OK, I'm a Dinosaur. I actually like sets like 10x100 on the same interval all the way through.
Why do all of the sets have to have some kind of break in stride or change in interval or undefined purpose today? I have been swimming in Masters long enough to know that our bread is buttered by the fitness swimmers and their singular lack of desire to compete. But do the coaches believe that we are all ADD enough not to be able to complete one set on one interval ? Or do we as swimmers really pose such a dilemma that the coaches do the very worst thing possible - try to make every one happy. The ultimate result of that is to make virtually no one happy.
If you are giving a set to your swimmers, can you tell them what it (the set) should accomplish for them? What they should get out of it? If you simply gave the same set oveer and over again every day, it would become boring, of course. But it would also become a benchmark to which each swimmer could chart his or her progress. A desireable outcome by any standard, I would venture.
I fully realise that the Masters coach is handed a bewildering array of talent and motivation with his swimmers, but you, as a coach, do not have to confuse, bewilder or befuddle your swimmers with meaningless or useless sets. Keep them simple and straghtforward, with one defining mission per set. There is nothing surer to get me to go home as a (competitive) swimmer than a set with multiple intervals and distances, changing intensity and changing strokes. And don't deny that you give such sets. Many coaches thrive on designing sets that are like circuit training in the water. I would go on and on, but I have to get up early to find out what new torture my coach has in store. Take it away, folks.
A gripe I have had while training is the Coach that doesn't publish his workout ahead of the practice but just tells you the next set at the conclusion of the previous set.
In the dark ages in age group swimming and briefly into college there were work out cards at each lane where the coach had specified the workout, the intervals and elapsed time and yardage and recommended effort. Workouts were split into sprinters, stroke, mid distance, and distance groups. The assistant coaches all knew the workouts and could explain the purpose of the drill, offer encouragement etc. You could spend a couple of minutes before practice started reviewing and planning your workout.
Most of the Masters clubs I have worked with would also post work outs split by ability groups. The one exception was a team where the coaching philosophy was to never post anything. Yes the coah had a plan but we were never privy to it - you might come off of a set to hear that the next set would be a 30 minute swim for distance. This approach did not allow you to plan or focus your training. He would just say that if the workout was posted that we might dog a set or two. This really chapped me. At that time I competed in the IM and Breaststroke, and would not particularly care to find that after busting a free style set that we had a set of 3 x 200 stroke or IM to do.
I retired for a while. Now thanks to a cardiologist's wake up call, I am training again. I train solo and am using Mel's workouts. He does provide some good comment about the intent of the sets and going into some of them I know what is going to hurt. I may reduce some of the yardage to fit within the timeframe, or change up the amount of fly (until I get into better shape), but that is my decision.
A gripe I have had while training is the Coach that doesn't publish his workout ahead of the practice but just tells you the next set at the conclusion of the previous set.
In the dark ages in age group swimming and briefly into college there were work out cards at each lane where the coach had specified the workout, the intervals and elapsed time and yardage and recommended effort. Workouts were split into sprinters, stroke, mid distance, and distance groups. The assistant coaches all knew the workouts and could explain the purpose of the drill, offer encouragement etc. You could spend a couple of minutes before practice started reviewing and planning your workout.
Most of the Masters clubs I have worked with would also post work outs split by ability groups. The one exception was a team where the coaching philosophy was to never post anything. Yes the coah had a plan but we were never privy to it - you might come off of a set to hear that the next set would be a 30 minute swim for distance. This approach did not allow you to plan or focus your training. He would just say that if the workout was posted that we might dog a set or two. This really chapped me. At that time I competed in the IM and Breaststroke, and would not particularly care to find that after busting a free style set that we had a set of 3 x 200 stroke or IM to do.
I retired for a while. Now thanks to a cardiologist's wake up call, I am training again. I train solo and am using Mel's workouts. He does provide some good comment about the intent of the sets and going into some of them I know what is going to hurt. I may reduce some of the yardage to fit within the timeframe, or change up the amount of fly (until I get into better shape), but that is my decision.
