There's a fascinating debate with Terry Laughlin himself from Total Immersion on BeginnerTriathlete, where he's justifying his "go-easy" training methods for all athletes, not just beginners. A few strong swimmers are actively participating, which is making for a very interesting discussion. Was wondering what the opinion of the fishies on ST was about the points brought up.
Thread here: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/...tart=81&posts=97
Some of the controversial quotes from Terry himself on the thread:
===
"Unlike in running and cycling, there has never been any correlation established between ANY fitness measure and swimming performance. Energy system training works for some swimmers. Fails for far more.
The only absolute correlation that exists in swimming is SL x SR = V. And that equation is far more influenced by neural conditioning than aerobic."
===
"I know this is anecdotal, but I never swim "extremely hard," let alone on a regular basis, yet swam the USMS 2-mile Cable Swim in 46:20 at age 56, breaking my own USMS 55-59 record.
This summer my goal is to break my USMS 55-59 1-Mile Cable Swim record during my final year in the age group. At no time will I swim extremely hard in training. And if I reach max effort during the event, it will only be for the final 100-200m."
===
You can't win the race during the swim leg, but you can certainly lose it - or seriously compromise your chances for a satisfying outcome. Unless you are a near-elite, who practiced lots of "red-line" swimming in your youth, your best races will happen when you keep your HR relatively low during the swim and can recover it fully within 90 sec to 2 minutes of leaving the water.
===
Of the 3 disciplines in triathlon, swimming is the only one ideally suited to restoration. If you train strategically, a good, relaxed, technique-oriented swim practice can aid in your recovery for the land-based training that is more naturally stressful. If you try to HTFU in the pool, you will almost certainly compromise your run and bike training.
[
Thread here: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/...tart=81&posts=97
Some of the controversial quotes from Terry himself on the thread:
===
"Unlike in running and cycling, there has never been any correlation established between ANY fitness measure and swimming performance. Energy system training works for some swimmers. Fails for far more.
The only absolute correlation that exists in swimming is SL x SR = V. And that equation is far more influenced by neural conditioning than aerobic."
===
"I know this is anecdotal, but I never swim "extremely hard," let alone on a regular basis, yet swam the USMS 2-mile Cable Swim in 46:20 at age 56, breaking my own USMS 55-59 record.
This summer my goal is to break my USMS 55-59 1-Mile Cable Swim record during my final year in the age group. At no time will I swim extremely hard in training. And if I reach max effort during the event, it will only be for the final 100-200m."
===
You can't win the race during the swim leg, but you can certainly lose it - or seriously compromise your chances for a satisfying outcome. Unless you are a near-elite, who practiced lots of "red-line" swimming in your youth, your best races will happen when you keep your HR relatively low during the swim and can recover it fully within 90 sec to 2 minutes of leaving the water.
===
Of the 3 disciplines in triathlon, swimming is the only one ideally suited to restoration. If you train strategically, a good, relaxed, technique-oriented swim practice can aid in your recovery for the land-based training that is more naturally stressful. If you try to HTFU in the pool, you will almost certainly compromise your run and bike training.
[