How you should train Ⓒ

Many lap swimmers are self-coached or don’t have access to a qualified coach. We have varying reasons for swimming, but I have put this together to help those relatively new to the sport on HOW to train if you are seeking improvement. Fitness has 5 components so in order to be truly 'fit' you need to be working all 5 components. 

1. Cardiovascular fitness (or aerobic fitness)
2. Muscle Strength
3. Muscle Endurance
4. Flexibility
5. Body composition.

With aging they all deteriorate unless you work at them, and we do need all of them to lead a healthy aging lifestyle. Next, there are 3 different systems you get energy from and unless you train all 3 in a systematic way, you are going to end up plateauing. Sadly, we will all get to an age where we stop improving simply because we are old, even if we do all of the above. The energy systems are: 

1) ATP-CP system (Adenosine Tri-Phosphate and Creatine Phosphate) which is responsible for fast immediate action, such as running out of the path of an oncoming car while crossing the road. It is your maximum speed over short distances that keeps your reflexes sharp. The energy supply is stored ready for immediate use but only lasts about a short 20 seconds after which your body switches to the second energy source described below. It is typified by 100% effort over short, under distance sprints (Meaning less than 50 meters) with long rest and full recovery in between. Studies show it takes approx. 2 minutes to resupply the working muscles, so this informs us how to construct a sprint set.  So you swim approximately how far you can go all out in 20 seconds.  For most people this is about 25meters. 

For an Olympic sprinter this might be 50 meters. Others may do only 20 or even 15 meters.   But irrespective of ability, most squads will do even shorter distances over 10 or 15 meters at times to practice their skill work (Starts, turns and finishes). This develops explosive speed, power and muscle strength, so is good for toning muscles.

A typical set might be 8 x 25 maximum effort on 2 minutes, and you can also do easy swimming in between to aid recovery so you are fresh for each one. Your work:rest ratio is 1:3 or higher eg 20 seconds swimming/60 seconds resting OR MORE! You can also practice your dives or turns doing this set. A good turn set would be to start out from the wall 10meters, swimming in at maximum speed, turning and swimming out at maximum speed for 15 meters making 25 meters overall and working at executing a perfect approach, turn and streamline, plus breakout strokes. 

2) LACTIC ACID System. Lactic acid which is an inefficient energy source is naturally produced in your body even at rest, but is metabolized through our circulatory system as quickly as it is produced so we rarely feel it's effects. Typically, we don't feel its effects until we do sustained speed. The Lactate builds up to a point where our kidney and liver can no longer metabolize it away, so that it progressively accumulates. Ultimately it is toxic, but most people will stop well before it ever gets to that sort of level. You will feel pain, heaviness, burning, and possibly nausea, and jelly like limbs. Elite swimmers may even push to the point of vomiting though I wouldn’t recommend it! We call it the 'blood and guts' training as you would be swimming at 80-95% of your fastest swimming speed.

Training in this system needs careful planning and monitoring as too much can lead to burnout or even a state of 'overtraining'. In a training program at an elite level for someone training 10 times a week, they would likely only have 2 sessions per week with a Lactic Production or Tolerance type set programmed, because of how stressful they are and the need to allow the body to recover for at least a day or 2 in between. 

BUT if you do this sort of work your body can build up a higher level of tolerance to the lactate which means the effects of fatigue is delayed and you generally recover quicker. In racing it means you can finish your race fast even with high levels of lactate, instead of 'dying' at the end. 
Warming down slowly facilitates removal of the lactate faster than simply stopping, which is why it is such an important part of a training or racing regime. 

Work:Rest ratio is usually 1:1 or less. eg Swim 60 seconds/rest 60 seconds. Each successive repetition starts with increasing amounts of fatigue and times will drop off because of it - but that's the point - pushing through that - it's the 'No pain No gain' training. So, for someone who is a fast 100m swimmer with a PB of less than 55 seconds, they might swim 10x50s in 30 seconds or less, departing every minute. It is a tough set even though it is not long on distance. These sets build speed with endurance and the ability to swim fast under duress. If you are after weight loss and muscle tone, this is big bang for your buck, but only do these type of sets if you are fit, have built up to it and have your doctors blessing.

