Let me start by saying I am new to tri’s and new to structured swimming workouts. Is it common for Masters programs to focus mostly on short anaerobic sets? The class I have been in for the last 8 months seems to focus on sets of 25’s 50’s and 100’s. We rarely do anything over 200 meters. For longer race distances, half and full, should i work on some longer slow swims as well?
The majority of our sets are 75-150.
That’s common in Reno. There are two masters swim coaches last time I was there. One guy was a pure swim coach and didn’t do much over 200 for anything other than warm ups.
The other guy is a former pro Triathlete and he throws in sets of 800s and some 1500s. They switch off coaching during the week.
Keep in mind that if you do a set of 100’s on less than 5 seconds rest, it really is a distance set. Let’s say you can hold 1;15 per 100 right around AT. If you do 20 or 30 of those on the 1;20, it really becomes a distance set, even though it is just 100 increments. Likewise if you do 50’s with 5 seconds or less, = distance set…
I’m guessing that they do that type of set on occasion??
I can’t remember the last time I went further than a 400 in a swim workout. Those short distances will teach you how to swim faster.
With swimming if you practice long and slow you get good at long and slow. Put the volume in like they are doing it then when you can get to open water work on your longer stuff a few times to make sure you are comfortable.
If you want some longer hard sets do something like 10 or 15X200 on 25 sec rest.
jaretj
Most swimming races are in the 50 to 200 range, so not much need to swim longer that that in training.
If you can swim 20x100m threshold set, a straight 2000m is a piece of cake. Swimming doesn’t beat up your body like on-land sports so there is really no gain from “going long” in swim training - unless you are swimming 5k or more in open water races, that is.
For oly-distance races prep I’ll do lots of sets of 200’s leading up to the race, but not much longer than that, except the occasional 20min test to determine threshold pace.
I think that the season is by and large over, so this is a great time to work on the swimming. Masters is really the best place to do this, and the structure of most masters programs is great for that. A good masters coach will help with tips and pointers. Swimming with others helps bring out the competitiveness, as swimmers tend to race each other. The structure of doing shorter repeats helps build speed, but more importantly, helps a swimmer maintain technique at speed over distance. The previous posters are correct:training for long and slow is good for long and slow swimming. If you don’t have higher-intensity swims with a focus on holding stroke together for those, you’ll not be able to swim faster without your stroke falling apart. Right now through about March is a great time to work on technique and anaerobic capacity for the swim.
Also, DO the other things in masters practices, like kicking and the other competitive strokes. These will make you an overall better swimmer, increase your feel and comfort in the water, and you’ll develop faster. Don’t just focus on freestyle and freestyle pull and paddle sets. Kicking sets and drills help you with the flexibility you’ll need in your hips and ankles to be a better kicker in the actual swim race.
I coach a pretty good (and growing) masters group, with a great mix of newcomers, “real swimmers” and triathletes. I do mix up the sets day-to-day, to include AT swims, the strokes, and some kicking. I do find that the triathletes DEFINITELY get lots out of swimming with the swimmers.
I coach a masters from a triathlon background. We do varied stuff. Most of my practice is triathletes so we do drills but main seets vary from distance to sprints. I agree with Monty a set of 10x100 on 5 seconds rest is not only a distance set but much more effective than a straight 1000. We also do a test set every few weeks which has a 900 yard swim at race pace.
Do not be fooled by the 200 or less distance. A set of 50x50 on 50 seconds is a distance sett not a sprint set.
If you think you’re getting too much rest between your 25/50/100s move to a faster lane base.
Let me start by saying I am new to tri’s and new to structured swimming workouts. Is it common for Masters programs to focus mostly on short anaerobic sets? The class I have been in for the last 8 months seems to focus on sets of 25’s 50’s and 100’s. We rarely do anything over 200 meters. For longer race distances, half and full, should i work on some longer slow swims as well?
nothing wrong with this… you won’t get faster by doing lots of long continuous swimming. Keep the faith and you can do some longer swims once you establish some better technique and fitness in the pool.
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**With swimming if you practice long and slow you get good at long and slow. Put the volume in like they are doing it then when you can get to open water work on your longer stuff a few times to make sure you are comfortable. **
jaretj
Well put.
I come from swim background. After a long lay off, I jumped back in and was self training for a couple of years. A year ago, I joined a masters program which got me some good and economical stroke coaching PLUS pool time with people faster than me that got me working harder PLUS structured, varied workout sessions PLUS other tri-guys contacts which easily led to weekly, great open water swim sessions.
My swim times were much stronger this past season.
You cannot lose!
Get to a point to doing 10-15x100 on 5 secs rest keeping best average as fast as you can. May be 100s but it will make you faster than doing a million 400s. At least this is what I was told by Kyle Leto, and he knows his shit.
Your getting good advice and coaching. I will throw in some other strokes–back and free to my sets, mainly the fly to build strength and endurance and the back to save my shoulders. I agree with throwing in kick sets too–helps with leg strength if you do them without flippers! Also, I’ll throw in longer swims, but do the length at race pace. For example:
50 Fast/50 Easy, 100F/50E, 200F/100E, 400F/200E, 800F/200E, 400f/200E, 200F/100E, 100F/50E, 50F/50E
A type of pyramid that has you “sprint” each distance but do recovery swims at about 70-80% of full speed. It helps mix up those sets of 10x100s!
Thank you guys for the input and insight, very helpful. So nice to have a resource with smart and knowledgeable people.
The answer to your question, and to most questions on this board, is that the purpose of your training is to get faster, ie. to cause physiological and bio mechanical adaptations, rather than rehearse going slower.
Figure it out