I got up a bit later than usual today and had my daily dose of 2% fat Greek Yogurt mixed with Muesli and a cup of blackberries. Drank a tall glass of water then capped everything with a small espresso. Towel and camera in hand I headed to the Western Hill Athletic Club to hop into the outdoor pool and bang out some yardage with about 40 of my good friends.
I probably haven't done a good job of explaining how Masters Swimming works at our club so I thought I'd give it a shot. I know you all are dead tired of hearing about cameras and photographers so I'm sure that writing about swimming is a sure bet for increasing traffic here at VSL..
Masters Swim workouts are coached sessions lasting anywhere from one hour to two hours. Nearly every swimmer in the pool has been swimming since they were children. A few are competitive triathletes that are in the workouts to improve their performance in the open water swim section of a triathlon. The workouts are in no way "recreational swimming" or "lap swimming." The coaches are trained and certified. It's not a particularly good venue for someone who is out of shape and wants to giving swimming a try after years on the couch.
In nearly every Masters Swim organization I know of the swimmers are sorted by speed into different lanes. At our pool the slowest swimmers are in lane one and each lane gets progressively faster. We tend to sort by a swimmer's 100 yard repeat time. This is not how fast one can go for one 100 yard freestyle swim but the interval in which one can swim, recover and repeat anywhere from 8 to 10 100s in a row. On a good day I might swim a 1:10 minute hundred freestyle from a push off (not a dive). But there's no way I could repeat even two or three in a row on a 1:10 minute overall interval. Instead, I need to be in a lane in which the swimmers are able to do repeated 100s on about 1:30 or 1:35 (a minute and thirty five seconds). While it would require exertion and a bit of mental discipline to keep my stroke from falling apart I could make the interval on a fair number of 100s on 1:35 and, if I elect to be in a lane in which the swimmers are swimming on a 1:45 interval per 100 yards I'm pretty sure I could keep repeating the set for hours.
So, lane one swimmers might select to swim a set of 10- 100s on a two minute interval. Lane two might be on a 1:50 interval. Lane three on a 1:40 interval. Lane four on a 1:30 interval. Lane five on a 1:20 interval. Lane six on a 1:10 interval and, if we have a couple of our Oympians show up for workout they might lead lane seven in 1:00 minute intervals. It's all subject to who shows up. Some days the workouts skew toward a more competitive composition of people and they might move the intervals to a faster pace in more lanes. Other days we might have more slower swimmers and we might spread them in the other direction. The point is that everyone finds a lane in which they can, with exertion, keep up with each other for all the sets we'll undertake in an hour or hour and a half.
Within a lane there will always be people who are marginally faster or slower and we'll work out the order by consensus. Fastest first, slowest last. But everyone should be able to make the interval for that lane. Also, everyone in every lane should be proficient at swimming all four strokes.
The coach starts the workout by putting up a warm-up set on a white board. If someone needs clarification they can ask for it. Otherwise you jump in and get going. Today's warmup set was a 400 yard freestyle swim followed by a 100 yard kick, followed by a 400 yard pull set (hand paddles for greater resistance and a pull buoy to keep the legs from kicking), followed by a 100 yard medley (all four strokes). Once each lane finishes they consult the whiteboard to see what the next set is. If the set is complicated the coach may take a minute or two to explain his/her intention.
Our first set today went something like this: 6 X 150 yards freestyle on 2:15 followed by 6 x 25 yard hard sprints on :30. Then right into 8 x100 years freestyle pull on 1:30 followed by 6 x 25 yard hard sprints. Then directly into 10 X 75s, the first 25 yards being a stroke other than freestyle with the remaining 50 years of each 75 being freestyle, followed by 6 X 25's hard sprints. Then directly into a set of 50 yard sprints on a 1:00 interval until your lane runs out the clock and workout is over. We did the math at the end of our one hour and fifteen minutes this morning and figured we'd gone about 3,500 hard yards. A bit more than two miles.
Some mornings the coaches will add in more kicking drills and some mornings they peg as "long distance" days so the sets have a much different composition, day to day. Keeps it from getting too routine. The coaches are on deck all the time to encourage us, to call out times during sprints and to watch our stroke techniques and make helpful suggestions, on an individual basis.
Our club hosts three coached workouts a day on weekdays and two per day on the weekends. That will shift a bit in the Summer as we make time slots available for the kids programs. The hardest workouts tend to be the earliest ones and they also tend to be the most crowded; often with four or five people per lane. Sometimes even six or seven. More in the popular interval time slot lanes.
