With the indoor pool racing season over, today was the kick-off to the Summer distance training season which will run until the pool closes for maintenance in early August. (Date to be specified)
The program will be suitable for all swimmers and will focus on Freestyle for longer events (i.e. open water racing – 750m, 1000m, 1500m and 2000m). Although geared towards Freestyle swimming, the program will still have an Individual Medley component to save our shoulders and provide additional load. There will also be kick sets.
Four main training speeds will be used during the Summer Session:
- Recov – recovery speed with is often ‘off-stroke’ and definitely below aerobic training speed. Recov speed is used during warm-up, swim-down and in mid-swim set ‘easy’ parts.
- EN-1 – Endurance Level 1 training is Base Aerobic speed. At your EN-1 speed, you should be able to continue swimming at that speed for a very long time and not start fading.
- EN-2 – Endurance Level 2 is a swim speed that is at your Anaerobic Threshold. This will essentially work out to your longer race speed. When you swim a bit faster than this speed, you should generate lactic acid and begin to slow down. So training at this speed is ‘work’ (read – it is hard) and is as fast as you can go just below your failure point.
- LAP – Lactic Acid Production sets are to be swum above your EN-2 speed so that you generate lactic acid. Without training at this speed, you won’t see much progress in your EN-2 speed and won’t have the buffering capacity needed for the frantic start of open water races or the kaos at turning markers.
It is your responsibility to figure out these basic speeds. They vary based on distance swum – i.e. your EN-2 speed for a 50 will be faster than EN-2 for a 200. Try to dial in the FS speeds asap. The other strokes will mostly be Recov and EN-1. (although Fly rarely feels less than EN-2)
Just as a generic example, last year, my speeds for the zones and 100m repeats were:
- Recov – greater than 1:30/100m
- EN-1 – between 1:27 and 1:30/100m
- EN-2 – 1:21 to 1:23
- LAP – less than 1:18
Pacing provided in the workouts will generally be for the fastest swimmers. (i.e. 1:45 for repeating 100m FS when swimming about 1:30). For the most part, it is going to be better for slower swimmers to cut distance and stay on the provided pacing (i.e. we all swim together). That way everyone will be working for the same duration – the distance isn’t as important. There are some sets that work well for just doing a few less repeats and finishing at the same time. For example, if the set is 5 x 100m FS on 1:45, it works well to swim at a slower pace, hold that pace and just do 4 x 100 or 3 x 100m in the same total time.
Starting today we shifted to the shallow end of the pool as ‘home base’. The main reason for that change is so that you can all closely watch the pace clock on the side wall at the shallow end either as you come into the wall or when swimming away. Proper pacing is a big challenge and having the feedback from the clock is invaluable. Always watch the clock at all distances! For instance, if you are swimming a 200m and you want to negative split it at the 100m mark and you are about a 45sec 50m FS swimmer – watch to see 45s on the first 50m, 1:30 on the 2nd 50m, and to negative split, 2:13 (43s) on the 3rd 50m and 2:56 (43s) on the 4th 50m. If you are asked to swim 4 x 50m FS descend 1-4 (by at least 1 sec each), watch the clock to see you are swimming 45s, 44s, 43s, 42s.
Time is tight for many of you. Please try to get in as soon as the door opens and start your warm-up. My talking and set descriptions will be kept to a minimum so that we can get as much in before swimmers have to start leaving. As we have the pool to 7:30 each morning, there will be additional sets available for anyone that can stay.
When it is time for you to leave the sessions, be sure to stop the current set in time to swim down for at least 200m. It is counter-productive to come to a sudden dead stop and not flush.
Since there is little time to talk, please ask general question after the workout – or use this blog or email to post questions.
Cheers to a great Summer Session – Don Bauer