In threads where training philosophy comes up, discussions of TRIMPS and TSS and other training models occasionally intrude. These models are not very well known, and even more poorly understood, so probably SolarEnergy, qbrain and I are just talking to each other and killing threads in those conversations. In any case, I figured I would present a brief overview of what it is that we're talking about when this terminology starts showing up.
Best case, this will introduce these models to the subset of swimmers (or coaches) who would be interested enough to use them, but didn't previously know enough to do so.
Plus, even if you're not the type to be interested in quantifying your training, it can be useful to think about workouts in this general framework.
And, at the very least, this might serve as a place to discuss some of the details without worrying about driving those other threads too far off-topic.
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My thoughts on kicking:
I don't think kick sets deserve a multiplier. Sure, you don't get as many points as you feel you've earned based on how much kicking hurts. As qbrain points out, that's because most of your energy -- let's say 50% -- is wasted.
So when you train yourself to kick more powerfully, only 50% of that additional power is directed towards forwards propulsion.
The point system "knows" this, because all it sees is your speed. The points automatically rewards you only for doing things that make you go faster. I think that's more of a feature than a bug.
My thoughts on kicking:
I don't think kick sets deserve a multiplier. Sure, you don't get as many points as you feel you've earned based on how much kicking hurts. As qbrain points out, that's because most of your energy -- let's say 50% -- is wasted.
So when you train yourself to kick more powerfully, only 50% of that additional power is directed towards forwards propulsion.
The point system "knows" this, because all it sees is your speed. The points automatically rewards you only for doing things that make you go faster. I think that's more of a feature than a bug.
