Endurance Nation says: OutSeason Key #3 Stop Swimming

I was reading a series put out by Endurance Nation, called Rethinking the Off Season…they call it the OutSeason…click on the Free Resources link to sign up for the free seminar series…a worthy read

The first thing that caught my eye was ‘Key #3 Stop Swimming’…OMG, I _love_ these guys 🙂 …well, anyway here’s the fine print:

 If you are a “good swimmer” (100yds in 1:45 or faster):
* Stop swimming immediately. The amount of work you would need to do to get “better” is simply not worth investing now.
* Swim 1x every two weeks as recovery when you have the chance.

If you are a “good swimmer in training” (100yds in 1:50 or slower):
* Consider a block of 1:1 swim lessons

Since I’m a “good swimmer in training”, based on their recommendation, I should still be in the pool…oh well…there was that moment there…their further recommendation is that I drill my brains out for months…Coach Dinah is going to _love_ these guys as well…Coach Dinah _loves_ drills 

Here’s the expanded explanation of their idea:

If your Full/Half Ironman swim times are slower than about 1:15/:37, swimming faster for you is MUCH more about improving your technique than it is fitness. You are learning to play a piano. So not only is it a question of how much time should you invest in swimming but also what are you doing with your time?

If you are going to the pool and working to improve your swim fitness, you are wasting valuable time. If you are working on your technique, that’s great, but our athletes report that making this technique investment closer to the race yields nearly the same results on race day as working on technique much, much earlier in the year (in the OffSeason).

 

In other words if you must swim then you should do drills upon drills all winter long, making the most of that 80-120hr investment. The typical EN (Endurance Nation) athlete doesn’t swim (or swims very, very little) banking those hours as SAU’s ((spousal approval units). Instead s/he begins swimming much closer to their race. Our experience is that on race day you’ll both come out of the water next to, or very, very close to each other. 

…I guess the only good news is that they do have a tangible goal to be designated ‘good swimmer’…under a 1:45 for 100 yards, or more properly a 1:15 swim for the 2.4 miles in Ironman…I think that I’m going to dial that into the goals somewhere.

More to come on the Endurance Nation stuff in future Posts.