Here's one of my favorites that I've seen around the internet. The video is from the now defunct Floswimming.org, which was an amazing swimming website back in its time. The workout is a set that the Auburn Sprint Group did one afternoon, and it's gained infamy among swimmers and coaches in the know. I present to you the legendary "Auburn Gatorade Set."
Auburn Gatorade Set
Multiple rounds of:
Chug 20 fl oz of Gatorade (one normal sized bottle)
Sprint a 100 freestyle
Rest 3:00
Repeat with another Gatorade and sprint, and complete as many rounds as you can before puking.
I've done this once, and only made it through 3 100s (yeah yeah whatever)
Here's what it looks like:
http://www.floswimming.org/videos/speaker/1032-brett-hawke/14531-the-main-set-auburn-sprinters
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Speed Suits?
It was around a year ago that FINA announced that the use of tech suits, leg-skins, and body-skins, would be banned from competition as of 1/1/10. This announcement came on the eve of the biggest meet of 2009, the FINA World Championships in Rome. This was the last big meet where the tapered swimming superstars wore their LZR Racers, Jakeds, and X-Glides, and where the swimming community was treated to one hell of a 100 Fly race. (49.82 long course?)
Swimmers and coaches can complain about how the tech suits were ruining the sport of swimming, how they were unfair to swimmers who couldn't afford the hefty $500 price point, and how any world record set in a tech suit should either be erased or marked with an asterisk, but was it really that big of an issue?
I don't think so. I agree that the suits made a big impact in the swimmer's performance, but I don't think that they ruined the sport of swimming. As far as I'm concerned, tech suits serve the same purpose as swim caps, goggles, and lane lines; they all alter the performance of the swimmer to make it easier for them to swim fast. And isn't swimming fast what our sport is all about?
The suits themselves aren't the issue, the issue is the high price point of the suits. $550 for a full body LZR Racer? I see the price point as the big "suit issue," and it's an issue that still hasn't gone away. Sure, bodyskins and legskins are illegal, but have you seen how much a FINA-approved LZR Elite Jammer suit costs? SwimOutlet.com lists a new one at $259.95. $260 for a pair of glorified compression shorts. Smaller programs are still going to have trouble affording the new, "slower," tech suits, so why not just go back to how we were and go fast?
It'll be interesting to see what happens in the coming weeks, since we're heading into Summer Championship Meet season. Will we see another 49.8?
Until next time, keep swimming.
Swimmers and coaches can complain about how the tech suits were ruining the sport of swimming, how they were unfair to swimmers who couldn't afford the hefty $500 price point, and how any world record set in a tech suit should either be erased or marked with an asterisk, but was it really that big of an issue?
I don't think so. I agree that the suits made a big impact in the swimmer's performance, but I don't think that they ruined the sport of swimming. As far as I'm concerned, tech suits serve the same purpose as swim caps, goggles, and lane lines; they all alter the performance of the swimmer to make it easier for them to swim fast. And isn't swimming fast what our sport is all about?
The suits themselves aren't the issue, the issue is the high price point of the suits. $550 for a full body LZR Racer? I see the price point as the big "suit issue," and it's an issue that still hasn't gone away. Sure, bodyskins and legskins are illegal, but have you seen how much a FINA-approved LZR Elite Jammer suit costs? SwimOutlet.com lists a new one at $259.95. $260 for a pair of glorified compression shorts. Smaller programs are still going to have trouble affording the new, "slower," tech suits, so why not just go back to how we were and go fast?
It'll be interesting to see what happens in the coming weeks, since we're heading into Summer Championship Meet season. Will we see another 49.8?
Until next time, keep swimming.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Thursday Workout
Gonna try to post a workout every Thursday, we'll see how it goes. This week it's a middle distance base aerobic set that's one of my favorites.
Warm Up:
500 Choice
4x150 Drill/Kick/Swim @ r:25
3x100 descend on 1:30
Set:
8x125 cruise @ 1:45/1:50/1:55
200 DAB/Back recovery
6x125 alternating 50 free build/75 stroke fast @ 1:45/1:50/1:55
200 DAB/Back recovery
4x125 75 cruise free, rest 5 seconds, 50 free sprint for time
The goal of the set is to slowly wear the swimmer down aerobically until they get to the last 4x125. The times for the 50s should be the same or descending, and the fastest one should be 1-1.5 seconds off your race time. It's a great way to see where you are aerobically, and it's not super difficult. (Obviously you can play around with the intervals if 1:45 is giving you too much rest.)
