Today's Goal: increase aerobic capacity/train general muscular endurance/train freestyle-specific muscular endurance/increase ankle flexibility (fin kick).
Our general plan on Thursday afternoons will be to hold a "combined" practice (National and Senior Performance). Most of the "explanation" We do two interval groups and work on our basic swimming endurance on most Thursdays. Everyone did a similar set:
3x400 Free on 435 or 5 minutes, followed by 4x200 on 2:15 or 2:30, followed by 30 seconds extra rest built into the set, and then 10x100 on 1:05 or 1:15.
Each athlete had a time range they attempted to fit into, staying within the range as the set progressed and the distances changed (see the practice sheet, times are in bold at the bottom).
The athletes who did a 3000 Freestyle (about a dozen athletes) last week had their time plugged into a program I use to calculate an athlete's "Threshold" speed. More on that program at another time. The part of our group who did not do the 3000 last week used a "level" they felt like they could do a good job on (on this type of set, it's more important to stay within the time frames with great stroke technique and improved streamlining/turning than it is to go on a faster interval or go faster times, but with less effective stroke technique).
We had a strong set from many people today. Many of the athletes who did the easier of the two intervals will most likely be on the tougher interval next time (which will be more of the norm for us).
Here's an area to improve, for many athletes in our National and Senior Performance groups: let's clean up the technical issues in and out of turns. I want to see more athletes who swim this sort of set with one stroke of non-breathing going into every wall….which is not just a technical thing people need to "pay attention to", but it's a fitness thing: if you are not fit enough, you will need that breath before the flip more often than not!
Fit athletes don't need to take that extra breath (and thus an extra stroke) at the end of the first or second 25 of a 400, 200, or 100, and fit athletes don't need to take a breath into any wall on a 200M or 100M race.
Specifically, I want to see our athletes with the fastest 200-500-1650 times holding 57-58 on the 100s at the end of the set, while also maintaining 3 dolphin kicks off every wall and never breathing into turns. We are going the 57-58s, but our group's steamlines tend to go to the flags (not past them), and we breathe into the turns too often.
To be clear, I anticipate that athletes WILL breathe into their turns on any distance 400-500 and up during competition, and during other types of training sets. I think the oxygen is too important to give up during a distance race. However, on this type of set, particularly on the 400s and 200s, the paces are not very difficult to hold -- and so an athlete should be relaxed, swimming through the set without needing to struggle for air on the first and second turns of the practice swim.
I allow the breath into turns often enough during the week, but this is just too perfect of an opportunity to work on this skill!
I am not going to give out any individual "scores" for today's practice. Excellent job overall, probably a 3.5 out of 5 for the whole team. That's a good score. To get a 4, the walls have to be better, and to get a 5 the walls have to be better for the majority of the group. We are getting there though -- we will be over a 4 on this set sometime soon.
The sick people from yesterday's practice are still sick, so we will continue to say "Get Well Soon" -- Let's get back to it!
Kick set coming up today (Friday)!
Here's an area to improve, for many athletes in our National and Senior Performance groups: let's clean up the technical issues in and out of turns. I want to see more athletes who swim this sort of set with one stroke of non-breathing going into every wall….which is not just a technical thing people need to "pay attention to", but it's a fitness thing: if you are not fit enough, you will need that breath before the flip more often than not!
Fit athletes don't need to take that extra breath (and thus an extra stroke) at the end of the first or second 25 of a 400, 200, or 100, and fit athletes don't need to take a breath into any wall on a 200M or 100M race.
Specifically, I want to see our athletes with the fastest 200-500-1650 times holding 57-58 on the 100s at the end of the set, while also maintaining 3 dolphin kicks off every wall and never breathing into turns. We are going the 57-58s, but our group's steamlines tend to go to the flags (not past them), and we breathe into the turns too often.
To be clear, I anticipate that athletes WILL breathe into their turns on any distance 400-500 and up during competition, and during other types of training sets. I think the oxygen is too important to give up during a distance race. However, on this type of set, particularly on the 400s and 200s, the paces are not very difficult to hold -- and so an athlete should be relaxed, swimming through the set without needing to struggle for air on the first and second turns of the practice swim.
I allow the breath into turns often enough during the week, but this is just too perfect of an opportunity to work on this skill!
I am not going to give out any individual "scores" for today's practice. Excellent job overall, probably a 3.5 out of 5 for the whole team. That's a good score. To get a 4, the walls have to be better, and to get a 5 the walls have to be better for the majority of the group. We are getting there though -- we will be over a 4 on this set sometime soon.
The sick people from yesterday's practice are still sick, so we will continue to say "Get Well Soon" -- Let's get back to it!
Kick set coming up today (Friday)!
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