Day 2.
50breast this morning, small pb 34.20, good swim and has a 33point in him no doubt.
This afternoon was 2IM, 50Bk and 100Br. Withdrew from the 50 to target breast as finals and medals are out when there are no age groups so wanted a decent pb.
2IM 2.28.26, 0.49 outside pb set 3 weeks back, and he noticeably took it easy. 100breast was excellent. 1:14.95, first time under 1:16, massive pb and ended on a big high. New teammate Jeremiah, no1 15year old in country , went 1:04.91 Sounds huge margin but found 4 seconds on him since last big champs and with swimming alongside him every day huge chance to start closing that gap further
I was thinking about this post earlier as I have a 5K event tomorrow and was thinking about wearing my Speedo Fastskin LZR Racer Element jammers.
They aren’t a top end suit by more recent standards but do have quite a lot of compression and I’ve never worn them for anything longer than 1500m before.
I can’t make up my mind whether to wear them or a regular pair of jammers.
The other option is a wetsuit (it’s an outdoor pool) which I reckon a lot of other people will be wearing but I think I’d struggle to get into mine at the moment!
The old LZR’s are decent enough suits! I’m not 100% sure but they don’t have massive amounts of compression so should be fine for longer distances but last thing you want is cramp at 2k so without practicing in it Id probably say don’t risk it if the race is important. If its a bit of fun, its a good time to test it.
As I might have mentioned before my 11 year old’s times stagnated, in fact many went backwards, for about 10 months despite the fact he was doing more training than he used to. I put it down to him growing and “not being used to his new body”, despite the fact he hadn’t actually grown that much !
However, I watch most of his training and time his reps and it began emerging there might have been a more prosaic answer… In training he was swimming away from most of the other swimmers in his “Bronze” squad (despite them being bigger and a bit older than him ? ! ? ), e.g. they did a set on 450s, he led and he was almost a length ahead. Yet in the club Interhouse races they were as fast as he was, two actually beat him !
Similarly in a LC 100Fly race he did the first 50 in 43sec (about perfect pacing right for him) but the second length in 60 sec !
I concluded the reason his times were poor was because… he wasn’t swimming fast enough.
That might just sound like a trite amusing answer but in actual fact it’s true. He just wasn’t pushing himself hard enough, particularly when he started feeling tired, I know because we have all fallen for that one !
Before the gala he did this weekend I emphasised his performances would be decided by what was in his head, did he want it enough ? And did he want to push himself hard enough to get it ? I reminded him that he should expect to feel tired half way though, and if you don’t feel a bit tired even half way through a 100m, then you’re not going fast enough…
Result ?
4 races, and 4 PBs* (and, just as importantly, he loved the meet).
*Actually he was DQed in the 100IM, but that was just a technicality, his time was a PB, and in fact had his turns not been truly appalling he may well have gone under 1.30, a 5 second PB.
yes…i have often reflected that my slow swim times were a result of me not swimming fast enough…
two points of interest…firstly, any young swimmer should be encouraged to enjoy swimming and the process of developing technique. If the focus is on the process then, in time, the conditioning, with consistent training, will take care of itself…
and secondly, the evidence inspired understanding is that those who win when they are young are less likely to win when they are old…
Some kids will struggle with 100’s because of their underdeveloped anaerobic respiratory system and lack type IIb muscle fibres (although the evidence is still sketchy on that, they are doing studies but obviously invasive testing of kids is frowned upon for some reason ) It’s why in the old days kids never raced 100’s up to a certain age and even now nationals no 100’s until 13 AG who also only qualify for 100’s based off their 200 times.
For me young kids should stick to 50’s so they can do all strokes in a weekend gaining experience of lots of race starts and one 200 a day (not fly though) to get used to swimming longer than a minute in a race situation but that should be driven by technical goals rather than outcome goals. id say 100’s phased in occasionally as they start to develop further as they end up swimming the second 50 with ever worsening form as they go out too fast trying to “sprint” when their energy systems aren’t developed enough to support that for in excess of 90 seconds.
What’s the point of butterfly & breast stroke in competitive swimming? Or rather what’s the point of teaching them other than there’s a competition for them? Both just seem like a shit way of getting from A to B in water.
Watching fly performed properly is like fine art, breaststroke is basically fly with more rules. Both strokes, more so Br. are so hard to teach, the best kids just “get it” all about timing and rhythm.
I agree about the Fly, it’s beautiful when done correctly. But when not done so it looks awful. I never had the shoulder flexibility to do Fly well (poss because I only took up swimming when I was about 25) so I decided if I could not look good doing it then I would not do it at all. A promise I have kept to this day…
I also agree with your implication that if anything Br is harder to do well than Fly, in fact it’s probably the most technical stroke full stop.
I do a few weights just to keep my strength up, one or two 20 minute sessions a week (mainly pull downs), but even this paltry amount leaves me a bit stiff and sore in the water for about two days.
So, how many days in advance of a competition should one stop doing weights ?
Is there a sweet spot when one has not lost any strength but, on the other hand, isn’t suffering any of the ill effects of muscle overload ?
Its very personal so hard to give a day, but if its an important competition, periodisation would mean dropping volume (weight) and doing more sport specific S&C. Id probably have the kids doing more mobility and foam rolling, more plyo and explosive stuff in the 2 - 3 weeks leading up, and probably no heavy lifting for 2, maybe even 3 weeks also. If its just a B/C level comp again depends maybe the week leading up no heavy lifting, or even train through. Look at how you recover and add in more mobility work certainly the week leading up.
I’ll go for 2 weeks, well actually 13 days because that’s how the it falls when I usually do weights.
It’s an utterly meaningless parents race over 25m, except it isn’t because it’s the only race I do every year and a chance to reverse roles with my lad.
I “won” it comfortably last year but only because I was the only real swimmer (if I even deserve that epithet), but this year I won’t win as one of the other new parents is an ex swimmer, and he’s 15 years younger than me ! Thus my aim is to go under 15 sec.
The problem is I never get a chance to practice dives off blocks, and even worse, though the pool do allow dives at the deep end, it’s a deck level pool so the angles are way out. Is it even worth practicing dives off a deck level pool when the angles are so different ? What do you think H. ?
Sounds huge margin but found 4 seconds on him since last big champs and with swimming alongside him every day huge chance to start closing that gap further
) It’s why in the old days kids never raced 100’s up to a certain age and even now nationals no 100’s until 13 AG who also only qualify for 100’s based off their 200 times.