That's it for today.
Until next time, keep swimming.
Warm Up:
500 Choice
4x150 Drill/Kick/Swim @ r:25
3x100 descend on 1:30
Set:
8x125 cruise @ 1:45/1:50/1:55
200 DAB/Back recovery
6x125 alternating 50 free build/75 stroke fast @ 1:45/1:50/1:55
200 DAB/Back recovery
4x125 75 cruise free, rest 5 seconds, 50 free sprint for time
The goal of the set is to slowly wear the swimmer down aerobically until they get to the last 4x125. The times for the 50s should be the same or descending, and the fastest one should be 1-1.5 seconds off your race time. It's a great way to see where you are aerobically, and it's not super difficult. (Obviously you can play around with the intervals if 1:45 is giving you too much rest.)
That's it for today.
Until next time, keep swimming.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
It's Like Christmas!
You know that feeling on Christmas morning? Well, I'm Jewish so I don't, but I can relate. Whatever the special day is, you know it when you feel it. Suddenly you can't stop smiling, you have some swagger in your step, you're relaxed, you're giddy, etc. For swimmers, this range of emotions can be summed up in one word: Taper.
I got the idea for this post from an article Splash magazine printed in this month's issue about taper. The article features Garrett Weber-Gale, an Olympic sprint freestyler and member of the beastly 4x100 Free Relay from '08, sharing his nutrition tips for taper. These range from protein consumption to hydration to how much is too much when it comes to junk food.
Nutrition is just as important to a successful taper as the training, but is there more? For swimmers, taper represents the climax of their season. The taper meet is what they've been waking up at the crack of dawn for, what they've been meticulously tweaking their technique for, what they've been lifting their faces off for, what they'll be shaving every inch of their bodies for. Taper is a big deal. If the taper process affects your training and nutrition, why shouldn't it affect the rest of your life?
Here are my tips for small everyday changes to make sure you're not over exerting yourself during taper:
1.) Walk, don't run. Take your time getting to places. If you're normally late to class and have to dash to make it in time, leave a little bit earlier. If you can, try to find a parking space as close to where you're going as possible so that you're not walking across a giant parking lot. (Green tip: get a ride with one or more of your swim buddies who are also tapering.)
2.) Elevators. Around the second week of taper, I'll really kick my rest into high gear. The first thing to go are stairs. You don't think of climbing a flight of stairs as strenuous because you do it so often, but it puts a lot of stress on your leg muscles. Think of how much your legs kill after running a set of stadium stairs. If you can't find an elevator, then take your time walking up the steps. One of our guys lived on the third floor of his dorm last year and would take almost 30 minutes after practice to walk up his stairs. He was a little extreme, but you get the idea.
3.) Sleep. It sounds basic, but it's worth repeating. Sleep is important to an athlete at all phases of their season, and even more so during taper. Sleeping allows your body to recover and heal from being broken down in practice, and recovery is how you get stronger. Since taper is when your yardage will be at its lowest, your body will be able to recover from all those sets of anaerobic 200s you did at the start of the season. Shoot for at least 8 hours a night.
4.) Stay on top of things. Getting 8 hours of sleep a night means you need to be in a position to go to bed on time. If you have to be up at 8 to get to class, don't stay up until 2 doing work or studying. Get your work done as early as you can. I've asked professors for extensions on papers or for later test dates during taper, and most of the time they've been very accommodating as long as I explained the importance of taper to them. (Tip: If you're asking your professor for an extension on a paper, try to give him some advance notice. It won't look good if you ask if you can hand the assignment in a week later the night before it's due.)
5.) Relax. It's taper, and it only comes around once or twice a year. Enjoy it while it lasts and relax. This not only means relaxing about swimming, but also with your activities. Wherever you are, relax. Our team goes dry starting a month out from our big meet. Obviously, that means no drinking or smoking or whatever you do. That doesn't mean you can't hang out with friends or go to parties, but if you are at a party try to spend as little energy dancing as you can, or avoid it in general. Drink lot's of water when you're out, and avoid soda or coffee.
