WoW #2 — Stingrays Swim Team
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Thank you Michael Camper of Stingrays Swim Team for contributing the following workout (click on workout to view full size):
Coach Overview
Age/Standard: 12–14 years old. Ability level is about the state level Age Group Champ level swimmers.
Objectives: The main purpose is to think about the Free technique in the first half of practice while getting the body ready for the main set. The main set is about getting the heart rate up and earning your rest, with the goal of building your heart and body each round (and also making it). The last set is focusing on Technique while tired and not letting your technique fall apart.
Clive Commentary
First, note that the workout is done short-course meters so all the intervals match that pool length. This is a nice workout, not brutal, not easy, but designed to elicit a sense of progression and commitment from each swimmer.
For this week’s WoW, let’s take a look at each set one by one.
FOCUS #1 = SNORKEL TECHNIQUE
On this set, Michael will have identified a specific element of technique to work on, either for the whole group or on an individual swimmer basis. You can even challenge the swimmers to choose their own element of focus but you must ask them to state their choice — never allow your swimmers to leave the wall with any possibility of mindless swimming.
FREE (AEROBIC)
This next set is where our friend “aerobic” freestyle raises its smiling head again (reference last week’s WoW for more info on aerobic). As you can see from the stats on the right, aerobic totals 2,100 meters, which is about the limit of anaerobic threshold distance for reasonably well-trained swimmers, even allowing for rest intervals between repetitions.
TIGHTENING REST INTERVALS
The 3 x (5 x 100) on 1:30/1:25/1:20 is the interesting feature of the set. Anaerobic threshold intensity for this standard of swimmer is probably best done at a 100m repetition pace of their personal best (PB) plus ~30 seconds. So 100s on the 1:30 would indicate that these swimmers have a 100m PB of around the 1:00 mark. If their PB’s are faster then that, they can swim round 1 comfortably within themselves and stay at the EN2 level.
When the swimmers get to round 2, the 60 second 100m swimmers will feel the stress while the faster swimmers will still be in control. In round 3, however, even the fast ones will really feel the stress and the 60+ swimmers will be struggling or even failing. Nothing wrong with the struggle… life is a struggle. Or it should be for swimmers, otherwise they will not develop. Failure is a different matter.
Tightening the rest interval has been a North American staple ever since I first moved there in the late 1980s. Used judiciously, it is an incredibly useful tool. However, it’s important to understand the physiological mechanisms that occur.
OK, LET’S TALK PHYSIOLOGICAL MECHANISMS
Less rest means the muscles’ energy reserves regenerate less between repetitions. The possible swim speeds do not change until systemic fatigue sets in. This means that the training effect does not change, it simply intensifies (you get more of the same effect). With decreasing intervals the chances of systemic fatigue obviously increases, so close monitoring of the swimmer’s stroke-rate, heart-rate, and body language are critical.
If the rest interval had gone the other way — 1:30/1:35/1:40 — that would not have made the set easier, it would have simply allowed the swimmer to be faster and therefore move themselves into a higher training zone with a different physiological effect. For the 60 second 100m swimmers, 1:40 would allow them to reach the limits of the anaerobic threshold (AT) zone whereas the faster swimmers would be able to reach into the lactate clearance realms.
Choosing rest intervals is not a simple task — less is not always harder and more is not always better. Swimming psychologist Dr. Keith Bell has often said, “ All other things being equal more is better,” and that is undoubtedly true for swim training. However, the key phrase is “ All other things being equal” and they seldom are, aren’t they? It all depends on the effect that the coach is targeting.
IM WORK
The IM set is short (600m) but an interesting way to end the body of the workout — 3 rounds of a broken 100 IM followed by a straight 100 IM. The broken 100 restricts itself to the ‘’form” strokes while the straight swim descends 1–3 to “ALL OUT” (caps lock is a great coaching tool!). In the great tradition of Music Hall, the all-out 100 to finish the practice “leaves ’em wanting more”.
WARM DOWN
The warm down is a nice, relaxing 200. Swimmers are notoriously bad at performing so-called warm-downs properly. If your swimmers tend to goof-off during warm-down then make them more structured. Instead of a straight 200 give them 4 x 50 on 60 or 8 x 25 on 30 … whatever. Their evolved “training compliance” will kick in and they will complete the set with far less goofing around. Result? Happy coach.
And finally…Michael’s WoW FACTOR
It’s in the name of the workout: SR MIX. For this age group of swimmers (12–14yr old), multi-stroke and aerobic based training plans are the best development tool in the coach’s bag. Sometimes a full practice on one stroke is called for, sometimes a full practice on, say, kick is — have you ever tried that? Why not? However, over any given cycle, lots of stroke variety, lots of “type” variety (SKPD), lots of distance variety (25, 50, 75 …. 3,000), and lots of intensity variety is what is called for.
There you have it for Commit’s Workout of the Week! Looking forward to sharing a new workout next week and learning more from Clive Rushton.
If you’re a coach that would like to contribute to this series, please email founders@commitanalytics.com with your request. Thanks!
