I'm sitting here once again feeling fairly trashed and somewhat nauseous after swimming... I haven't really been swimming all that much volume lately so when I do get to the pool I'm in this mindset of make the most out of it so I'm working my tail off. Not really going very fast (relatively) and I'd say that's just b/c I haven't been putting enough time in the water to have the fitness level required to swim as fast as I used to swim... It'll come so I'm not particularly worried, but for now, yikes. I'm tired!
This set will look pretty familiar to many of my athletes... here's what we did today (main set):
2 x 100's FAST, 1 x 100 easy. Repeat 4-6x through depending on your fitness level. Intervals should give you ~10-15" rest on the fast ones and plenty on the easy ones to go really easy and get recovered. So for example maybe you go 2 x 100's @ 1:30 then the easy one on 2:30... the key to the set is to make the fast ones as fast as you can go. Not pacing them per say, racing them. It's brutal if you do it right... and like most workouts, way harder when you're actually doing it vs when you're reading about it on a computer screen. :)
Seems like there's been much written about swimming lately... I definitely find myself agreeing with a lot of it. Want to be a good swimmer? Swim more. Get yourself to the point where your form is not atrocious and then build your fitness level and then tweak your form a little more and then build your fitness level more so you can maintain your good form throughout the whole workout. Doesn't really seem like rocket science though it is quite interesting to read the stuff on Slowtwitch.com these days... I don't actually frequent that site too often... I'd typically prefer to read triathlon related stuff that you guys write vs some anonymous person on a forum... but one of my athletes suggested I take a look at a thread about swimming with bands and I have to say, I just read through that with my jaw dropped open. I guess my main take away was that a lot of the information I take for granted as being totally commonly known is, well, not as commonly known as I would have guessed. Just interesting, that's all. I guess maybe I could have chimed in on that thread but honestly I just didn't want to get involved.
It's February! One of my athletes sent me a text after adding up his total swim volume for the month of January... and after comparing it to his January of 2011 (when he was on his own) and noted that he swam 30K+ more this January vs last January! Ta Dah! And take a wild guess at how much faster he's swimming this year as a result? I have not added mine up but I would guess I'm down this January as compared to last January... probably 10-20K less this month vs Jan last year... and consequently not swimming as fast. Like I said before, not rocket science. The information is out there and for the most part, people who know swimming agree that in order to be a faster swimmer you have to swim more. I think whether or not you actually choose to do it is simply a function of how much it matters to you. And no judgement attached there... just a fact. If it matters, if it really matters, you'll figure out a way to get to the freakin' pool. If it's not super high on your priority list right now, then you won't.
My personal goals for February don't actually involve increasing my swimming all that much... maybe I'll bump it up closer to 10K/week but that would be about max for now. I'm considering a big bike week coming up soon and that is gripping me to some degree so seems like something I'll probably do. Biking is higher on my priority list right now. :)
7 comments:
Is THAT why everyone's blogging about swimming lately? Mary and Liz had great posts about it...I wasn't sure what prompted it but I am agreeing, too. I never got to slowtwitch for the reasons you mentioned but I might have to check that out.
that is interesting- I should call you sometime and talk swimming. I would love to hear more from a swimmer...well, a swimmer that actually does triathlon and really gets it. One time H. Biscay said the same thing to me....to swim A LOT. That is was not rocket science. Hmmm.....get ready for me pestering you....
I see a new sponsor logo on the right side.
Congrats! Now can you eat powerbars for breakfast, lunch, dinner? :)
I love all the threads and posts about swimming! I am with you, much better on blogs than ST!
Hey, that was my swim workout yesterday :) I kinda liked it. As much as I *don't* like 100s, it was doable and kept the same times as set 1 on set 5 with that extra rest.
I was actually going to ASK you about a couple of those swim blog posts. 2 points in particular:
Swimming with masters was brought up and how there is no way you can get as fast on your own even if you hit intervals?
Also, breathing to one side with fast sets and open water. I tried the one side thing on my 100s yesterday and felt weird. I also couldn't tell which was strongest. I typically start out every other, then as I get tired take breaths on one side a cple times, then switch to the other side for a cple? Thoughts?
I have to chime in on the swim workout yesterday, it was tough for me too! I was sucking wind during the fast ones and I noticed towards the end that I was just beat. These sort of workouts are exhausting. I'm looking forward to seeing the results with all the swimming though, because for me I have not put in a lot of time here.
And my post wasn't even inspired by SlowTwitch! I have to go check out what you are talking about. My post was actually inspired by learning that some coaches are telling their athletes to NOT SWIM AT ALL. Really. I'm not kidding. Not at all, and definitely not if they swim IM faster than 1:15.
Anyway.. yep. More. With swimming, it's about more and good technique. I guess that's not so different than bike and run... :)
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