Triathlon swimming made easy (23 page)

Add Variety to Your Distance Training with "Smart Sets"

To add variety to your training program, you could do a weekly practice composed of multiple rounds of "smart sets," such as the set of 5 X 100 described on page 149. This offers you almost limitless options for how to train. Here is a sample long set of 4000 yards — just short of Ironman distance — presented in numerous ways to show the rich range of possibilities. You could adjust this set to rounds of 3 X 100 or 4 X100 if you are training for "shorter" distances than an Ironman.

Swim 8 rounds of 5 x 100

1st Option: Keep stroke count the same, but descend your time on each repeat in a round. (You'll be descending 8 times.)

2nd Option: Alternate 5 x 100 Silent Swimming with 5 x 100 in which you add one stroke to each successive repeat and descend your time, until 8 rounds are complete.

3rd Option: Swim one round keeping your time the same but subtracting one stroke from each successive repeat, then swim one round keeping your time and stroke count the same on each repeat, then swim one round holding the same stroke count but descending your time on each repeat, then swim one round adding one stroke to each repeat and descending your time. Then repeat rounds one through four.

4th Option: Alternate one round of keeping your time the same but subtracting one stroke from each repeat, with one round of adding one stroke to each repeat and descending your time, until
8 rounds are complete.

By using the set-design options to make each round slightly different from the others, you'll have created a far more interesting and valuable way to "get in your long swims."

Swimming longer sets in rounds with regular shifts in focus—or setting up a particular pattern and repeating it—is far better than a straight, unvarying set of 25 or 30 x 100. Such cycle training heightens your focus, making excellence more consistent in your swimming. Each round becomes a learning experience that prepares you to raise your performance in the next round and the next, until late in the set, when you'd normally be struggling
to hold on—both physically and mentally—you're feeling in control and at your best. This is the ideal preparation for swims longer than 1-kilometer.

How many rounds should you do? You'll obviously be conscious of how far you need to swim during the race but you should be even more conscious of your limitations as a developing swimmer: Work patiently toward sets of that distance, adding repeats or rounds — or increasing repeat distance — only as you develop your ability to swim that far with ease and control and an SL of your choice. Practicing struggle in order to "go the distance" won't benefit you in any way. But your stroke count will always give you "early warning" of when you should modify or cut short a planned set or workout.

What to do when your stroke count goes up? You don't necessarily have to end the set immediately. You could give yourself a bit more rest between repeats. You could add a bit of recovery with an extra 100 of your favorite drill or SSP between rounds of 5 x 100. You could continue using the SSP during the 100s: Try to pierce the water better, make sure water is flowing over the back or your head, or swim a bit more quietly, for instance. Often, that's all it takes to sustain your SL and repeat times as fatigue begins to mount. And as soon as you acquire the presence of mind to make these kinds o
f strategic choices, you've added one more tool to your racing skill set.

Should I Ever Do a Long Swim?

What's the place of the marathon swim? Do a longer swim (1000 to 2000 yards) once or twice a month to check your ability to hold a lower spl with greater ease for progressively longer distances than your initial test. You will see much greater and much more reliable progress than if you were on a steady diet of long swims or generic repeats.

Should I Ever Swim Anything Except Freestyle?

Nearly half of those who swim with the Masters in New Paltz are triathletes, with the multi-sporters themselves divided into two further groups: About half cheerfully (or dutifully) do whatever the coach assigns, even a set of 100-IMs (individual medley) swims or 50-breast-kick
reps. The rest are reluctant to do anything but freestyle, concluding, with what seems inarguable logic, that the best use of their time is to focus on the stroke they'll use in races.

As an open-water racer, my swimming needs and goals are similar to those of triathletes. And yet I swim other strokes at least 30% of the time in my training, and work tirelessly on improving my technique and efficiency in
all
of them. Why? Because I've learned that multi-dimensional training makes me a better freestyler.

I have also coached elite-level swimmers, both sprint and distance freestylers, with the same mix of 30 to 40 percent other strokes and 60 to 70 percent freestyle. At times they did less than 40 percent of their training in freestyle. Why? Because experience has proven to me that, without exception, their freestyle improved more with varied training than when they trained only in freestyle.

The most important reason is that too much of anything usually leads to staleness in that activity. I swim stronger, smoother, and faster freestyle when I swim it more sparingly. The other strokes keep my "freestyle muscles" fresher, by giving them a form of active rest, helping me maintain a higher level of effort and efficiency on every freestyle lap I do.

Second, training with all four strokes produces more training adaptations. As I explained in Chapter 15, once the body acclimates to any type of training, the opportunity for further adaptation decreases. The more one-dimensional a training program, the more quickly the body adapts, limiting your potential for improvement. Employing more modes of training gives you more opportunities to get your body thinking: "This is a new task; I'd better attack it with all the vigor I have available." One workshop alum (a triathlete and recent convert to four-stroke training) told us in a recent e-mail:
"I finally realized that when I swim just freestyle, my body experiences a limited range of effort and fatigue. It's kind of like running or biking the same loop every day — you know every dip and hill, and have cracked their codes so well that your body runs on auto-pilot. Swimming a different stroke is like tackling a brand new course. My body learns to deal with unexpected demands — just as it will have to do when I race on an unfamiliar course or under unpredictable conditions. The physical and mental benefits have been powerful."

Third, a key ingredient of a quality workout is using as much of the body's muscle tissue as possible. Freestyle workouts use the same muscle groups over and over. Training in a medley of strokes (or drills) recruits the largest number of muscle groups possible. Such workouts are also less likely to cause overuse injuries. By spreading the workload over more joints and movement patterns, you reduce the potential for repetitive overwork in any particular motion.

