I have a Tri relay coming up that I do every year and I typically warm up maybe 600-1000 yds and then it is usually at least 30-45 minutes of standing around before the wave goes off.
My question is, does a warm up last 30-45 minutes even though the pulse is at rest? I've heard of coaches who have asked their swimmers to go hard without warm up. Of course in a pool I don't have time to warm up and then sit for 30 minutes, so is going hard without a warmup of any kind a training technique with benefit, or should it be avoided due to injury or potential heart attack?
I doubt a warm up lasts 30 min
45+ years of swimming and you've always swum bad if you're out of the water over 30 minutes and then raced? That would be shocking to me.
I would say a main warm-up easily lasts 60 minutes, but I suggest doing the higher side of that 600-1,000. Maybe that window decreases as you get older?
I've swum in meets where you had no choice but to sit on the bench and wait between events for hours. Never seemed to faze me. Even when I have the option of getting in, I don't like to be in the water within 20 minutes of my event. Between 20-45 minutes is ideal for me. If it's immediately following my main warm-up, then sometimes I'll stretch it out to 60-90 minutes.
This is something that could be highly individualized. Good luck rtodd!
45+ years of swimming and you've always swum bad if you're out of the water over 30 minutes and then raced? That would be shocking to me.
I would say a main warm-up easily lasts 60 minutes, but I suggest doing the higher side of that 600-1,000. Maybe that window decreases as you get older?
I've swum in meets where you had no choice but to sit on the bench and wait between events for hours. Never seemed to faze me. Even when I have the option of getting in, I don't like to be in the water within 20 minutes of my event. Between 20-45 minutes is ideal for me. If it's immediately following my main warm-up, then sometimes I'll stretch it out to 60-90 minutes.
This is something that could be highly individualized. Good luck rtodd!
I don't like to be in the water shortly before racing either.I find it hard to be warm and wet at the same time,but I try to make sure my heart rate is up and my muscles warmed up if I can.I find that the shorter the distance the more important it is to be really warmed up.Since rtodd is doing a Tri relay I'd say ,if it was me, I'd make the first 1000 of it my warm up,but then I'm not a distance swimmer.
Warmed up and it was about 20 minutes of waiting, so it was not too bad. Those starts are rediculous though. I had people trying to climb over me for the first 50-100 yds. I had to really push to seperate, but then I could back off and recover. It would be good practice to do all out 100's followed by a recovery 200 without rest to simulate a race start.
You have to show up for the swim leg of a tri as a warrior. Being prepared for a 100m all out followed by whatever the remaining of the distance is, cold turkey.
But it's easier to warm up before. I see no use for a swim specialist to warm up in the water, other than getting used to the water temperature and swim equipment (wet suit).
Light jog followed by dryland routine such as arm circles etc should do.
Training wise, the better you are as a swimmer, the more you got to prepare for tri specific race dynamics. And this dynamics is very simple: Start fast, hold on to the lead group no matter how fast they go. Try to follow in their footsteps (drafting) hoping that the aerobic boost will kick in before you feel like puking. And preferably, you should be the one swimming over people, not the opposite.
That's how you race a swim leg when your 1500m in the pool is say, under 21m.
Also, since it is a matter of life or death, a heart attack is very unlikely if you are in a good heath condition.
It would be good practice to do all out 100's followed by a recovery 200 without rest to simulate a race start.
Yeah, it's a must. Even better to perform fast 100s followed by steady state swim at threshold speed. Not at recovery speed.
