HEY COACHES! How about a little consistency?

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.
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  • Interesting topic. I am relatively new to swimming with a coach and workouts, and have mostly encountered the extremely varied type workouts until recently. A couple of weeks ago our coach gave us a workout with tons of repeats. 20x50's 20 25s 10x100 etc... and for the first time, I finally noticed a difference in my times. I actually got faster. we all did, on the 20 25s that were at the end of the workout. That was the first time I actually got to measure and see an improvement, and it felt like I had accomplished something other than just working out. I had time to do the same set over and over and each time concentrate on how it felt vs what my time was. I can't believe it made a difference and we were all surprised at our ability to improve times especially at the end of the workout. I think I see the light on this type of workout and would like to do more of them. After you do it, you realize why it makes sense. (at least for me it did)
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  • Interesting topic. I am relatively new to swimming with a coach and workouts, and have mostly encountered the extremely varied type workouts until recently. A couple of weeks ago our coach gave us a workout with tons of repeats. 20x50's 20 25s 10x100 etc... and for the first time, I finally noticed a difference in my times. I actually got faster. we all did, on the 20 25s that were at the end of the workout. That was the first time I actually got to measure and see an improvement, and it felt like I had accomplished something other than just working out. I had time to do the same set over and over and each time concentrate on how it felt vs what my time was. I can't believe it made a difference and we were all surprised at our ability to improve times especially at the end of the workout. I think I see the light on this type of workout and would like to do more of them. After you do it, you realize why it makes sense. (at least for me it did)
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