Tuesday's practice was geared toward 100 pace (I was thinking specifically about back-end 100 pace).
The set:
4x: 100 Free (130) + 50 Breast or Fly (1)
4x: 100 Free (140) + 50 Breast or Fly (1)
4x: 100 Free (150) + 50 Breast or Fly (1)
Some of the top swims:
Aaron (fly) 25 high/26 low
Bt (fly) 25 high/26 low
Shawn (fly) 28-26
Aidan (fly) 28-27-29
Jack (breast) 32-31s
Rip (breast) 32-31s
Alex (breast) 35-32s, 31
Jacob (breast) 33-31s
Wyatt (breast) 29-28s
Matt (breast) 28-27s
Emma (fly) 30s-29 last 1
Karen (breast) 34-33s
I know I'm missing a few people here. It was a good set all-around. Most people finished with 5x300 with the FINS, Free IM -- Jack was 2:55 on the end; Paolo was 3:00.0; Karen was 3:02. Good tough way to finish the workout. A few others finished with a set of 9x100, FINS and Paddles, every 3rd going for it.
Once the times for the 50s start getting in the ranges I've listed above, or faster, I put the times up to my SCY/LCM conversion chart seen below. There comes a time when I start thinking about LCM times and athletes getting second swims at these meets.
RE the times you see on the chart: on the left are SCY times; the times on the right are LCM times.
The times on the left are meant to be done from either a hand touch to a hand touch (as in, open turn to a finish or another open turn), or from a foot touch to a foot touch (from one flip turn to another flip turn). So, if you push off the wall like we normally do in training, and then finish with a hand touch like we normally do in training, you have to adjust the pace chart by adding one second.
So, what I do is simple. I take the athlete's 50 time (in practice), and I add one second. I add one second to the time the athlete does, because the athlete finishes with a hand touch, not a foot touch -- and the chart is based off of "feet off the wall to feet on the wall". I adjust and add a second, then put it on the chart.
So, let's take Aaron. Aaron did some 26.0 50s at the end of the set, give or take a few tenths. I add one second to 26.0 and get 27.0…then I put 27.0 on my SCY to LCM conversion chart. You can see on the chart that 27.0 correlates to 1:00.7 LCM 100 Pace. Aaron's best time in the event is 1:00.6
This begin said, generally, for this type of work, I cut the 1:00.7 in half to get LCM 50 speed, which in this case is 30.35.
So, Aaron is training to go 30.35 on his second 50 of his 100 Fly -- which would take him well under 1:00.
Athletes- you can figure this out each time you train. I'll post the chart so you can use it more before, during, or after practices.
____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____
More on our Pace Chart:
You may ask, "how does the math work?". It's based off of the fact that 225 yards is the same as 200 meters. So, I convert everything to 225 yards and work from there.
So, a 15 second 25 would be converted to LCM pace in this way: 15.0 x 9 = 2:15. So, 15.0 is 2:15 LCM pace (or 107.5 pace for a LCM 100, or 33.75 for a LCM 50).
I like to see Breaststrokers get to 16.75 in the SCY pool. If I don't have a chart, I do this in my head: 16.75, 33.50, 1:07.0, 2:14.0, 2:30.75. The 2:30.75 is 1:15.3 or 37.6 pace -- which is World Class IM pace for women, and for men it's a pace that is needed for an Olympic Trial cut or a sub 4:30 swim.
I made this chart and have been using it since 2005-2006. I made it because my athletes at the time did not train a lot of LCM but our goals were based off LCM performance.
In 2004 Katie Hoff trained less than 20 times in the LCM pool, in 10 months of training, before making the US Olympic Team. Lots of SCY, all year. I like to do 2-3 times per week if possible, so we would have done more if we could in 2004; but the pool we used 90% of the time was a 6 lane 25 yard pool, built in a 40x40 yard building and we just couldn't make it happen unless we travelled to another facility. So we figured out what we already knew -- that SCY training can produce LCM International success, as long as the athlete and coach are committed to being great every day.
In 2004 prior to Olympic Trials, Bob Bowman (Michael Phelps' coach), Eddie Reese (Univ of Texas coach), and Dave Salo (USC coach, at the time coach of Irvine Novaquatics) each made requests to USA Swimming to add a SCY warmup/warmdown pool to the two LCM pools they had planned to build for the Olympic Trials. And USA obliged -- and why not when the coaches of Michael Phelps, Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hanson, Ian Crocker, Amanda Beard, etc were all making the request?
The thing is -- one has to avoid being rigid with expectations for training environments, training plans, and really anything that can be planned. Because anything that can be planned for can be messed up by forces out of your control. So, for instance -- at the Olympics or the World Championships, you won't see a SCY warmup pool unless you find a hotel that has one! So, all of those people in 2004 were warming up LCM in Athens!
Why does this even matter?!
It's simple. An athlete's stroke and body posture break down earlier and more drastically when "tired" in a LCM pool, compared to "tired" in a SCY pool. Certainly, there's the concept that all athletes simply must FACE IT and get better at training and racing LCM. But velocity is higher and maintained to a higher degree in the SCY pool vs the LCM pool.
It's tough to train with perfect strokes 20 hours out of the week and still get the necessary cardio and muscular endurance work in that create the total athlete! So we like the SCY/LCM balance that we have here at T2 -- we do enough SCY to create an awesome training effect, and enough LCM to keep us in-tune with the racing course. Additionally, when we do train LCM we are only broken down to a degree, so we can attack it and have success during the LCM practices.
That's enough for now. Enjoy the day!
