At every camp we host, a key goal is to show athletes they can expect more from themselves. As we reduce life stress, our capacity to train, and adapt to training, increases dramatically.
This training-camp effect is well documented. An important benefit of training camps is the cost of exercise has been reduced. Specifically, a short-term increase in volume has lowered the metabolic “cost” of exercise.
Every workout has a fatigue cost associated with it.
When an athlete responds positively to Green Zone training, they unlock low-cost volume within their program. Previously…
Chapter Two explained how to use frequency runs to lower the cost of run training.
Our Training Camps Articles (Part One & Part Two) explain how to use the bike to lower the cost of all training.
Today, we’re going to explore the swim.
When an athlete starts swimming, their cost-per-minute is high.
We are going to walk you through ideas to reduce the fatigue cost of your swim training.
The Neglected Sport
The swim is often neglected in amateur multisport. This “neglect” can make sense for a time-crunched athlete. One way around schedule limitations is to schedule periodic swim-focus blocks.
These blocks last 2-4 weeks with the following goals:
Touch the Water, Often
Boost Expectations
Build Confidence
Establish A Higher Baseline
All of the above, over time, reducing the metabolic cost of the swim.
New & Returning Swimmers
If you are just getting started then Gordo’s Swim Game will help. The technique tips (inside the linked doc) apply to swimmers of all levels.
More than the volume achieved in our biggest weeks, you will find:
Swimming responds to no-long-gaps, therefore…
Swim three times a week, minimum.
We made our case for 3-3-3 Training in the opening article of our Basic Week Series.
Some specifics, from John:
Swimming is the most ‘technical’ of the three sports.
Get some coaching on technique and specific drills if you are struggling.
If you have shoulder and upper spine stiffness, do flexibility exercises. In my experience, hanging from a bar for 20 seconds daily with, or without, contractions to activate your shoulder blades is effective. If you are keen then add some swim-specific tricep pull-ups.
If you are a poor technician, shorten your interval distance, and relax. You will get more from 20x50 with 20-30 seconds of rest than a straight 1 km swim. Holding good technique takes effort and concentration. Breaking up the distance is more likely to result in getting ‘the feel of the water.’
If you are unfit, you will lose form quickly when doing distance. This is also a good reason to break your distance down to 25 or 50 meters, with short rests to ‘re-gather’ yourself.
If your legs have a sinking feeling, shove a pull buoy between your legs or wear buoyancy shorts. This helps mimic your body position when swimming in a wetsuit.
Include other strokes, even if you suck at them. And yes, including fly! Fly is an excellent stroke to develop your freestyle.1
More ideas on Moderating Effort inside our article on Managing Intensity Within Your Swim Squad.
New swimmers will be wise to focus on improving technique and limit their group swimming.
Advanced Swimmers
The approach for the advanced swimmer is similar.
Maintain Mechanics: Many competitive athletes see “rest intervals” as a sign of weakness. These athletes take pride in their capacity to swim challenging sets on tight intervals. There is a place for these types of sets but, if you’re plateaued then, working “harder” is unlikely to be the source of future gains.
Touch The Water: Don’t have a goal of swimming faster. Instead, build volume by doubling swim frequency.
Go Long: Boost the longest swim of your week. Chapter Two explained how to build a long run. With swimming, you don’t need to be as cautious with the ramp. Below, we outline your swim-focus week.
During the focus block, assemble your week using 4-5 swims:
Add 15-30 minutes to the duration of your longest swim.
If you swim with a squad then arrive early to swim 500-1000 before they start.
Add an easy 200-500 after the session.
Use your normal “long swim” duration for the next two swims.
Add 1 or 2 easy swims on top.
This will safely double your swim volume.
You might get faster, you might not. It depends on the nature of your prior program. If your program was Red Zone focused then Green Zone improvements might be difficult to see. Gordo explained why in his article Benchmarking Your Swim.
What you should experience:
Improved Durability in the second half of your long workouts.
Lower Fatigue from your swimming, especially your Green Zone swimming.
Then, after the swim-focus block, you should be able to continue your swimming at a higher level.
By increasing the load in the second half of your long swims.
By maintaining the increased duration of three swims each week.
The Core Swim Week will move forward higher than the previous level with only a modest increase in time commitment.
More importantly, the fatigue generated from this increase should be relatively small. If it’s not then slow down the first half of every workout and make sure half your swims are done completely in your Green Zone.
Athletes aspiring to be Competitive Amateurs can refer to our Basic Week Series for ideas on the amount of swimming required. Below we have included a table prepared by John to give you an idea.
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Ideas for you in Getting Started with Fly.