Fortress' impressive three world record performance over the weekend made me think of this topic. Obviously the things she's doing are working well for the events she likes to swim. She concentrates on SDKs, fast swimming with lots of rest and drylands to aid in explosiveness. Long aerobic sets just aren't a part of her training regime, from what I've seen.
Almost every organized training group I've swum with, on the other hand, focuses on long aerobic sets, short rest, not a whole lot of fast stuff, etc. Basically the polar opposite of how Fortress trains. In my opinion this probably works pretty well for those who swim longer events, but really does very little for sprinters. The sprint events are almost always the most popular events at meets, so why do people choose to train aerobically? I think there are a number of factors at play. There's the much maligned triathletes. There's those who don't compete and "just want to get their yardage in." There's a historical precedent of lots of yardage being the way to go.
So what do you all think? How does you or your team train? I know lots of regular bloggers here DO train differently than my perception of the norm. Examples include Ande, Chris S. and Speedo. Are too many masters teams stuck in a training regime that is not at all what many of their swimmers need to get faster?
I think Leslie's WRs can be attributed to many things, including: dedication and discipline. That being said I did wonder the same thing, "What is Leslie doing that the rest of us aren't?"
The answer is: a lot. She has figured out what it takes for her to swim fast. She is dedicated and disciplined and she has clear cut goals that she wants to achieve. Plus, she obviously has those fast twitch fibers! For masters, the dedication part can be hindered for any number of reasons, not least of all, time and family commitments.
So, really thinking about the question: I don't think that most masters teams are doing anything wrong. I, for one, have numerous friends that are WR holders, and they are on teams. I just think that credit needs to be given where credit is due (in this instance to Leslie).
Swimming with a masters team does not guarantee success or "failure", and neither does swimming by yourself. :2cents:
I think Leslie's WRs can be attributed to many things, including: dedication and discipline. That being said I did wonder the same thing, "What is Leslie doing that the rest of us aren't?"
The answer is: a lot. She has figured out what it takes for her to swim fast. She is dedicated and disciplined and she has clear cut goals that she wants to achieve. Plus, she obviously has those fast twitch fibers! For masters, the dedication part can be hindered for any number of reasons, not least of all, time and family commitments.
So, really thinking about the question: I don't think that most masters teams are doing anything wrong. I, for one, have numerous friends that are WR holders, and they are on teams. I just think that credit needs to be given where credit is due (in this instance to Leslie).
Swimming with a masters team does not guarantee success or "failure", and neither does swimming by yourself. :2cents:
