"He knew he was on the verge of doing great things in Athens when, on the first day of the U.S. Olympic team’s training camp in Stanford, he kicked a 400 meter freestyle in 4:58. That evening, he and Vendt knocked out a challenging set of 10 x 400s on descending intervals. Jensen produced a sizzling 3:55 on his final effort.
And, still later in the camp, during a descending-to-best effort set of 400s, 300s and 150s, Jensen recorded the mind-numbing times of 3:49 on his last 400, 2:53 on his last 300, and 1:24 and 1:23 on his last two 150s, all from a push. "
I just had to lift this section of the article and share it because, as a former distance swimmer, I thought it hit the nail on the head and it also probably captures the motivation of a lot of triathletes as well:
The Cult of the Distance Swimmer
Distance swimming is as grueling on the mind as it is on the body.
It is a discipline in which the meek need not apply. For athletes such as Jensen, no amount of pain is painful enough. Less is never more. And more can always be improved upon the next time around.
The Larsen Jensens of the swimming world take pride in being in the outside lane. They take pleasure in seeing how much discomfort their bodies can tolerate. They need to know that in a pool full of swimmers, they’re the ones who are working the hardest, every practice, every day.
“When people watch my workout, I want them to say, This guy's crazy,' confesses Jensen. "I don't ever want to have a bad workout. I want people calling their family and friends and telling them, Do you know what Larsen did at practice today?!?'”
Word spreads quickly in the cult of the distance swimmer, from generation to generation, from continent to continent. Mike Bruner did this. Brian Goodell and Kieren Perkins did this. Grant Hackett does this.Some of the accounts are whispered in near reverential tones.
Jensen’s average heavy training week leading up to Athens was 90,000 meters. Oftentimes, though, his totals would cross over into six-digit territory.
“Putting your mind and body through hell is not easy,” Jensen admits. “You have days where you want to quit. You have days where you’re feeling on top of the world. There are ups and downs almost daily or weekly; it changes that quickly. You just have to keep working through it.”
" I just had to lift this section of the article and share it because…I thought it hit the nail on the head and it also probably captures the motivation of a lot of triathletes as well:"
STP,
Thank you. You were absolutely correct in your assessment!
I didn’t even know a 14:45 1500 meter was possible. That is unfathomable speed to me. Quite honestly, if I swim 500 YARDS in 7:30 I am pretty darn happy.
Obviously its a little daunting reading about the training regime of a world class distance swimmer but there is a valuable lesson to be gained from reading this article which is applicable to all swimmers and in fact all athletes in any endurance sport. His approach will work as well for somone seeking to break 30:00 for the 1500 as well as for someone looking to go under 15:00.
The key points:
Jenson established a goal time and then trained to that goal. He know how fast he wanted to go and he and his coach built a regime to reach that goal with tests to measure progress all along the way.
He trained at a high speed, as close to his race pace a possible and often above it. He used repeats shorter than his race so he could train at a higher pace.
He worked on doing sets with decending times and his time goals in those sets were tied to the pace he needed to hold to reach his goal time.
Granted, he did not need technique work but note the lack of talk about drills etc and the clear emphasis on speed and particularly the holding of a pace over multiple repeats.
There is a mental aspect to this training as well. If you read the article you can see the psychological benefit he got from doing hard work interspersed with sets that gave him the chance to swim fast and amaze himself. This is great physical training but it also boosted his confidence that he was on track be able to meet his goal. You do not want to get to a race and “hope” you can do it. You want to “know” you can do it. The time to find out how fast you can go is in training, not in the race.
Only a super human freak can go 14:45 for the 1500m free but everyone can train like those guys, not in distance or speed, but in approach and structure. If you read Slowman’s 10k articles, he’s saying basically the same thing about running. Going faster, in the water, on the bike or on foot takes more than just putting in miles.
Initially, I was mixing up miles and kilometres. I am sorry.
However, I do know several sub 14:00 min 5K runners( agreed not exactly world class, but national level in Canada) who run no more than 90 - 100K a week.
Granted, he did not need technique work but note the lack of talk about drills etc
Actually there was some talk of that. Note the section talking about “balance” in the water. That could have been cut and paste from a TI book. Elsewhere the article talks about quality of the sets. Even so, the coach mentions his good skills and his relative lack of need for drills as something out of the ordinary.
Did anybody else notice the part about slow turnover. Hmm, balance in the water, slow turnover. What else does this sound like?
From the hips up, Jensen is pretty much a TI poster child. I suspect the reason why that way of swimming works for him is that he’s another great efficient kicker ala Thorpe. Rose spent a good paragraph plus talking about Jensen’s kick- a more desirable six beat instead of two beat. (Rose seemed to consider a two beat kick as a lazy way of getting across the pool) And Rose knew Jensen was ready for the big swim when he kicked a LC 400M in 4:58 at training camp.
They don’t for two reasons. First, the guy next to them is going just as fast. Second, they’re very efficient.
One of my teammates George Tidmarsh, holds the USMS SCM record for 1500 meters (40-44). I remember watching him swim and thinking, “gee, he must be having an off day…” until I checked his splits. The good ones make it look effortless. One of my workout goals has always been to try to stay with George for a 50 (when he’s going long). I’ve managed it on occasion, but then I blow up and he just keeps on truckin’…
