Weekly Workout

This one sucks. Majorly. This is one of those sets that'll make you wonder why you do this to yourself. The sole purpose of this set is to break you down while making you work hard.

Four rounds of:
4x250s @ 3:00
1x100 @ 3:00 all out sprint for time

For rounds #1 and #3 the goal is to maintain the same pace while holding your heart rate around 160-170 bpm. The 100 all out is freestyle.

For rounds #2 and #4 the goal is to descend the 250s down to 200 race pace. The 100 all out is stroke.

We do this set at the peak of our season, normally right after training trip when we're already broken down. It hurts like hell, but you feel great after. I like this set a lot because it forces you to think while you're tired and hurting. It's great for pacing, because if you can hold a fast pace when you're that broken down, you'll be even better once you've rested.

Ryan freaking Lochte

So in case you didn't know, we're currently in the middle of the US Nationals meet. Competing at this meet is a guy named Michael Phelps. Also competing is a guy named Ryan Lochte. Lochte has become the "other guy" to the casual swimfan, known for always going head to head with Phelps but always getting edged out in the end.

Lochte and Phelps face off so often because they both specialize in the 200 IM. Funny little fact about the 200 IM: Phelps isn't the World Record holder. The owner of the WR 1:54.10 time from 2009 is Lochte. Lochte set that time over a year ago, suited up in LZR-era technology.

Today, however, Lochte showed the world why he owns that title. In a heat which boasted names like Tyler Clary and Eric Shanteau, in addition to Lochte and Phelps, six out of the eight final times hovered around the 2-minute mark.

The only two people under 1:59 were Lochte and Phelps. The top two times? Phelps-1:55.94, Lochte-1:54.84. Not only did Lochte beat Phelps, but he did it by more than a second. Let's also not forget that his final time isn't that far off from his WR time. Speed suits?

Oh and by the way, prior to tonight Lochte was injured. Yeah, you read it right. Shoulder problems, a strained groin, and a national title in the 200 IM. As far as I'm concerned, this is a turning point for Lochte. I'm calling it now that Lochte will be the star of the show in London. Keep it up Reezy.

Until next time, keep swimming.

Thursday Workout

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

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.

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.

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.

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.