Less meters and more quality. Try to train your competition pace with less volume and a little more intensity
Traditionally the long distance swimming training It has been characterized by high volumes of swimming. This fact has led many triathletes and triathlon coaches to apply it in their sport, since we have swimming distances of at least 750 meters, which is considered a long distance test in swimming.
However, many times we leave aside to train the rhythm of the test, focusing our trainings on numerous series of distances that oscillate between the 100 and the 400 meters with relatively comfortable rhythms.
This method was developed by Dr. Brent Rushall with the aim of perform trainings that had the highest transfer and possible similarity to the actual competition situation experienced by swimmers, both in the physiological demand and in the movement patterns.
In order to carry out this type of training, Short-term efforts at the pace of the objective test with brief breaks.
Because repetitions and short breaks stimulate aerobic muscle fibers with slow contraction more than traditional aerobic series, it converts a substantial percentage of anaerobic fibers with rapid contraction to oxygen use and binds oxygen to hemoglobin and myoglobin.
The end result of these physiological stimuli translates into an improvement in basic aerobic capacity and of the subordinated "oxidative capacity", achieving a greater resistance to speed.
To carry out this type of training, we propose to take into account and respect the following recommendations:
If we wanted to apply it to work the average rhythm of the 800 - 1000 meters, we could start with trainings like the one we propose below and increase the repetitions:
It may not be an efficient or practical method to train the pace of a medium or long distance triathlon as a whole, but if get a stable swim rhythm that we can keep over the entire target distance.
We encourage you to try this type of training with some frequency to observe the progress in your swimming rhythm.
Laura García Cervantes