Assuming you've done the work going into taper, these five tips and good nutrition will help you get the most out of the end of your season. Take care of this, and your coach will take care of the training.
Until next time, keep swimming.
I got the idea for this post from an article Splash magazine printed in this month's issue about taper. The article features Garrett Weber-Gale, an Olympic sprint freestyler and member of the beastly 4x100 Free Relay from '08, sharing his nutrition tips for taper. These range from protein consumption to hydration to how much is too much when it comes to junk food.
Nutrition is just as important to a successful taper as the training, but is there more? For swimmers, taper represents the climax of their season. The taper meet is what they've been waking up at the crack of dawn for, what they've been meticulously tweaking their technique for, what they've been lifting their faces off for, what they'll be shaving every inch of their bodies for. Taper is a big deal. If the taper process affects your training and nutrition, why shouldn't it affect the rest of your life?
Here are my tips for small everyday changes to make sure you're not over exerting yourself during taper:
1.) Walk, don't run. Take your time getting to places. If you're normally late to class and have to dash to make it in time, leave a little bit earlier. If you can, try to find a parking space as close to where you're going as possible so that you're not walking across a giant parking lot. (Green tip: get a ride with one or more of your swim buddies who are also tapering.)
2.) Elevators. Around the second week of taper, I'll really kick my rest into high gear. The first thing to go are stairs. You don't think of climbing a flight of stairs as strenuous because you do it so often, but it puts a lot of stress on your leg muscles. Think of how much your legs kill after running a set of stadium stairs. If you can't find an elevator, then take your time walking up the steps. One of our guys lived on the third floor of his dorm last year and would take almost 30 minutes after practice to walk up his stairs. He was a little extreme, but you get the idea.
3.) Sleep. It sounds basic, but it's worth repeating. Sleep is important to an athlete at all phases of their season, and even more so during taper. Sleeping allows your body to recover and heal from being broken down in practice, and recovery is how you get stronger. Since taper is when your yardage will be at its lowest, your body will be able to recover from all those sets of anaerobic 200s you did at the start of the season. Shoot for at least 8 hours a night.
4.) Stay on top of things. Getting 8 hours of sleep a night means you need to be in a position to go to bed on time. If you have to be up at 8 to get to class, don't stay up until 2 doing work or studying. Get your work done as early as you can. I've asked professors for extensions on papers or for later test dates during taper, and most of the time they've been very accommodating as long as I explained the importance of taper to them. (Tip: If you're asking your professor for an extension on a paper, try to give him some advance notice. It won't look good if you ask if you can hand the assignment in a week later the night before it's due.)
5.) Relax. It's taper, and it only comes around once or twice a year. Enjoy it while it lasts and relax. This not only means relaxing about swimming, but also with your activities. Wherever you are, relax. Our team goes dry starting a month out from our big meet. Obviously, that means no drinking or smoking or whatever you do. That doesn't mean you can't hang out with friends or go to parties, but if you are at a party try to spend as little energy dancing as you can, or avoid it in general. Drink lot's of water when you're out, and avoid soda or coffee.
Assuming you've done the work going into taper, these five tips and good nutrition will help you get the most out of the end of your season. Take care of this, and your coach will take care of the training.
Until next time, keep swimming.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Sprinter = Slacker?
Every team has that one huge guy. He's the guy who's 6'4" and jacked out of his mind. He's normally the guy leading the lane at the start of the aerobic test set of 21x100s @ 1:10. By number 15 he's the guy who has fallen to the back. By number 20 he's the guy sitting out, but on the last 100 he decides to swim. With that extra rest from skipping a few repeats, he goes a 49 for the last 100 while the rest of your lane barely breaks 53. He's a sprinter and, by many standards, a slacker.
This generalization isn't entirely fair, though. Yes, someone who specializes in the 50 and the 100 will overall swim less yardage than a miler or a 400IMer, but does that make him a slacker?
One of my buddies on the team at school is a sprinter. Stick him in anything 100 or under and he'll be great, but the guy won't go near the 2free. His sets are normally in our 20-yard diving well and are normally comprised of a few rounds of moderate to fast swimming followed by recovery. The emphasis of his practices is on intensity, stroke rate, explosiveness, and stroke technique.
