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?
Yes, and I dutifully do kick sets and IM sets in return.
Really? Can people adjust sets at your practices? For example, could the sprinters do 10 x 100 instead of 10 x 300?
I would never do a set like that. That is truly garage yardage for sprinters, whereas I'm not sure kick and IM sets are garbage yardage for you.
Yes but do you do 16X25 on the minute AFAP with good form.
I'm sure he does as he trains with a great team.
That set is too hard for me, more like a mini lactate set. I would do 10 x (25 AFAP + 50 EZ) @ 2-3:00 for a true sprint set.
Really? Can people adjust sets at your practices? For example, could the sprinters do 10 x 100 instead of 10 x 300?
And we're back to the crux of the matter here. I think that many teams don't provide options. There's one workout. It might be pared down somewhat to accommodate slower swimmers, but--unlike Ande's thread titles-- there's no distance lane, middle distance lane or sprint lane.
Really? Can people adjust sets at your practices? For example, could the sprinters do 10 x 100 instead of 10 x 300?
I would never do a set like that. That is truly garage yardage for sprinters, whereas I'm not sure kick and IM sets are garbage yardage for you.
We have a fairly well rounded team and most swimmers compete in most all events. Our coach mixes it up enough that everyone gets what they need based on the number of practices we have available during the week.
Our coach makes six workouts a session, three for swimmers, three for triathletes. You can usually find what you need. If not, just suck it up. Right now she is offering 8 workouts a session, including a meet prep and a Chesapeake Bay prep program, which I need to start after the meet in Paul and Laura Smith's pool.
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
That's absolutely right. Wall training is never time wasted. This part of the race can stay pretty constant regardless of how your level of skill or endurance might change over time. There's never a good excuse to waste time on the walls in a race :)
My only regret is that it took me til i was in my 30's to realize such clarity. :blush:
... if only this was explained to me in hs or college i'd have been even faster back then. Granted, this is a discussion about non youth programs, but I think it still applies to everyone.
My coach knows that is he gives me this workout
4x125 on 2:30
4x50 drill
3x125 on 2:20
4x50 kick
3x125 on 2:10
4x50 easy
3x125 on 2:00
that all those 125's after the first 4 are going to become 75's where I sprint a 50 and then go easy 50, or I'll put on fins for a set and work SDK. And he knows better than to say anything...and my lane mates know I will stay out of their way or stay on the opposite end of the pool as them.
Those sets look like they would be fun though, on the right day. Reminds me of my time at the Fleet Rec. What does "double descend" mean?
You descend 1-5 and 6-10. In addition, 6 is faster than 1, 7 is faster than 2, on down the line. It's what Q refers to as teaching yourself to swim slowly, but that's a point of some debate.
If not, just suck it up.
Ew. Not how I want to spend much of my training time. This is a D concept. "Sucking it up" helps D swimmers and hurts sprinters (unless doing a nasty lactate set).
There are great benefits to training with a team, especially one like yours. But if you're "sucking it up" too much, you're probably back to garbage yards. In general, I think sprinters have to train alone at least some of the time -- which many do. Or get a like indeed training partner -- which many do. Most teams just don't have workouts for sprinters because they're catering to too many other different specialities -- tris, OW, mid-D, D, etc. -- who want more yardage and less rest.
When I train with my team, I will sometimes alter the assigned sets. Keeping out of my lanemates way, of course. I don't think this should be a big deal.
Ew. Not how I want to spend much of my training time. This is a D concept.
We have 40-60+ per session. You can't always have a workout that is in your wheelhouse. It's not a D concept to occasionally do something a bit different.