They ARE stressful and NOT recommended for anyone with injuries or medical conditions that might preclude them which includes colds/flu/ heart conditions/high blood pressure etc. If in doubt talk to your GP! notably they should NEVER be prescribed for prepubescent children and only cautiously used with younger teens as they can lead to burnout and turn kids off the sport altogether. 

These first two energy systems are anaerobic in nature. 

3) AEROBIC ENERGY which most people understand - trains your heart and lungs to better deliver oxygen to your working muscles and burns body fat as its fuel, and also helps develop muscle endurance. Within this sort of training there is a huge range of variation but generally it is at slower intensities (75% or less of your fast speed) with lower heart rates and over longer distances. Swimming purely in your 'aerobic' range means swimming at a comfortable speed that you can maintain. If you can't maintain it over increasingly longer distances you either are not aerobically fit (in which case set your goals or expectations lower) or you are swimming too fast.

Work:rest ratio is generally 3:1 or greater. In other words, swim for 30 seconds: rest for 10; Swim for 60 seconds: rest for 5 to 20 seconds; etc... As the distances increase, the rest has to remain short so if you are doing a set of, say, 5 x 200’s freestyle on 4.00 you might take 3min 30 seconds to swim it, which gives you about the maximum amount of rest - 30 seconds. Anymore and your heart rate lowers or recovers too much between repetitions. The short rests mean your heart rate remains moderately elevated throughout the entire set keeping it in the aerobic zone, but you can go a bit faster than if you just did a non-stop swim.

Swimmers in a coached program do most of their training using sets of shorter distances (repetitions) with short rest, rather than just swimming non-stop. This is true for distance and marathon swimmers as it is for sprinters. So, they might still do a 3km set but they might do it as 5x 200s on 4.00 + 10x 100's on 2.00 + 20 x 50's on 60. The total is still 3km but they will swim with more QUALITY and faster than if they do it without stopping! By working to a pace clock and monitoring how fast you swim each repetition, you can learn how to pace yourself for even swimming, holding the same speed over and over again. 

It gives you direct, measurable, quantifiable feedback as to how you are going each session over the days, weeks, months and even years. It also adds a huge amount of variety and allows you to progress a set as you improve EG. 15x100m on 2mins but holding 1.45 each 100m will give you 15 seconds rest. If you can’t hold the 1.45 pace for all 15, do it on 2.05 or greater instead until you can master it.

Then you can either 1) increase the number of repetitions eg 18x100s on the same time 2) go slightly faster eg try to do all 15 in 1.43 or 3) cut down the rest eg 15x100 holding 1.45 on 1.55. The types of sets you can do are limitless but add variety and comparison when you repeat them over time.  Note: Don't do the same set over and over again in a short period - this just gets you into a rut.  Repeat it every couple of weeks.  Do not expect you will improve every time as lifestyle factors always play apart, work, stress, sleep will impact a good swim from a poor swim.

Ultimately, a good program balances work in all 3 energy zones. For a swimmer who only swims 3 times a week you might do what I call a "mixed bag", where you do a bit of each type of work every session. If endurance is your goal, you still do your typical endurance set but you would ALWAYS still do some speed work either at the start of your swim when you are fresh or at the end of your swim. To get your lactic tolerance work in you might do your endurance set descending. In other words, you increase your speed or intensity toward the end of your swim finishing as fast as you can so your times get quicker, but increasing the amount of rest as you go.

For instance, a set totaling 2250m for a person who can hold 1.45/100m over long distance is broken into 3 x 400’s on 8 minutes swimming at 70% speed; 3 x 200’s on 4.00 @75 - 80%; 3 x 100’s on 3.00 at 85-90% and 3 x 50’s @95-100% on 3.00. 
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If you swim more than 3 times a week, you might dedicate one session working more with speed, and another more in the lactic range, but you should still do your aerobic work as drills, kick, pull or whatever, and other sessions for recovery or faster paced aerobic sets (anaerobic threshold which will be a topic for another time). 

So how to train to get faster and swim further? 

The MOST improvement will come with (first and foremost) improved technique and swimming slowly to get more detail, control and mastery. 
Secondly, check your breathing as many lay swimmers do not have good breathing technique, over inhaling or exhaling too fast and through the mouth instead of gently through the nose. 

Lastly, it is HOW you train. 
A good coach will take away the guess work for you. Setting specific goals that you can work toward in training is also helpful so you can train specifically to those goals. But that's the subject for another time. Hope this helps. 

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