I have another friend who's a miler. She's always one of the last people in the pool, either because her set isn't finished or because she's still warming down. Her workouts are normally 7000+ yards. The emphasis of her practices is on pacing, stroke rate, aerobic fitness, and stroke technique.
Notice anything? Both ends of the spectrum focus on stroke rate, stroke technique, and speed work. The only difference is in the athletes and how they're conditioned. It's true that if you threw a sprinter into a distance set, they'd die. But the reverse is also true. Have a distance swimmer train sprint for a week, and they'll probably feel like it's easy at first. Have them then swim the 50 free after that week against other sprinters and see how they place. While they won't be terrible because of their overall ability as a swimmer, they'll most likely be out-placed by the sprinters.
Sprinters also spend considerably more time in the weight room than other swimmers. After a certain point, there's only so much that high-intensity-low-yardage sets can do for a swimmer. The difference will then come from the weight work put in. At 6:00 in the morning, our distance guys are in the water for their first big workout of the day. Our sprinters, however, are either doing power rack in the diving well or lifting in the weight room. Our distance guys rarely lift as much as the sprinters. Ask any swimmer what it feels like in the middle of the season to swim after a big weight workout and we'll tell you that it sucks. Lifting breaks you down and works your muscles in a way different from how swimming does. Add onto that a 4000-5000 yard sprint set, and you'll start to see sprinters in a different light.
So, sprinter = slacker? I don't think so.
Until next time, keep swimming.
This generalization isn't entirely fair, though. Yes, someone who specializes in the 50 and the 100 will overall swim less yardage than a miler or a 400IMer, but does that make him a slacker?
One of my buddies on the team at school is a sprinter. Stick him in anything 100 or under and he'll be great, but the guy won't go near the 2free. His sets are normally in our 20-yard diving well and are normally comprised of a few rounds of moderate to fast swimming followed by recovery. The emphasis of his practices is on intensity, stroke rate, explosiveness, and stroke technique.
I have another friend who's a miler. She's always one of the last people in the pool, either because her set isn't finished or because she's still warming down. Her workouts are normally 7000+ yards. The emphasis of her practices is on pacing, stroke rate, aerobic fitness, and stroke technique.
Notice anything? Both ends of the spectrum focus on stroke rate, stroke technique, and speed work. The only difference is in the athletes and how they're conditioned. It's true that if you threw a sprinter into a distance set, they'd die. But the reverse is also true. Have a distance swimmer train sprint for a week, and they'll probably feel like it's easy at first. Have them then swim the 50 free after that week against other sprinters and see how they place. While they won't be terrible because of their overall ability as a swimmer, they'll most likely be out-placed by the sprinters.
Sprinters also spend considerably more time in the weight room than other swimmers. After a certain point, there's only so much that high-intensity-low-yardage sets can do for a swimmer. The difference will then come from the weight work put in. At 6:00 in the morning, our distance guys are in the water for their first big workout of the day. Our sprinters, however, are either doing power rack in the diving well or lifting in the weight room. Our distance guys rarely lift as much as the sprinters. Ask any swimmer what it feels like in the middle of the season to swim after a big weight workout and we'll tell you that it sucks. Lifting breaks you down and works your muscles in a way different from how swimming does. Add onto that a 4000-5000 yard sprint set, and you'll start to see sprinters in a different light.
So, sprinter = slacker? I don't think so.
Until next time, keep swimming.
Monday, July 19, 2010
About Me (inspired by Everybody's a Critic)
My good friend at Everybody's a Critic inspired me to make a post like this. Check his blog out too, since he's gonna be reviewing some pretty cool stuff. He knows his stuff, so I see his reviews being very helpful in the future. (There's your damn endorsement.)
Anyway. As previously mentioned, I'm a swimmer. I started swimming in 8th grade after my younger brother started. I got serious about it my junior year and decided to swim in college. Once the season hits, swimming takes up pretty much my entire life: double practices monday and friday, two hours wednesday morning and monday, tuesday, thursday, and friday afternoons, and three hours on saturday if there's not a meet. (And my schedule isn't on the less-intense end of the spectrum.) I'm a Mid-distance freestyler. My favorite events are the 100 and 200 free, but I also like to dabble in the 50 and 100 back, the 50 and 100 fly, and the 200 IM.
