke of your choice on 3 Total set duration : 60min Time spent at Vo2Max : 15min (5x3min) Now, some may be thinking, are you crazy dammit? No. First, a 100m specialist probably doesn't need the maximal dose of vo2max training development. And this workout (above) is pretty much the maximal does. It relates more to 200/400 specialists really. A good variation for a sprinter (100m) could be 5 x (400 then 300 then 200 then 100 then 50). The 3 first bouts allows to reach his aerobic capacity, the 100 his anaerobic capacity, and well. The 50 that's for desert. Of course, all bouts (400,300...) are done at max possible avg speed over the distance. There's no 90% or 95% there. One may miss the max part of vo2max if committing into sub max efforts.