Athletes - you all know what is coming this afternoon;)
The set:
4x: 100 Free (130) + 50 Breast or Fly (1)
4x: 100 Free (140) + 50 Breast or Fly (1)
4x: 100 Free (150) + 50 Breast or Fly (1)
Some of the top swims:
Aaron (fly) 25 high/26 low
Bt (fly) 25 high/26 low
Shawn (fly) 28-26
Aidan (fly) 28-27-29
Jack (breast) 32-31s
Rip (breast) 32-31s
Alex (breast) 35-32s, 31
Jacob (breast) 33-31s
Wyatt (breast) 29-28s
Matt (breast) 28-27s
Emma (fly) 30s-29 last 1
Karen (breast) 34-33s
I know I'm missing a few people here. It was a good set all-around. Most people finished with 5x300 with the FINS, Free IM -- Jack was 2:55 on the end; Paolo was 3:00.0; Karen was 3:02. Good tough way to finish the workout. A few others finished with a set of 9x100, FINS and Paddles, every 3rd going for it.
Once the times for the 50s start getting in the ranges I've listed above, or faster, I put the times up to my SCY/LCM conversion chart seen below. There comes a time when I start thinking about LCM times and athletes getting second swims at these meets.
RE the times you see on the chart: on the left are SCY times; the times on the right are LCM times.
The times on the left are meant to be done from either a hand touch to a hand touch (as in, open turn to a finish or another open turn), or from a foot touch to a foot touch (from one flip turn to another flip turn). So, if you push off the wall like we normally do in training, and then finish with a hand touch like we normally do in training, you have to adjust the pace chart by adding one second.
So, what I do is simple. I take the athlete's 50 time (in practice), and I add one second. I add one second to the time the athlete does, because the athlete finishes with a hand touch, not a foot touch -- and the chart is based off of "feet off the wall to feet on the wall". I adjust and add a second, then put it on the chart.
So, let's take Aaron. Aaron did some 26.0 50s at the end of the set, give or take a few tenths. I add one second to 26.0 and get 27.0…then I put 27.0 on my SCY to LCM conversion chart. You can see on the chart that 27.0 correlates to 1:00.7 LCM 100 Pace. Aaron's best time in the event is 1:00.6
This begin said, generally, for this type of work, I cut the 1:00.7 in half to get LCM 50 speed, which in this case is 30.35.
So, Aaron is training to go 30.35 on his second 50 of his 100 Fly -- which would take him well under 1:00.
Athletes- you can figure this out each time you train. I'll post the chart so you can use it more before, during, or after practices.
____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____
More on our Pace Chart:
You may ask, "how does the math work?". It's based off of the fact that 225 yards is the same as 200 meters. So, I convert everything to 225 yards and work from there.
So, a 15 second 25 would be converted to LCM pace in this way: 15.0 x 9 = 2:15. So, 15.0 is 2:15 LCM pace (or 107.5 pace for a LCM 100, or 33.75 for a LCM 50).
I like to see Breaststrokers get to 16.75 in the SCY pool. If I don't have a chart, I do this in my head: 16.75, 33.50, 1:07.0, 2:14.0, 2:30.75. The 2:30.75 is 1:15.3 or 37.6 pace -- which is World Class IM pace for women, and for men it's a pace that is needed for an Olympic Trial cut or a sub 4:30 swim.
I made this chart and have been using it since 2005-2006. I made it because my athletes at the time did not train a lot of LCM but our goals were based off LCM performance.
In 2004 Katie Hoff trained less than 20 times in the LCM pool, in 10 months of training, before making the US Olympic Team. Lots of SCY, all year. I like to do 2-3 times per week if possible, so we would have done more if we could in 2004; but the pool we used 90% of the time was a 6 lane 25 yard pool, built in a 40x40 yard building and we just couldn't make it happen unless we travelled to another facility. So we figured out what we already knew -- that SCY training can produce LCM International success, as long as the athlete and coach are committed to being great every day.
In 2004 prior to Olympic Trials, Bob Bowman (Michael Phelps' coach), Eddie Reese (Univ of Texas coach), and Dave Salo (USC coach, at the time coach of Irvine Novaquatics) each made requests to USA Swimming to add a SCY warmup/warmdown pool to the two LCM pools they had planned to build for the Olympic Trials. And USA obliged -- and why not when the coaches of Michael Phelps, Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hanson, Ian Crocker, Amanda Beard, etc were all making the request?
The thing is -- one has to avoid being rigid with expectations for training environments, training plans, and really anything that can be planned. Because anything that can be planned for can be messed up by forces out of your control. So, for instance -- at the Olympics or the World Championships, you won't see a SCY warmup pool unless you find a hotel that has one! So, all of those people in 2004 were warming up LCM in Athens!
Why does this even matter?!
It's simple. An athlete's stroke and body posture break down earlier and more drastically when "tired" in a LCM pool, compared to "tired" in a SCY pool. Certainly, there's the concept that all athletes simply must FACE IT and get better at training and racing LCM. But velocity is higher and maintained to a higher degree in the SCY pool vs the LCM pool.
It's tough to train with perfect strokes 20 hours out of the week and still get the necessary cardio and muscular endurance work in that create the total athlete! So we like the SCY/LCM balance that we have here at T2 -- we do enough SCY to create an awesome training effect, and enough LCM to keep us in-tune with the racing course. Additionally, when we do train LCM we are only broken down to a degree, so we can attack it and have success during the LCM practices.
That's enough for now. Enjoy the day!
Athletes - you all know what is coming this afternoon;)