Fourth, my motivation and enjoyment are greater when I vary my training. With a variety of strokes and drills, I can set an endless range of personal goals, and devise an endless number of interesting, challenging workouts to achieve them. I get as much of a charge from a personal-best breaststroke swimming-golf score as I do from improving my freestyle golf score. And since my potential in the other strokes remains relatively less tapped than in free, personal training achievements happen with greater frequency, keeping me fresher both mentally and physically.

For all these reasons, I never "go through the motions" on the other strokes, just because they're not freestyle. I try to swim them with the same high expectations as in freestyle. The better the quality of my interaction with the water in
any
form, the more I learn about aquatic fluency and economy in general. Working on this puzzle in so many varied ways keeps my learning curve steep and my interest high.

In some cases, the crossover learning is quite direct. Swimming or drilling in backstroke provide different insights about body balance, alignment, and rotation than those I learn when doing freestyle, but the learning translates
directly
to my freestyle. The other strokes make my freestyle better in less direct, but still valuable ways. Simply by increasing the variety of my interactions with the water, my body becomes a better instrument for moving through water. And when that happens, my freestyle improves. I'd guess I've stretched my horizon for continued freestyle improvement by
a good ten years, simply by training in such a multi-dimensional way.

Best of all, to gain such benefits yourself doesn't mean you need to swim an advanced or race-legal butterfly or breaststroke. You can learn precisely the lessons you are ready to absorb by practicing fluent, coordinated movement in whatever way you're able. Backstroke drills can teach you lessons just as valuable as backstroke swimming. Short-axis drills may
teach you even more than swimming whole-stroke in fly or breast because the full strokes require more advanced skills. Fly and breast drills can be quite simple and easy to learn, and you'll benefit more by practicing smooth, fluent, and
effortless
"butterfly-like-movement" in a drill than by swimming butterstruggle.

You can teach yourself an entire range of "different strokes" skills with the aid of the
Four Strokes Made Easy
DVD. Here's a quick set of efficient-swimming tips for when you do try those other strokes:

Fishlike Backstroke

As in free, swim backstroke mainly on your side. Your power is limited when you swim "upside down and backwards," so it's even more important to be "slippery."

Body/Head Position

•
Hide your head,
keeping it completely still and your chin slightly tucked.

• Lean on your upper back as you roll from side to side.

Legs

• Kick compactly with a long, supple leg, with no knee bend and with your feet toed in slightly.

• Your kick rotates as your body rolls; the beat is generally more steady than in freestyle.

Arms

• Stretch your bodyline as your hand slices cleanly and deeply (pinkie first) into the water.

• Keep arms exactly opposite each other and linked to body-roll rhythms.

• Fistgloves® can be even more valuable in backstroke than in freestyle.

Fishlike Butterfly

Never practice "butterstruggle." Don't fight gravity;
hug the surface
at all times. Keep your head in a neutral position during and after breathing.

Body/Head Position

• Swim as close to the surface — both above and below — as possible; channel your energy forward, not up and down.

• Keep your head as close as possible to a neutral position at all times; use a "sneaky breath."

• Keep legs relaxed and let them follow core-body undulation.

Arms

•
Land forward;
don't crash or dive down after recovery.

• To stroke, sweep your hands in toward your chin, then immediately flare them out to a "karate-chop" exit.

• Recover with a relaxed, sweeping motion.

Breathing

• Breathe early in the pull, without raising or jutting your chin.

• Look down slightly ("sneaky" breath).

Fishlike Breaststroke

The keys to efficiency are to streamline your entire body as you finish each stroke and to keep your head in a neutral position at
all
times.

Body/Head Position

• Look down slightly as you breathe, and keep your head in line with your spine — as if wearing a neck brace.

• Stretch and streamline your body fully at the end of each stroke.

Legs

• "Sneak" the legs up, inside the "hole" your body travels through.

• "Grab" water at top of kick, then push it back with feet wider than hips

• Finish by pointing your toes, and
squeezing
the water from between your feet and legs.

Arms

• Keep pull compact and quick; better too small than too big.

• Always keep hands where you can see them — as far forward as possible during entire pull.

• After outsweep, spin your hands directly back to meet far in front of your face.

Timing

• Initiate recovery by
kicking your hands forward.

• Your hands should reach full extension as your face lays back on the water.

• Change your rhythm in the core, not in your arms and legs. Rock your chest and hips slowly when swimming slowly. Rock them faster to swim faster.

Sample All-Stroke Training Session

Warmup

400 Mixed Strokes (25FR+25BK+25BR...)

4 x 50 short-axis pulsing with fins

(25 Head Lead—25 Hand Lead)

Swimming Golf Set
(all with fistgloves®)

Descend golf score on each round.

4 x 50 BK

4 x 50 (25BK+25FR)

4 x 50 FR

Stroke-Counting Set

5 x 100, maintaining same total stroke count on all five 100s

1st 100: BK

2nd 100: 75BK+25FR

3rd 100: 50BK+50FR

4th 100: 25BK+75FR

5th 100: 100 FR

Main Set

4 rounds of 3 x 100

1st 100 of each Round: BK Slide & Glide drill

2nd 100 of each Round: IM Silent and count strokes

3rd 100 of each Round: FR Brisk and count strokes

Use 100 BK and 100 IM as active recover}', allowing stronger,
faster swims on the four repeats of 100 FR.

Cooldown

6 x 50 Long-Axis Combo (1st 25: 4BK/3FR, 2nd 25: 3BK/4FR)

Total Yardage: 3200

The drills mentioned in this practice and throughout this book are described and illustrated in the
Four Strokes Made Easy
DVD. For more sample training sets, see the "Train with Terry" column published in
Total Swim
on our website.

There you have it, all the forms of training you could possibly need to do. But you're wondering when we'll tell you how to use your buoys and paddles. Well, turn to Chapter 18 to find out.