Request for LONG distance training (?)

I think all the participants here have made valid points about how masters swimming falls short of helping some people in some way, or how difficult it would be to do better. Elaine, you are precisely right about Masters focusing a bit too much attention on the best swimmers. Pick up a copy of Swim magazine, and it's Karlyn Pipes this, and Jim McConica that. Gee, do you think that maybe there might be some interesting stories amongst the 100's of other people at a meet who are no threat to win their age group? You bet there are, BUT digging out those stories takes more time and staff than Swim has available. It's easy to talk about records; you can get that stuff off of the results posted on the web. Real reporting requires resources our niche magazine does not have available. Same story if you go to most masters clubs. The workout is really designed for the fastest swimmers, and what other people do is a watered down derrivative of that workout. The supreme irony of that is that the coaches focus on the best folks, but they need the attention the least. The people who really need coaching and guidance are in the slow lane, and sometimes they give up, or never come in the first place, because they think they need to be pretty good already to be worthy of a coach's time. How crazy is that?! On the other hand, the fastest swimmers also tend to be the ones who show up for workout most regularly. You ignore the wishes of your most reliable customers at your peril. USMS has tried numerous times to reach out to the "fitness" or "lap" swimmer and offer them more services for their membership dues. Problem is that many of those people's idea of swimming is: show up for lap swim, do the same distance at the same pace with the same technique (no matter how good or bad it is), repeat tomorrow at the same time. And please DON'T challenge my assumptions about the right way to swim. Getting that herd of cats to show up for or participate in anything outside of their comfort zone can be a real challenge. And finally (since I have gored everyone else's ox today), I find the suggestion that there are not enough workouts for the purely distance swimmer somewhat curious. Mostly because in my experience, most masters workouts turn into 95% aerobic work (which is what distance people need) as people chase someone else's interval. There is a mind set that the only way to train is to maximize yards swum, and the faster the interval the better. Most age group, high school, college programs (i.e. for those who are serious about swimming their best in a few weeks time) also work on stroke technique, sprinting, or simply higher quality swims with more rest in between, i.e. they work on lots of other areas. But in a Masters workout, I can't count the number of times (on any one of the several teams I have joined as the Navy moves me hither, thither and yon) the coach gives us a drill set, and some gonzo decides this is his chance to keep up with the big boys, and wants to lead the lane on a touch and go interval, completely defeating the purpose of the set. Heck I have been on teams where the coach has been let go because, as I interpret it, his creative get out of your comfort zone workouts did not satisfy the aerobocops' need for more yards, man, just give me more yards. There, having got my psychotic episode off my chest, what's my point? Well, to the extent I have one, I would say that there are ample OPPORTUNITIES for masters swimming to offer all sorts of new and interesting experiences to its members. However, seizing any one of those opportunities will usually not be easy or cheap, and we have limited resources. We should always ask ourselves "why not?" At the same time, we should not expect the elusive "they" to take on an initiative for us, while we sit back and enjoy the benefits. "They" is us, and we need to do it our own bad selves. Also, we need to appreciate the fine work a whole lot of selfless volunteers put into OUR organization, and thank them at the slightest provocation. All grousing aside, we really are living in the golden age of aquatics for mature athletes, and it is good for us to look up every once in a while and appreciate how lucky we are. End of homily, Matt

I think all the participants here have made valid points about how masters swimming falls short of helping some people in some way, or how difficult it would be to do better. Elaine, you are precisely right about Masters focusing a bit too much attention on the best swimmers. Pick up a copy of Swim magazine, and it's Karlyn Pipes this, and Jim McConica that. Gee, do you think that maybe there might be some interesting stories amongst the 100's of other people at a meet who are no threat to win their age group? You bet there are, BUT digging out those stories takes more time and staff than Swim has available. It's easy to talk about records; you can get that stuff off of the results posted on the web. Real reporting requires resources our niche magazine does not have available. Same story if you go to most masters clubs. The workout is really designed for the fastest swimmers, and what other people do is a watered down derrivative of that workout. The supreme irony of that is that the coaches focus on the best folks, but they need the attention the least. The people who really need coaching and guidance are in the slow lane, and sometimes they give up, or never come in the first place, because they think they need to be pretty good already to be worthy of a coach's time. How crazy is that?! On the other hand, the fastest swimmers also tend to be the ones who show up for workout most regularly. You ignore the wishes of your most reliable customers at your peril. USMS has tried numerous times to reach out to the "fitness" or "lap" swimmer and offer them more services for their membership dues. Problem is that many of those people's idea of swimming is: show up for lap swim, do the same distance at the same pace with the same technique (no matter how good or bad it is), repeat tomorrow at the same time. And please DON'T challenge my assumptions about the right way to swim. Getting that herd of cats to show up for or participate in anything outside of their comfort zone can be a real challenge. And finally (since I have gored everyone else's ox today), I find the suggestion that there are not enough workouts for the purely distance swimmer somewhat curious. Mostly because in my experience, most masters workouts turn into 95% aerobic work (which is what distance people need) as people chase someone else's interval. There is a mind set that the only way to train is to maximize yards swum, and the faster the interval the better. Most age group, high school, college programs (i.e. for those who are serious about swimming their best in a few weeks time) also work on stroke technique, sprinting, or simply higher quality swims with more rest in between, i.e. they work on lots of other areas. But in a Masters workout, I can't count the number of times (on any one of the several teams I have joined as the Navy moves me hither, thither and yon) the coach gives us a drill set, and some gonzo decides this is his chance to keep up with the big boys, and wants to lead the lane on a touch and go interval, completely defeating the purpose of the set. Heck I have been on teams where the coach has been let go because, as I interpret it, his creative get out of your comfort zone workouts did not satisfy the aerobocops' need for more yards, man, just give me more yards. There, having got my psychotic episode off my chest, what's my point? Well, to the extent I have one, I would say that there are ample OPPORTUNITIES for masters swimming to offer all sorts of new and interesting experiences to its members. However, seizing any one of those opportunities will usually not be easy or cheap, and we have limited resources. We should always ask ourselves "why not?" At the same time, we should not expect the elusive "they" to take on an initiative for us, while we sit back and enjoy the benefits. "They" is us, and we need to do it our own bad selves. Also, we need to appreciate the fine work a whole lot of selfless volunteers put into OUR organization, and thank them at the slightest provocation. All grousing aside, we really are living in the golden age of aquatics for mature athletes, and it is good for us to look up every once in a while and appreciate how lucky we are. End of homily, Matt