Hi,
Relatively new to swimming - only started last May, but have become obsessed with the sport. So much so that I have done a fair amount of reading on how to best workout and properly train the correct energy systems for the appropraite purposes (sprinting, middle distance, and long distance events). I have not yet competed, but want to, perhaps next year. I am a 47 year old male, 5'11"+, about 195 Lbs. (need to lose about 10-15 more, but have already dropped about 35 lbs since I started swimming). From my reading, apparently one key to proper training seems to be determining your Anaerobic Threshold speed. This will help you determine your EN1, EN2, EN3 training paces. But I am confused by all the different ways that it can be calculated, and what appears to me to be able to produce wildly different results, even using the same method. Any comments on this point? And what method (except for actual blood testing) do you recommend?
Parents
Former Member
401 and others,
There is a small flaw how you seem to have conceptualized the Anerobic Threshold. The EN series of paces are not energy systems, they are just paces that stress one system more than another. There are really only two systems you need to worry about - the Aerobic and the Anerobic. Both are almost always working simultaneously. You can work beneath your AT, and still really work the Anerobic system pretty darn well and push it's limits.
When you work right at the AT, you've crossed into a territory where you're building up lactic acid at a rate faster than you can remove it.
The T-2000 is probably a better measure than the T-3000 for you, based on how long you said it took you to finish your T-2000. Or, you can do a T-30, which is a count of your laps in 30 minutes. A good AT level set will leave you exhausted (what the literature refers to as "failure") after about 30 minutes of near-continuous work. Basically, how fast of a set can you make that takes about 30 minutes to complete. If you swim a T-3000, and it takes you 45 minutes to swim, you're going at a sub AT pace.
401 and others,
There is a small flaw how you seem to have conceptualized the Anerobic Threshold. The EN series of paces are not energy systems, they are just paces that stress one system more than another. There are really only two systems you need to worry about - the Aerobic and the Anerobic. Both are almost always working simultaneously. You can work beneath your AT, and still really work the Anerobic system pretty darn well and push it's limits.
When you work right at the AT, you've crossed into a territory where you're building up lactic acid at a rate faster than you can remove it.
The T-2000 is probably a better measure than the T-3000 for you, based on how long you said it took you to finish your T-2000. Or, you can do a T-30, which is a count of your laps in 30 minutes. A good AT level set will leave you exhausted (what the literature refers to as "failure") after about 30 minutes of near-continuous work. Basically, how fast of a set can you make that takes about 30 minutes to complete. If you swim a T-3000, and it takes you 45 minutes to swim, you're going at a sub AT pace.
