Swimming Stuff - Here are some thoughts on swimming based on my experiences training and racing.

How can I swim better and faster?

In addition to rest, hydration and nutrition, I have found I can swim better and faster during training and racing these four ways:

4) Use of equipment - suits goggles and caps, during racing; paddles, fins, buoys, pace clocks and other equipment during training.

3) Strategy - maintaining speed throughout a race, negative splitting and drafting during racing; building through sets, pacing, leading the lane, use of training cycles, and lane racing during training.

2) Technique - increase efficiency as measured by distance per stroke - number of strokes per length. Simple concept but very hard to do.

1) Fitness - get fitter for the type of swimming you are doing - distance or sprinting or both.

I have more detail on this based on my experiences over the last 50+ years that I will share.

Max heart rate (beats per minute) = 220 - age.

This a pretty good estimation; for a 60 year old like me it is 220-60=160 bmp.

The Four Heart Rate Zones - my interpretation.

Here is my memory of how we looked at this stuff in the past. When I started swimming in the early 70’s we had sprinters and distance swimmers. This was based on the color of their muscles fibers (sounds weird writing that today). White fibers were fast twitch and red fibers were slow twitch. Next came two types of swimming: 1) aerobic (distance) and 2) anaerobic (sprinting). Anaerobic was sometimes split into two: short burst (10 secs) and long burst (45 secs). There are many articles online about this and the underlying biochemistry and how all this works.

I like using these Four Zones when I am training for open water races.

Zone 1 = Easy - can swim this effort for hours and hours. My HR < 120 bpm

Zone 2 = Steady - can swim this pace easily for 1-2 hours. My HR = ~120 bpm

Zone 3 = Moderate or sometimes called aerobic threshold - can swim this pace for 30 minutes. My HR = 130-150 bpm

Zone 4 = Fast - anaerobic - can swim this pace for 45 second to a minute. My HR > 150 bpm

What lane should I swim in?

Swimmers should determine what lane they swim in based on their 100 repeat time. There will be 1:20 lane, 1:30 lane, 1:40 lane… and so on. This repeat time is what a swimmer can complete 20x100. At 1:30 this will be 30 minutes of swimming - or a Zone 3 workout (aerobic threshold) There is a tendency, by both coaches and swimmers, to jump in a faster lane. I prefer to swim in a lane with a little more rest. This allows me to build through sets (i.e., have fastest repeats at the end of the sets), attack sets and lead the lane.

One way to determine your repeat time is to swim a 2000 for time. If it takes you 30 minutes - you are 1:30; 45 minutes - you are 1:45; 60 minutes - you are 2:00.

If in doubt, try moving down a lane that allows you to complete the workout and do some fast swimming at the end of the sets. It will be more fun and fitness will likely increase faster. This is where my ego gets in the way with long term improvement. I know I have to slow down to achieve gains, but it hurts so much to see my training partners swimming in a faster lane! Let me know if you have conquered this part your ego and how you did it!