January 23, 2009

About half of the regulars at my masters practice (including me) are preparing for the USMS One Hour Postal Challenge.  To participate, a competitor swims for one hour in a short course pool, with an adult to count laps and time splits.  The goal is to see how far you can swim in one hour.  The swim must take place in January, and you mail in your results (hence "postal").

I’ve organized it as an event at my club.  The club will provide timers during the race, and pizza and beer afterwards (any good effort deserves a reward).  We will do the event Thursday, next week.  So this Friday morning was our peak "specific endurance" workout.

For endurance athletes, specific endurance is the "ability to resist fatigue at your goal pace for a particular race distance long enough to reach the finish line without slowing down", according to Brad Hudson, world class running coach, in his book "Run Faster from the 5K to the Marathon".  As a TI swimmer (and I’m proud to say that my masters swimmers are also TI swimmers – not one of them longs for the days of kickboards and pull buoys!) I add Terry’s definition of endurance:  The ability to repeat efficient swimming movements for a distance and pace of your choosing.

For longer races, the specific endurance workout consists of intervals at your goal pace, but not so long as to replicate the entire race.  The freshness and glycogen stores of a proper taper are what allow you to put those intervals together without rest during the actual race.

So here was our peak specific endurance workout: 

Easy swim or drill, 200M

Skate/swim 4 by 25 – Skate one length on the right side, swim back focused on the right side.  Repeat for the left side.

Two Pause Over Switch Progression, 8 by 25

Swim your interval distance for one hour, choosing your interval distance by the following rules:

  1. The change in SPL per 100M should be no more than four strokes.  I started out with 16 SPL, so my goal was to not exceed 20 SPL throughout the swim.
  2. The difference in time from the fastest interval to the slowest interval should be no more than 3 seconds times the number of 100Ms in your interval.  For instance, if the interval distance is 500M, and your fastest interval is 10 minutes, your slowest interval should be no slower than 10:15.
  3. Rest 1 to 2 minutes between intervals
  4. Estimate the longest distance with which you can comfortably follow rules 1 & 2 for an hour of swimming.  Add 100M.  That is your interval distance.
  5. Negative split the intervals (do each interval a bit faster than the previous one).

Instead of merely trying to go fast for each interval, this structure had me working on the elements of an hour swim that would permit me to achieve my goal pace.  Paying attention to SPL makes my stroke more repeatable and efficient.  Limiting the time difference between the slowest and fastest intervals, and the negative splits makes me very aware of the pace I can sustain.

These rules had me keenly focused.  There are a few things I suspected might cause my pace to slow and my SPL to increase. And I was on the lookout for additional causes.  I was also mindful of what I might be able to do to remedy the situation, and return to a better stroke.  Here is my list and remedies:

The Great Detriments to Better Distance Swimming for Brian:

  1. Inattentiveness, lack of focus.  As the mind starts to drift, and I start thinking about what I’ll have for my second breakfast, or how fluffy that poodle was on the sidewalk, I start losing the ability to perform the parts of my stroke that are not so well imprinted.  I also lose the focus required to look for the other items on my Great Detriments list, or find new items.  This item is probably common for most swimmers.  Counting strokes on every length keeps me focused.
  2. Stiff neck.  As I turn to breathe, I involuntarily tense my neck.  It’s gotten better with practice, but it still happens.  As it gets stiffer, I end up rotating more, and lifting my head to breathe.  I focus on a relaxed neck or laser beam alignment early in the swim.  This keeps my neck supple for longer.
  3. Tight Shoulders.  Because I still pull harder than I need to, my shoulders tighten up.  This causes a balance and alignment problem as my arm recovers.  Proactively (before they get tight), I affect the lightest pressure catch I can achieve, and a very relaxed recovery.
  4. Pressing Down Instead of a Weightless Lead Hand and High Elbow Catch.  This was a new and important one this morning.  It’s a consequence of the stiff neck or tight shoulders.  My best response is to slow my stroke rate, and relax.  And when I did that, I could keep a patient lead elbow, allowing the hand to come under the elbow.  This not only alleviated the tightness in my shoulders, but also improved my balance.

Rather than focusing on the detriments during the race next week, I’ll focus on the positives – employing the remedies before the detriments come in to play.  The remedies, after all, are just good swimming technique.  And using my best technique for an hour swim is the specific endurance I need for the race.  This workout not only created a physical adaptation, but more importantly, a neuro-muscular adaptation that leaves me better prepared for the race.

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