TECHNIQUE TRAINING I've just fi nished working with Jason Bradbury from the Gadget
Show who was planning to swim the Irish Channel as part of The Swim. As he was swimming 200m front crawl in 6 minutes 10 seconds back in May, we had some work to do. Fortunately Jason’s background as a martial arts competitor gave him good fi tness and the skills to learn front-crawl technique quite quickly. A weekly mix of a pure technique lesson, one 3.5km fi tness session in the pool and a 3km open water swim – similar in nature to a traditional fi tness session (warm-up, subset, main-set, cool-down) – and a long steady swim in the sea soon brought his 200m time down to a vastly improved 3 minutes 45 seconds. This approach gave him the fi tness and swim effi ciency to last three rounds of the one-hour- per-swimmer relay swim across the Irish Channel. This is just one scenario. Many will be able to immediately add more fi tness or join a Masters team and progress rapidly with
the coached sessions. If, for example, you struggle to swim 400m continuously at the moment and plan on completing the one-mile Great North Swim next summer, this coming autumn would be spent with swim technique as the focus. Alternatively, if you choose to swim on your own you can focus specifi cally on what you need. Long-distance front crawl is slowly creeping into Masters’ team programmes but usually the emphasis is on all four strokes and speed work. Adding the other strokes will reduce the risk of overuse injuries and improve your feel for the water, but if your weekly time is limited you may need to be a lit le more focused. ○
Next month we will look at incorporating these sessions into your own weekly and monthly plan as you work towards those fi rst races of next year.
THE OPEN WATER SWIMMER’S YEAR Training varies according to season. At diff erent times of the year there are key swimming sessions for maximising swim effi ciency.*
WINTER
SPRING
○ PURE DRILLS SESSIONS Whether it is improving your leg-kick, working towards bilateral breathing or an improved pull phase, sometimes it makes sense to just spend a lot of time on a regular basis to perfect an area that needs help. OCT-DEC (in northern hemisphere)
○ PURE FITNESS SESSIONS At the least 30mins of an elevated heat rate during a main block of work will help you improve fi tness. I would still include drills and skills in the warm-ups and subsets since to ignore these areas would be irresponsible given the technical nature of swimming. JAN-MAR
○ POOL-BASED OPEN-WATER SESSIONS Be creative: take the lane ropes out, throw some buoys in, swim in a crowd. Once in a while a reminder of open water will be useful. They are a useful stepping stone for the novice who has yet to move outdoors. MAR-APR
38
SUMMER ○ TESTING SESSIONS
These sessions help us balance the ratio of the week’s training and help us decide if we can introduce more fi tness or perhaps hold back and work on a specifi c area if speed or effi ciency are not improving. Testing is not just for fi tness but also for stroke economy. Throughout the year
○ TECHNICAL ENDURANCE
As mentioned, these are long steady swims that allow a pace for fi tness (aerobic development) but with the imaginative use of frequent teaching points to keep technique to a high level. OCT-DEC
○ OPEN WATER SESSIONS
The chance in the spring to the get to a lake or out to sea and practise longer swims. Mix up your sessions with swim accessories or create a structured, time-based session. MAY onwards, or start earlier in the year by using a wetsuit
AUTUMN
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76