Swimming ... On a Monday

As I was driving to my sunrise swim this morning I thought about the majority of the swim sessions that I give my athletes on a typical Monday and why I script them the way I do. I knew my legs were a little heavy from the weekend as a combo of getting back to a good training routine (longer ride and runs from what I’ve been doing, plus some strength training on the lower body). So, I scripted my session in my head based on what I thought MY needs were and then went and knocked it out … it was as follows:

NOTE: I am a believer that one should swim strong/solid OR fast every session, even if it’s briefly, AND that long warm ups are necessary. 

Here goes:

-        -500 easy based on how I feel (just wake up)

-       - 8 x 50 w/ small paddles building the last 25 @ 10sec (start to force the system awake and use good technique with paddles)

-       - 4 x 100 w/ fins as 25 kick / 75 cruise swim (kicking was to help recovery from the weekend AND drive HR up a little)

-       - 4 x 50 cruise w/ small paddles (technique)

THAT WAS ALL WARM UP … most athletes think a warm up 500 easy is the warm up ... not so fast!  When athletes are carrying any kind of fatigue it usually takes at least 20min to get all systems warmed up. So you can see that this particular warm up checked a lot of boxes for me

-        MAIN SET of 1500 meters just rolling from one block to the next on the rest interval indicated – focus is on small bits of pace change BUT ALWAYS holding form.

-        250 pull, done as 25 strong / 100 cruise @ 15sec rest

-        200 pull, done as first and last 25 strong @ 15sec rest

-        150 pull, done as 25 strong / 50 cruise @ 10sec rest

-        100 pull, done as first and last 25’s strong @ 10sec rest

-        50 pull, easy @ 20sec rest

-        5 x 50 paddles – strong @ 10sec rest

-        200 pull w/ paddles - cruise

-        3 x 50 paddles – strong @ 10sec rest

-        100 pull w/ paddles – cruise @ 10sec rest

-        50 strong w/ paddles

-        WD = 4 x 50 easy mixed

  

In the end I checked all the boxes that I wanted … technical swimming, small bits of harder / faster swimming, a little work to aid my heavy legs, a solid warm up and controlled main set and some pulling to take a bit of work off my tired, and sinking, legs.

When I script athletes swim sessions these are some of the things I think about when deciding how to place their swim workouts across the week. I hope that you’ll do the same for yourself, or for the coaches out there, you start doing that or your athletes.

Always thinking … and today writing!

Planning Ironman Vineman? ... or Vineman 70.3? ... or any race

Since the turn of the year there seems to be more buzz about the former Full Vineman, now Ironman Vineman, and the same could be said for Ironman 70.3 Vineman. Along with the “buzz” I see a lot of what athletes are doing from a training standpoint and see opposite ends of the spectrum .... too much or nothing!  So whether you are training for either Vineman race (26 & 23 weeks away respectively) or any race for that matter, I hope the following information will help you evaluate or re-evaluate the path you are taking to get there.

Some things to consider from a training standpoint if you are racing at Ironman Vineman, Vineman 70.3 ... or any other race this season.

1)     Get Healthy – Stay Healthy … If you are not 100% healthy and are battling frequent illness or carrying around any sort of injury, FIX IT NOW, and back off what you are currently doing.  If you never get healthy you’ll never be able to train properly

2)     Get Strong – Stay Strong … this can mean different things to different folks. For some it includes the weight room, or strength classes, or specific workouts. Regardless of exactly what it is for you, as athletes we need to be creating a stable platform that we can work off of when the training REALLY matters for your key event. (Which is starting 8-12 weeks from race day)

3)     Be Consistent … before making major changes or increases in training load find a pattern or schedule that is molded around points 1 & 2 that you know you can OR have maintained for 6-8 weeks CONSISTENTLY.

Before you start worrying about how long your training sessions are, find a pattern of consistency for at least 6 weeks so you can establish the three levels above.

All my athletes are different and have different demands and I guide them like that, individually. So it’s difficult for me to say exactly what a person should be doing “now” when they ask online or in casual conversation. BUT, if you / they have established the above criteria I am way closer to being able to answer that question. If you have not established #1 - #3 you already know the answer to your question.

One other question has come up in conversation as well: 

“What About A Training Camp Coach?” 

ANSWER: 

Part a.) I start with items 1-3 above (but 8 weeks not 6) … if you haven’t done that then it’s non-negotiable. Without a foundation the camp is likely do-able but the potential for too much rest needed post camp OR the increased injury risk especially makes any value of the camp worthless. 

Part b.) The reality is I like camps but they should be placed appropriately. If you are more than 8 weeks out from the key race then just getting in the extra volume and stimulus of a camp is plenty. If you are 2-8 weeks out and training has consistently been on track you can consider specific “pace work” into the training camp. In the end, if the camp is an overload of training for you, then you and most people will get good benefit just from training overload alone.

When considering your training, where you are in it, and where you are going … it is important that you can do your best and most specific training when it matters (Go back to #2 if you don't remember the answer ;-)

More Vineman and race planning thoughts to come soon.

Best,

DL