Outside of the pool, I divide my time pretty well between my schoolwork and being a college guy. I'm a math major and a brother in Tau Kappa Epsilon. I subscribe to the "work hard, play hard" philosophy, although I do know how to keep my priorities in order when I need to.
In high school my other passions, aside from swimming, were the Violin and art. I started playing violin when I was 9, and played until the end of high school. I still have my violin and still play it from time to time. I started drawing when I was 12 because I wanted to draw my own Dragon Ball Z comics. Senior year I had one of my pieces featured in an exhibit at the Katonah Museum. Who says TV does nothing but rot your brain?
I watch a lot of different things. Currently I'm watching Good Eats on the Food Network. Actually, the Food Network is probably the most watched channel on my TV at home, and there's nothing wrong with that. I like food. And being a swimmer, I like to eat it. Lot's of it. I've always been fascinated by animation. It's really an under-appreciated art form. Anime in particular. I was really big into anime when I was younger, now I don't watch as many different series but I still dabble in it. I'm currently pretty deep into Bleach, which is an awesome show. Explosions and swords. Done.
Video games are also a big hobby of mine. I said animation is an under-appreciated art form, but that statement applies indefinitely to video games. I love it when games push the envelope into the art world. Games like Shadow of the Colossus can keep me entranced for days, but that's for (hopefully) another blog.
That's pretty much it for me. If there's something you're dying to know, leave it in a comment.
Until next time, keep swimming.
Anyway. As previously mentioned, I'm a swimmer. I started swimming in 8th grade after my younger brother started. I got serious about it my junior year and decided to swim in college. Once the season hits, swimming takes up pretty much my entire life: double practices monday and friday, two hours wednesday morning and monday, tuesday, thursday, and friday afternoons, and three hours on saturday if there's not a meet. (And my schedule isn't on the less-intense end of the spectrum.) I'm a Mid-distance freestyler. My favorite events are the 100 and 200 free, but I also like to dabble in the 50 and 100 back, the 50 and 100 fly, and the 200 IM.
Outside of the pool, I divide my time pretty well between my schoolwork and being a college guy. I'm a math major and a brother in Tau Kappa Epsilon. I subscribe to the "work hard, play hard" philosophy, although I do know how to keep my priorities in order when I need to.
In high school my other passions, aside from swimming, were the Violin and art. I started playing violin when I was 9, and played until the end of high school. I still have my violin and still play it from time to time. I started drawing when I was 12 because I wanted to draw my own Dragon Ball Z comics. Senior year I had one of my pieces featured in an exhibit at the Katonah Museum. Who says TV does nothing but rot your brain?
I watch a lot of different things. Currently I'm watching Good Eats on the Food Network. Actually, the Food Network is probably the most watched channel on my TV at home, and there's nothing wrong with that. I like food. And being a swimmer, I like to eat it. Lot's of it. I've always been fascinated by animation. It's really an under-appreciated art form. Anime in particular. I was really big into anime when I was younger, now I don't watch as many different series but I still dabble in it. I'm currently pretty deep into Bleach, which is an awesome show. Explosions and swords. Done.
Video games are also a big hobby of mine. I said animation is an under-appreciated art form, but that statement applies indefinitely to video games. I love it when games push the envelope into the art world. Games like Shadow of the Colossus can keep me entranced for days, but that's for (hopefully) another blog.
That's pretty much it for me. If there's something you're dying to know, leave it in a comment.
Until next time, keep swimming.
Oh Hi
Chlorine Epic. Yes. Chlorine. That stuff in your pool that you hear turns your hair green. In case you're wondering, this is a swimming blog. I've been swimming competitively for 8 years. In the fall I'll enter my final season as a collegiate swimmer. As I realized that my time as a swimmer was coming to a close, I began to reflect on everything I've learned about myself and the sport in my time in the pool.
But this isn't some sappy "swimming can change your life" blog. This is the Chlorine Epic. Each post I'll share whatever is on my mind at the moment from my personal Chlorine Epic. We'll see what happens with this in the future.
Until next time, just keep swimming.
But this isn't some sappy "swimming can change your life" blog. This is the Chlorine Epic. Each post I'll share whatever is on my mind at the moment from my personal Chlorine Epic. We'll see what happens with this in the future.
Until next time, just keep swimming.
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