Feel free to ignore this top section. Just giving you a background on where I'm coming from.
I've read a lot of posts on here about improving one's swimming and I can certainly agree with the "swim more. swim harder" perspective. Just like in the running and biking there aren't magic bullets unless you go from a cruiser bike to a super TT bike. ;) But it's always interesting with swimming as there seem to be a lot of disagreements/misconceptions/etc regarding how to improve one's swimming. Especially if you mention TI which I'm not doing here. ;)
Me. Adult onset swimmer. 3rd year in triathlons. My test pace for swimming was 1:41/100scy last time I tested so slow. Last two years I really just swam laps to make sure I could get through the HIMs I did. HIM chattanooga/august. Both wetsuit legal. Both with current. That made those swims easy.
So this year, I've decided to really add some focused time to start improving my swim since next year I plan on doing my first IM. So I attended a Swim Smooth clinic recently. I thought it was helpful and having video was great showing my many stroke flaws. I thought the instructor was good and really made it clear that you can have a balance between improving your swim technique and fitness. Not just waiting until you have the "perfect" technique to then focus on fitness/speed.
Cut to the chase already section
Anyway, I've started following one of the Swim Smooth HIM plans and I like it so far. They have workouts that focus on technique but don't ignore fitness and others that focus on swimming hard. Reading some of their stuff there were a couple interesting things they mention
One from here
http://www.swimsmooth.com/training_adv.html
Believe it or not, no you don't. That line of thinking comes from "I'll train at this faster pace and my body will get used to it. That logic is flawed because the body doesn't work like that. When you train faster than threshold you end up splitting the train effect into your anaerobic system too - which you don't need much when you race
This is confusing to me because with bike and running there are tons of intervals that do just this
...
So, still include some anaerobic and sprint work but reduce it and give it less importance in your swimming." Fair enough. They not say don't ever do it.
Honestly, I enjoy reading this stuff to try to get a better understanding but at my stage getting in the pool frequently will help. Working on some of my flaws will help. Swimming harder will help.
I'm curious how other more experienced swimmers view this perspective.
I've read a lot of posts on here about improving one's swimming and I can certainly agree with the "swim more. swim harder" perspective. Just like in the running and biking there aren't magic bullets unless you go from a cruiser bike to a super TT bike. ;) But it's always interesting with swimming as there seem to be a lot of disagreements/misconceptions/etc regarding how to improve one's swimming. Especially if you mention TI which I'm not doing here. ;)
Me. Adult onset swimmer. 3rd year in triathlons. My test pace for swimming was 1:41/100scy last time I tested so slow. Last two years I really just swam laps to make sure I could get through the HIMs I did. HIM chattanooga/august. Both wetsuit legal. Both with current. That made those swims easy.
So this year, I've decided to really add some focused time to start improving my swim since next year I plan on doing my first IM. So I attended a Swim Smooth clinic recently. I thought it was helpful and having video was great showing my many stroke flaws. I thought the instructor was good and really made it clear that you can have a balance between improving your swim technique and fitness. Not just waiting until you have the "perfect" technique to then focus on fitness/speed.
Cut to the chase already section
Anyway, I've started following one of the Swim Smooth HIM plans and I like it so far. They have workouts that focus on technique but don't ignore fitness and others that focus on swimming hard. Reading some of their stuff there were a couple interesting things they mention
One from here
http://www.swimsmooth.com/training_adv.html
Quote:
don't i need to swim faster than my threshold to improve it? Believe it or not, no you don't. That line of thinking comes from "I'll train at this faster pace and my body will get used to it. That logic is flawed because the body doesn't work like that. When you train faster than threshold you end up splitting the train effect into your anaerobic system too - which you don't need much when you race
This is confusing to me because with bike and running there are tons of intervals that do just this
Quote:
What we're suggesting is you shift your big training sets away from anaerobic swimming to CSS swimming. ...
So, still include some anaerobic and sprint work but reduce it and give it less importance in your swimming."
Honestly, I enjoy reading this stuff to try to get a better understanding but at my stage getting in the pool frequently will help. Working on some of my flaws will help. Swimming harder will help.
I'm curious how other more experienced swimmers view this perspective.