Looking for advice/opinions…
How often should you train with paddles, flippers, snorkels, etc during base season?
Should you always do intervals in the pool or is it helpful to just go in and swim a mile or two with no breaks when open water swimming is not an option?
Should you always do intervals in the pool or is it helpful to just go in and swim a mile or two with no breaks when open water swimming is not an option?
Do intervals, you’ll get more from it.
I would swim “a mile or two” a couple times a season but it would be more like “I am going to swim as FAR as I can in half an hour” and then get my threshold pace, from which I can base intervals and other training.
Likewise my masters coach will, once or twice a year, have us do a 3300 for time… good over distance training.
If you are going to “just swim a mile or two” easy you are wasting your time, do intervals (unless it’s warmup, sometimes it takes me 1650 or so to warm up). But I don’t think this is great OW training because OW and a pool - with lane lines, flat water, and walls - are too dissimilar.
Hope that answered your question. I actually don’t know the answer to the first one, “toys” are something I’ve never used much.
do threshold and vo2 max sets - I’ve posted bunches - search
For the toys:
Short answer: Never.
Sometimes I use a kickboard (the faded ones at the gym work just fine) and I always use goggles.
A snorkel says, “I’m an old man/lady”. And all the other stuff says, “I’m a triathlete, look at all my crap on the pool deck. Please don’t kick over my $20 bottle of (insert latest fancy training fluid here)”.
Intervals:
Everyone trains differently. I just started doing intervals again. But, most of the time I pick a distance and go. I might say I’m doing 3000m today, start with 500 easy, go 500 hard, 200 easy, 50 hard, etc. I just don’t stop. It is sort of like doing pace work within a longer run.
I, personally, think most triathletes over train in the pool. So, take this post for what is worth.
I like using paddles to help groove high elbow and catch phase of the stroke. If you have a good technique you should really feel it in your back muscles and not your shoulders.
I usually use them during drills or at the end of a workout to get in some extra yards going slow and smooth.
I have trained with triathletes and a masters swim team. Everyone on the masters team began each practice by breaking open their mesh bag and setting up their kickboard, fins, paddles and buoy next to their lane.
Haven’t seen this with triathletes yet. Now I will give you that HRM = triathlete about 95 % of the time.
At the Bally’s I go to water bottle, fins, pull bouy, the big goofy goggles, and sometimes a snorkel are the “badges of the triathlete”.
I don’t know about the Master’s people. I’ll never get up early to swim in my life again. Too many years of that in my past.
“Likewise my masters coach will, once or twice a year, have us do a 3300 for time… good over distance training.”
As you know, I am completely clueless about swimming but I’m pretty sure that’s called the “The coach is hung over” workout.
“Likewise my masters coach will, once or twice a year, have us do a 3300 for time… good over distance training.”
As you know, I am completely clueless about swimming but I’m pretty sure that’s called the “The coach is hung over” workout.
WOW, that explains why my college coach had me do an Hour swim for distance in college…same day I had my flu shot, nonetheless.
“Likewise my masters coach will, once or twice a year, have us do a 3300 for time… good over distance training.”
As you know, I am completely clueless about swimming but I’m pretty sure that’s called the “The coach is hung over” workout.
At masters, one of the other guys once asked if a long workout like that was a “breakfast set”. Apparently a previous young coach had set up a workout like that and went for breakfast…
Looking for advice/opinions…
How often should you train with paddles, flippers, snorkels, etc during base season?
Should you always do intervals in the pool or is it helpful to just go in and swim a mile or two with no breaks when open water swimming is not an option?
It depends on what you are trying to accomplish. If all you are doing is churning out mindless yards, then no toys. Other than a wall to beat your head on out of sheer boredom.
If you are doing specific drills or exercises to improve your stroke or efficiency, or gaining more feel in the water, then yes, and specific toys for specific drills.
John
Know of any “virtual coaches” where you can send video of your stroke in? I have not been able to find any sort of swim coach…or even a training partner for that matter. I have a few swimming DVD’s but don’t really know how to critique my stroke myself.
“Likewise my masters coach will, once or twice a year, have us do a 3300 for time… good over distance training.”
