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 consider training to be the preparation for an event. If you don't compete you really aren't training. You are just swimming, which is fine. I know some super fast people who don't compete so I'm not disparaging swimming.
Anyway, my opinion is that with whatever program you have chosen for training, you have to be both fully committed to it and willing to give it up on a moment's notice if it isn't working or you can't handle it. A lot of folks get wrapped up in validating their training program based solely on best times, which I disagree with.
And, if you train with toys and don't use them with a purpose you are wasting time and money.
I agree with swimshark and fort, you have to constantly swim outside your comfort zone.
I can't just lurk any longer. I have been pissed for the last few days and this thread is the straw that breaks the camel's back.
In the last two days we swam 400s in different flavors as the main set and one day of last week we were given a wonderful set, 8x400 fr, I hate that stuff. When swimming such sets I couldn't be less focused, I just loaf through the practice.
I know for sure that this way I am not doing what I need to do in order to swim my events, this is very frustrating. I feel like I'm wasting my time, not to mention the thoughts that come across my mind when I think about the months I wasted swimming aerobic sets with no effect on my racing performance.
Another point is the following, which I'm not sure how valid is for Masters as they're kind of out of their teens. I swim with kids from age 13 to 20, I'm not a coach but I think that workouts should be differentiated and based on the stage of development of a kid's physique, which I never see happening where I swim at. Isn't it wrong that a 20-year-old male swims the same workout of a 13-year-old girl without any strength training, only with tighter intervals?
Anyway, I think I'm going to ask my coach if I can swim on my own from now on, cutting back on distance swum and doing 200 race pace sets and fast fly with lots of rest coupled with strength training. Not sure whether he will take it well.
If he accepts I'm going to use the immense knowledge of you USMS members to write my own workouts. This forum has already helped me learn a lot about swimming so thank you guys for being out there and sharing your experience with other swimmers who want to improve.
I am very critical of turn work and starts and everything else that happens outside the flags (any time saved here is free).
I'm not a very good swimmer by the standards of most participants in these forums. I learned long ago that wall work is important for me. The less I swim, the faster I go.
Skip
In the last two days we swam 400s in different flavors as the main set and one day of last week we were given a wonderful set, 8x400 fr, I hate that stuff. When swimming such sets I couldn't be less focused, I just loaf through the practice.
Hmmm... I'd like that at a coached practice, at least once in awhile. Last Saturday during lap swim, my "main set" was 3x500 (I held 7:40, peeking at the pace clock after every 100, with an interval of 8:30 or 9:00). As you can see, I'm certainly not fast, but they were definitely not "garbage yards" for me.
Skip
Hmmm... I'd like that at a coached practice, at least once in awhile. Last Saturday during lap swim, my "main set" was 3x500 (I held 7:40, peeking at the pace clock after every 100, with an interval of 8:30 or 9:00). As you can see, I'm certainly not fast, but they were definitely not "garbage yards" for me.
Skip
8 x 400 might be fine for an OW or marathon swimmer. But if you want to swim fast 50-100-200 in the pool, forget it. I don't get the chance to swim with my team that often. But even on D free day, the coach doesn't assign crap like that.
Do speed work on your own, Luca!
Sets like 8 X 400 and, especially, 10 X 300 double descend long course, aka "world's greatest set," are the reasons I stay motivated. When those sets go on the board I know we are about to laissez le bon temps rouler. The river of tears and chorus of boos from the weak minded sprinters makes it even better.
But, I agree, pointless for 50-100-200.
Sets like 8 X 400 and, especially, 10 X 300 double descend long course, aka "world's greatest set," are the reasons I stay motivated. When those sets go on the board I know we are about to laissez le bon temps rouler. The river of tears and chorus of boos from the weak minded sprinters makes it even better.
But, I agree, pointless for 50-100-200.
:applaud:
The river of tears and chorus of boos from the weak minded sprinters makes it even better.
But, I agree, pointless for 50-100-200.
Do the sprinters actually do those sets?
