Tall Pauls Favorite Workouts and/or Sets

Without trying hijack this thread, could you tell me your history in swimming please. Looking at your workouts and times you're obviously an excellent swimmer. And what do you do for a job? It seems like you just travel the country and train with as many teams as possible!? Sounds great to me.:applaud:

Bill, classic set...I see it/do it often...BUT...for me it is really a 200/500 pace set and not a "true" sprint set. Maybe at 20 I would see 50's @ 3:00 as a full recovery sprint set...but for me at this point in my life I would be adapting that set to one easy/one all out. I also never alternate strokes in a quality set...I would prefer to do 6 (or 3) of one stroke then change...again not a matter of right or wrong but preferance...especially in fly I like having to "hang on" thru repeats vs. a change in strokes/muscle groups by alternating. Keep playing with these types of sets...no doubt they will get you fitter but I ask you this...how close to all-out are you getting in your workouts and how often? If the answer s little to never just make sure you try and adjust your training to do it 1-2x a week (keep in mind I consider a mid-season meet on a weekend to be just that).

Swam with John Smith in Denver this morning...he pretty much does the same exact workout everyday so I made him mix it up a bit. SCM 600 done as 25s/25k/25s/25d 4 x 200's @ 3:00 #1 150 cruise/50 fast #2 50 cruise/100 fast/50 cruise #3 50 fast/150 cruise #4 100 cruise/100 fast 4 x 100's @ 2:00 #1 75 cruise swim/25 power kick (kick underwater as far/fast as you can when you need to breathe surface and swim easy to wall #2 25 cruise swim/50 power kick/25 swim #3 25 power kick/75 swim #4 50 swim/50 power kick 4 x 50s @ 1:00 #1 25 fly build/25 sdk on back #2 25 back build/25 sdk on back #3 25 *** build/25 sdk on back #4 25 free build/25 sdk on back 4 x 25's @ :40 "variables" #1 easy to fast #2 fast to easy #3 all easy #4 all fast * all no-breathers Dolf: I started playing water polo/swimming my sophmore year in high school. Went to college at UCSB and did both sports. Graduated in 82' trained another 2 years for the 84' trials. "Retired" until I turned 40 (10 years ago) and started swimming/coaching masters again. My wife and I own a sales agency, we currently represent 2 Candaian, 1 Danish and 2 US companies mainly in footwear, apparel and bags covering 8 states.

Swam with John Smith in Denver this morning...he pretty much does the same exact workout everyday Really?? I do like this workout and am going to use it "as is" tomorrow morning as I have to swim solo in SCM early AM to make a kids' swim meet by 8am warmup.

Keep playing with these types of sets...no doubt they will get you fitter but I ask you this...how close to all-out are you getting in your workouts and how often? If the answer s little to never just make sure you try and adjust your training to do it 1-2x a week (keep in mind I consider a mid-season meet on a weekend to be just that). Not often enough is the answer. I need to commit to making every Fast Friday workout through Nationals, and swimming something very close to all out on each Friday. I also plan to do a meet this month and at least one, possibly two, next month. To me, there is a big -- huge, even -- difference between the way I swim in my 100% effort in a race and my swimming "fast" at practice. I think I need to try and narrow that gap by making my practice swims faster, with the hoped for outcome of making my race swims cleaner, more efficient, and faster. Thanks for the reply.

Any thoughts -- from anyone, actually -- on how to best work a set like this are greatly appreciated. I love fast sets, but feel like I kind of blew this opportunity today. My opinion would actually be to start out as fast as possible and just see how long you can hold on. I think we all have a tendency to hold back at first when we get a set like this because we know it's going to be tough at the end, but the whole point is lactate tolerance. If you hold back initially you probably aren't going to build up enough lactate.

Swam the morning workout with Utah Masters at the Stiener facility. SCY warm-up swim 300 free, swim 200 non-free swim 16 x 25's :30 (IM order blocks of 4 per stroke) swim 4x the following: 8 x 25's @ :25 smooth 1 x 100IM fast @ 1:45 1 x 100 free @ 500 pace * Rounds are IM order kick 8 x 25's "side drill"

My opinion would actually be to start out as fast as possible and just see how long you can hold on. I think we all have a tendency to hold back at first when we get a set like this because we know it's going to be tough at the end, but the whole point is lactate tolerance. If you hold back initially you probably aren't going to build up enough lactate. Kirk...I agree. Where i think there is some debate possibly is what the rest interval should be and in my opinion that really depends on what your training for. All out 50's on 1:30 (for me) are not my preferance for the 50/100 more for the 100/200/500...I would actually choose to go only a handful of fast swims on no interval instead waiting till I'm feeling fully recovered for the 50/100 (mid-season, early season the shorter rest is fine).

Not often enough is the answer. I need to commit to making every Fast Friday workout through Nationals, and swimming something very close to all out on each Friday. I also plan to do a meet this month and at least one, possibly two, next month. To me, there is a big -- huge, even -- difference between the way I swim in my 100% effort in a race and my swimming "fast" at practice. I think I need to try and narrow that gap by making my practice swims faster, with the hoped for outcome of making my race swims cleaner, more efficient, and faster. Thanks for the reply. Bill, I gotta agree with Paul. No way could I do 12 x 50 @ 3:00 AFAP. I occasionally do 6 x 50 @ 3:00, but I prefer doing it @ 4:00 and doing a 50-100 easy between each one. Swimming at 200 pace is useful, but swimming at 50 pace is likewise useful and typically neglected by most masters. Good idea to get some quality speed work in during the next month.

My opinion would actually be to start out as fast as possible and just see how long you can hold on. I think we all have a tendency to hold back at first when we get a set like this because we know it's going to be tough at the end, but the whole point is lactate tolerance. If you hold back initially you probably aren't going to build up enough lactate. I agree that lactate tolerance is the main physiological goal here, but I think that getting used to race-pacing is a very important secondary goal. If you want to hold a certain pace in a given race, you should have a very good idea of what that pace feels like, and be able to do it without going all out. The "lactate tolerance" comes into play when you hold that pace with less and less recovery time. You can also learn to "read" the feedbacks that your body is giving you so that you can adjust your race strategy well before the piano drops. So while "sprinting all-out until you drop" has its place, I hope it isn't your only race-pace training. Oh, and I think out-and-out racing (meets, time trials) is good training too. Just my :2cents:!