As you know, I am completely clueless about swimming but I’m pretty sure that’s called the “The coach is hung over” workout
No, Schmidt emails us workouts a week at a time, these are planned. Usually happens on a Wed. And he swims with us.
Someone else maybe… not this coach 
Put video of yourself swimming on youtube or similar service and then post the link here. We’ve got a group of folks who can usually give some pretty constructive swim feedback.
Know of any “virtual coaches” where you can send video of your stroke in? I have not been able to find any sort of swim coach…or even a training partner for that matter. I have a few swimming DVD’s but don’t really know how to critique my stroke myself.
It’s hard if you don’t have the training to know what to look at. X2 on FlaJills suggestion. Upload it to youtube or similar and post a link.
John
Put video of yourself swimming on youtube or similar service and then post the link here. We’ve got a group of folks who can usually give some pretty constructive swim feedback.
I will work on that. What camera views do I need?
Both side view and head on are helpful. Underwater is even better if you can set it up. Have whoever is filming you from the side walk at your swimming pace because sometimes it takes a couple arm cycles for a stroke flaw to become really aparent.
There are definitely ‘relative’ junk miles swimming. Swimming mindless miles will still do you *some *good but you can do far more good with a bit of focus.
Even swimming moderately, people can only swim a certain distance before their stroke starts to break down. If you can only swim 200m before your stroke starts to get a little rough, swimming mile repeats is, IMO, pretty silly. You’re going to be much better off swimming ~250m, taking a quick rest (10secs or so), then repeating. You might also want to throw in 25-50m of backstroke just to loosen up between each repeat (so you might swim 250 free, 50 back, 10secs rest, repeat). This way you practice swimming with correct technique and getting your muscles used to holding good technique. If you swim a straight 1600 you going to be spending 1400m reinforcing bad habits. If you only take a short break after each distance then you still get good distance done and you can gradually increase your distance out (eg. 250 - 300 - 400 etc). A lot of top swimmers spend a lot of time swimming moderately working on doing things correctly. You can get seriuosly fit and fast training like this and without ever puffing much. It sneaks up on you and you won’t believe it until you race and set a PR.
If you do want to do intervals, don’t try to swim them as fast as you can. Try to swim fast while holding your technique. You can definitely do “junk” intervals if you just end up wrestling with the water. If you just think fast fast fast. Everything will fall apart. If you focus on one aspect of technique (length, catch, kick etc) you’ll find it much easier to hold it all together.
Toys: I think this one is a bit of a personal preference thing and you need to look at why you’re using them. If you do lots of pull because you find it easier than swimming without a pull buoy, bad idea. If you do some pull because you like the added pressure to work on your feel / catch (or whatever), it might be a good idea. Even if you’re just using toys to keep things interesting that can be fine if you’re working on different things with different equipment and train smart. Personally I use toys a fair bit because it keeps it interesting (so I spend more time in the water) and I can work on different things. Result: I get stronger and can eventually swim or race faster and further without toys.
All that said. If you’re swimming shortish sessions (<60 minutes or <3km) I wouldn’t recommend spending much time with toys. If you’re swimming slightly longer sessions (60-90 minutes or 4-6km) then there’s more scope to effectively incorporate toys.
Like with anything I guess, when swimming if you want to maximise your benefits it is super important to think about why you’re doing things rather than just going through the motions.
good post
Many though forget that we are triathletes…not swimmers. As I see it there are no junk miles in swimming as there are no junk miles in running which leads to the fact that we often come to the pool with hours of biking and running done in the morning.
Some swim workouts are going to be pretty lazy, recovery. But if you are swimming 12-16000 a week with that total maybe 20% of the week’s volume, then you had better have some easy swim days.
Most swimmers do a kick set each workout. I generally do a 500. For me this is not a body positioning excercise but serves two purposes… develop that tight quick kick and probably more importantly, to work the leg muscles to clear out any sorness from all the biking and running.
Most are in base now. It’s pretty much all aerobic and fixing the stroke flaws. For sure occasional pick-ups just like on the bike and run…to prepare for the anaerobic intervals that come in a month or two.
But one thing that I am sure will help me…20% of my yardage is with just a band around the lower knee. That is the one toy that I rarely ever see anyone use…whether swimmer or triathlete. From what I have read, that is what Siri Lindley did. She was a non-swimmer who became a world champion.