Interpersonal problems are not tolerated and are sorted out either very quickly or very permanently. We also have a hard and fast rule to not discuss politics in the pool enclosure. Ever. The program is open to anyone who meets the minimum speed and endurance qualifications and the masters program costs about $100 per month. Many of the athletes in our program competed in college and are still regulars at USMS swim meets in Texas and around the country. Our program is popular with some of the former Olympians who've located in Austin and several of our coaches are gold medalists. The most well known being Ian Crocker. The draw is the tenure of the program and the fact that ours is the cleanest, freshest and best maintained, year round, outdoor pool in the city.
At the end of workout everyone heads off to work or whatever they do during the day. I grab coffee and head into the office. Work is just the stuff that happens between swims....
Ben (my son) is still a distance runner and tries to get as many long runs in as he can during the week. I've tried to get him back in the pool but he's not interested. I consider his reticence to swim to be one of my most embarrassing failures as a parent...
If you don't want to swim hard and fast you should head to Barton Springs Pool or Deep Eddy Pool and enjoy the scenery. There's some thing for everyone.
Start them young. We always need more swimmers.
Oh. I almost forgot: Camera, lens, printer, PhotoShop, Equivalence!!!
That about sums it up.
3 comments:
I'm an older guy with year-round access to pools (my own 20-yarder from May through October, and a 25-meter indoor club pool the rest of the year.) I've always been a decent swimmer since childhood, but not a competitive one. I lift weights three times a week and I'm strong for my age. After reading your post, I'd like to know a couple of things: 1) What are the four strokes you mention? Is one the butterfly? I have a problem with one shoulder, and that's not a good stroke for me. But essentially, to get the best workout, should I be doing several different strokes? Or is free-style good enough? 2) If you wish to start swimming long (and I do, because of the full-body low impact/high cardio) should I be doing short "wind sprints" as I build up length? I can't yet swim 500 hard yards continuously, but I'd like to push it to a mile. How do I get there? A combination of length and sprints on different days? Or on the same day? Do you lift weights as a supplement? Do you think that's either helpful or necessary? Thanks for any help.
John Camp
Hi John, I think weight lifting is great. I have a set of 20 pound hand weights and use them frequently but I also try to maintain strength with classic old push ups. The four strokes are butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. I think freestyle only is fine unless you are trying to stay on the same page with everyone else in the pool. I like to do a fair amount of backstroke because we have a tendency to overdevelop our chest muscles and have our shoulders pull forward as a result. A good bit of backstroke sure helps to open up the chest and add some symmetrical balance to muscle development/maintenance. Freestyle only is great if you remember to stretch a bit. There is a stretch called a "doorway" stretch which I use just to keep chest muscles more flexible and relaxed. If you want to get up to a continuous mile I wouldn't necessarily suggest that sprints will get you there I'd say to go as far as you can at each practice, maintain that distance for the next two swims and then try to add 50 to 100 yards to that distance until you hit your target. This might entail slowing down a bit until you hit your mile and then shift gears and start working on getting the mile in at a faster and faster time. Weight work helps to keep your metabolism higher which is one of the secrets of keeping weight off. Push ups are free anywhere there is a floor. Another thing to try might be using a snorkel. There are a number on the market for serious swimmers. The advantage of a snorkel for someone who is only swimming freestyle and also of a certain age, is keeping the head centered and relatively stationary. Too many people breathe only to one side and this can create an imbalance between the left and right neck muscles which can lead to some neck pain over time. A snorkel keeps the head down and centered which helps make the stroke more efficient and keeps the neck stable. Finally, I suggest you find someone about your speed or a little faster to swim with. The company in an adjacent lane can help you develop pacing so you don't go too hard and run out of steam before you've hit that mile and you don't go too slow because, well, everyone has a bit of competitive energy that makes you push a bit. If you live in an area with a beautiful lake (and moderate temps) it can be great to do a long, open water swim. It might make the mile go quicker (no turns -- although we think of good flip turns as free speed...) and the change of scenery can shake up the swimming so it doesn't get too routine. One of my favorite races is a 12 mile relay race in Lake Travis... you swim it in 20 minute increments at a time, tagging in and out with four other teammates. A fun way to spend five or six hours... If you do try a mile lake swim you should recruit a friend to kayak along side you --- just in case. I don't do solo open water swims. You never know when you might get a vicious cramp. Finally, if you are the sort who likes to keep track keeping a swim log with your daily distance achievements in it is a great motivator. Thanks for asking. You know how to e-mail me so alert me if I can give you more info. Best swim book? Total Immersion Swimming by Terry McLaughlin.
"The closest thing humans come to flying is a beautifully executed streamline off a turn in the pool." - Kirk Tuck
I envy the swimmers here.
I can swim - I learned as a nervous 25 year old - but I am not fast and I can only really manage a moderate breast stroke.
Now I am in my 50's - how to improve ???
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