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?
Something I was thinking about yesterday in my workout was that it is easier for me to focus on technique adjustments and how effective they are during sprints.If I am trying a major change,of course I start slow until I get a feel for it,but when I am tweeking my stroke I really like to focus on it during sprints.One reason,of course,is that I have a short attention span and it is easier for me to focus for a 25 than a 100,but another is that it is easier for me to see if a change really helps.In a 25 I am going all out, so if something is faster or results in lower SPL the results are likely accurate.While I have a pretty good idea of 100 and 200 pace I can't be as sure that I am giving duplicate effort as I can in an all out sprint.
Something I was thinking about yesterday in my workout was that it is easier for me to focus on technique adjustments and how effective they are during sprints.If I am trying a major change,of course I start slow until I get a feel for it,but when I am tweeking my stroke I really like to focus on it during sprints.One reason,of course,is that I have a short attention span and it is easier for me to focus for a 25 than a 100,but another is that it is easier for me to see if a change really helps.In a 25 I am going all out, so if something is faster or results in lower SPL the results are likely accurate.While I have a pretty good idea of 100 and 200 pace I can't be as sure that I am giving duplicate effort as I can in an all out sprint.
