Request for LONG distance training (?)

Ah, but I paid my membership dues. . .

AHHHH... so you are saying if I paid my membership dues and I asked that workouts be modified down to meet needs below those levels it would happen? Bull, is all I have to say to that, because if USMS and its coaches truely wanted to encourage beginning/less proficient swimmers then the workouts and modifications would have already been a part of this site, rather than referring them to other sites or references. There is a great deal of difference between philosophy and reality.

Rob, I am simply pointing out that USMS is missing a huge population of potential members! Probably a group bigger than the group USMS targets now. While I'm sure there is no hidden agenda to discourage the beginner/less proficient swimmer USMS doesn't dp much to encourage the beginning/less proficient swimmer who doesn't have access to a coach or team. As for digression from the thread, I don't see this as a digression. If someone can request more long distance workouts why can't someone request newbie workouts? Champion the effort? Don't you think thats what I am doing now? Elaine

To Leonard’s original question, I have contacted the USMS Long Distance Committee chair, Peter Crumbine, and asked if he could solicit some of his members to get together to develop some basic workouts focused towards open water swimming. I’ll let you know his reply.

Elaine, I do think you are championing the effort, and I thank you for it. I for one am pleased that Leanord started this topic, and the activity on this thread over a short period of time indicates that others have interest as well. I am hopeful that Rob's efforts with the Long Distance Committee are successful, and look forward to the workouts that might come from this. Although I am a strong swimmer, I have not and do not swim on a team -- like Elaine, I have no team available to me in my nearby area -- so I guess I may be considered a newbie as well. So I am in chorus with Elaine's thoughts, concerns and requests for workouts for folks like me as well. For some (perhaps many) of us, it may not be the technique that we are struggling with, but more the endurance, speed and monotony of the same practice we do each time. So ideas and direction from a coach would be a great help. What a great site this is -- thanks to all. Nancy

Id like to address a few of these concerns actually. I think this is a great thread and should be discussed... first and foremost, with regards to long distance workouts, i had one of the best distance coaches in the game when i was in high school. only occasionally would we do repeat 1000's or 800 pyramid sets. more often than not he trained me at mid distance with bracket sets. these, i found out, increased my endurance substantially. its almost too easy to do a 1650 at race pace for a workout and then call it a day. even two of them. whats not easy is doing multiple repeats of 300 and 400's on 1650 race intervals. thats what does the work for you. Long distance coaches are not as rare as you may think. some of the world's best distance swimmers come from mid-distance IM programs...look at Ian Thorpe who's workouts range from 200-500. he repeats until the cows come home but thats a different story. secondly, when you look at a workout, the idea is not to freak out when you see it. taken as a whole the workout is designed to reach a goal. though the preferred method is to do the whole workout at once, obviously not everyone can or will. therefore, i absolutely recommend picking it apart and doing what works best for you. i even recommend changing up intervals and distances to accommodate your style. there are thousands of swimmers on here who all have their own styles. to write a workout for everyone is impossible. you have three choices for workouts. mix and match! lastly, with regards to newbies...you guys have been fantastic over the past year helping people out with recommendations and so forth...to that end i will help whenever i can now that im a member. my tendency though is to not try to coach a newbie too much through a web page. newbies can have significant stroke mechanic issues which could be worsened. i would hope that each newbie has some local person that they could speak to with regards to specific mechanical issues with their strokes.

I can only say what I have been doing. Since I don't have the time to spend hours in the pool I save my long distance swim for saturday and/or sunday while during the week I focus on shorter endurance workouts. Now Leonard you know I am new to this sport and don't have a lot of experience to share but here is what I have been doing. I'll start off with a slow and easy 500yd to warm up and then maybe a brisker 500yd followed by 10 25yders on every 45 and then finish with another 500yd to finish. I mix up the middle distance depending on my mood but most of it is endurance stuff. 50's or 100's but I do it to get me breathing hard and I always run to help my cardio endurance out. That is only what I do and it probably isn't the best way to do it but it keeps me coming back. Leonard helped me get through my first long distance swim last year. Look forward to seeing you again this year.

I am not a member because I don't have access to a coach/team and can not see an advantage to becoming a member, so maybe I don't have a right to offer this criticism, but sometimes someone on the outside can shed light on what is going on. I believe more people DO NOT HAVE ACCESS to a coach or Masters team than do. (I am one of them again as the coach who worked with me privately is moving) If USMS wishes to continue to grow its membership then something has to be done for the newbies and other swimmers, who do not have access to coaches and teams, to get them to feel successful, to continue to swim and to want to join the organization. Not being able to do ANY of the posted workouts does not promote these feelings. In fact, it is down right discouraging. When I first started back swimming I definately got the impression that the coaches did not care about any swimmer who could not do the workouts, and that USMS was for more proficient swimmers than myself. However, I'm not the kind of person who would let something like that stop her from doing what she wanted to do, but there are many others who do not share my kind of temperament and probably write off USMS as something that does not meet their needs (which at this point it doesn't) and is not worthwhile. It was the private one-to-one sessions that motivated me in the beginning. While this does not address the stroke mechanics issue, perhaps a partial solution to the problem is to get a coach to write a series of progressive workouts that would help bring a newbie up to a point where he or she could use the other workouts. At least that would give a newbie a starting point and make them feel 'welcome.' Elaine

LB, you have a valid point. The last thing anyone wants is for any new swimmer or even veteran swimmers to feel unwelcome. However, I am worried when you say that swimmers can not do any of the posted workouts. I will admit that mine hover around the intermediate level but Mo Chambers writes terrific workouts for ALL swimmers of all levels. I've sent many beginner swimmers the link to her page and they have all said that her workouts helped them tremendously. I would recommend that newbies seek out her workouts and follow her advice on each set. And with regards to mechanics, there are many links in recent posts that point to other websites that have great instruction and tutorials for beginning stroke mechanics. Definitely worth checking out. Best of luck.

I was recently at the British swim coaches conference, where I heard a talk by Malcolm Straight, the coach of one of the best UK distance swimmers. This swimmer excels at longer distances, such as 5k, 10k and 25k open water swims. All of their training is in the pool and they concentrate on even pacing. Specifically they do long interval sets, holding a steady pace, stroke count and stroke rate. Maglischo was also there and he also talked about the importance of even pacing. For instance if you are doing 2000m sets, good for 1500m races and building an aerobic base. You could do the 2000m as: 40 by 50m, 15 secs rest, all at even pace, 20 by 100m, 30 secs rest, even pace, 10 by 200m, 45 secs rest, even pace, 5 by 400m, 60 secs rest, even pace, 4 by 500m, 75 secs rest, even pace, 2 by 1000m, 90 secs rest, even pace. When you can hold a steady pace, 50m splits, all ±2 secs from target time, then you can bring the target 50m split time down by 1 second. Practice it thru the whole sequence above, which will take a few weeks, and then when you can hold that new target then you can bring it down again. Then later in the season you could do race simulators. These would be 1500m or 800m swims. Initially broken at each 50 or 100m to get split time, with 10 secs rest. Repeating this with less rest until you are swimming with even pacing at your target split time. Most people "sag" in the middle third of the race. So if you do lots of 3 by 500m swims, focusing on the quality of the middle 500, it should help. It seems that gradual, progressive, training helps the most in longer distances. You could also do lots of arm circling exercises to keep strength and stamina in the arms so that you can keep up a decent tempo. Stroke rates of 40 to 50 cycles/min should be used for these events. I, myself have only started swimming the 1500m events in the last year, but i do enjoy them. Not having to deal with Lactic acid overload, is nice !