THE LANGUAGE OF SWIMMING

An important part of becoming a swimmer involves learning the “language” of swimming—the basic terms and concepts that are as much a part of the sport as “line drive,” “pop up,” “home run,” “fungo,” “spring training,” and “sacrifice fly” are a part of baseball lingo. You have already been introduced to many of the basic terms in Chapters 6 through 10. Some terms and concepts are the same as in other sports—“interval training” and “split times,” for example. Others are unique to swimming. In any event, learning this special language is both fun and easy, and you will find that in a very short time it will be almost second nature to you.

Interval Training

One of the techniques you will be using to enhance the quality of your workouts is called interval training. Swimmers have used this tool for over thirty years, and recently it has been adopted by runners. Although coaches and trainers have long been convinced of the value of interval training, and of its superiority over long swims or runs, it was not until 1992 that it became clear exactly why the technique is so effective. After all, both interval training and long swims (and runs) elevate the heart rate to within the training range. This means that both techniques provide similar, if not identical, cardiovascular benefits.

The reason interval training is so valuable can be explained with three letters: hGH. Human growth hormone is the key hormone discussed in Chapter 5 that is responsible for building muscle mass and reducing body fat. The hormone is secreted by the body during exercise, and it turns out, according to a study by William J. Kraemer of the Center for Sports Medicine at Pennsylvania State University, that the best way to maximize the secretion of hGH during exercise is to perform a series of relatively intense repetitions with limited rest between. In other words, interval training.

Interval training features the set. A set consists of a series of swims, each a certain distance, done at a specific time interval. Each individual swim is called a repeat. Here are some of the major types of interval sets.

Holding your repeats

In one kind of set, you will want to hold your repeats steady. For example, let’s say that your fastest 200-yard freestyle is 2:30. You might want to do a set of six 200-yard swims, starting every three minutes and thirty seconds. If you swim at 80 percent of your current ability, a reasonable expectation, you will do each repeat in 3 minutes. That will give you 30 seconds’ rest between each 200-yard swim. As you might imagine, the first 200-yard swim will be relatively easy; in fact, you might be tempted to go faster than 3:00. Don’t! Until you are in excellent shape, you’ll find it progressively harder to hold each repeat at 3:00.

Naturally, when you start training your conditioning and endurance will leave a great deal to be desired. But as you get into better shape, you’ll find sets like the one just described easy to do. At this point you will want to reduce the resting time between repeats.

Two months have passed. Your fastest 200-yard freestyle is down to 2:25 and you’re in much better shape. Now, instead of doing a set of six 200-yard repeats on 3:30, you drop the interval to 3:15 and try to hold each repeat at 2:50. And so on.

LOFO

“Last one, fast one” is another way to enhance the training benefits of an interval set. These sets were a favorite of my coach, Peter Farragher. In a LOFO set you hold the first five repeats at your designated time (2:50 in the preceding example). Then you swim the final repeat all-out, as fast as you can.

A more advanced technique is the descending set. Here the objective is to swim each repeat a little faster than the previous one—not so easy, since you become increasingly fatigued. Descending sets are also useful in developing an internal sense of pace. When I swim an event, whether in practice or in a meet, I almost always know my time to within a few tenths of a second.

An alternate kind of descending set is the descending rest interval. Here you hold your time steady for each repeat, but you decrease resting time between repeats. For example, let’s say that you want to swim 10 × 100 yards holding 1:20. After the first swim you rest for 50 seconds; you drop your rest to 45 seconds after the second swim, to 40 seconds after the third, and so on. Finally, you have only 10 seconds’ rest before your last 100-yard swim.

In another kind of set, your aim is a negative split of each repeat. Negative splitting, which involves swimming the second half of any distance faster than the first half, is a valuable training and racing skill. Let’s say your set consisted of 5 × 200 on 3:00. Your goal is not just to hold each 200-yard swim at 2:45 but to swim the second 100 yards of each repeat 5 seconds faster than the first; your first 100 yards might be 1:25 and your second 1:20. Now you must be aware not only of your overall pace but also of your pace for each segment of each repeat.

A further variation on the same theme is a descending set, negative Splitting each repeat. Again, let’s say your set consists of 5 × 200 on 3:00. Now you swim the first repeat in 2:45, with splits of 1:24 and 1:21. On the second repeat you finish in 2:42, with splits of 1:22 and 1:20, and so on.

Still another type of interval set is the pyramid. Here you hold your rest interval steady but gradually increase, then decrease, the distance of each repeat. Usually you also try to hold a steady pace. A typical pyramid set consists of a 100, 200, 300, 400, 300, 200, and 100-yard swim. Let’s say your rest interval is 30 seconds between repeats, and you try to hold a 1:30 pace. You swim the first 100 yards in 1:30, then rest for 30 seconds. The next repeat is a 200-yard swim, which you do in 3:00. Rest another 30 seconds. Then swim 300 yards in 4:30, and so on. As you can imagine, it becomes progressively harder to hold your 1:30 pace. There are also many variations on the pyramid.

Distance per Stroke (dps)

Why does Matt Biondi swim faster than you—or me, or just about anyone? Part of the answer lies in his natural ability, his years of training, and his positive mental attitude. His height (six feet, six inches) is also an asset. But the key to Matt’s success may well lie in the efficiency of his stroke.

I remember watching Matt compete in the 1987 NCAA championships. I was amazed when I counted his strokes in the 100- and 200-yard freestyle—sprint events—and found that he took only twelve long, smooth strokes per (twenty-five-yard) lap. Jeff Rouse, America’s fastest backstroker in the early 1990s, uses only eleven or twelve strokes per lap. The top breaststroke and butterfly swimmers typically need merely six or seven strokes for each lap they swim. Clearly these athletes are on to something.

In contrast, fitness swimmers generally take twenty to twenty-five strokes to swim a lap of freestyle or backstroke. Breast and fly may take more than a dozen strokes. Novice swimmers take even more. Top-flight Masters swimmers usually use fifteen to eighteen strokes for a lap of free and back, and eight or nine for breast and fly.

A computer-aided study published in 1992 suggests that length of stroke is indeed a major key to success. Dr. Richard C. Nelson, a professor of biomechanics at Penn State University, looked at 500 swimmers who competed in the Seoul Olympics. He found that the faster a swimmer performed, the longer his or her strokes were. “It seems to indicate,” he concluded, “that training should focus on establishing a maximum stroke length.”

Actually, many coaches have been doing just that, at least since the 1970s. They call it distance per stroke, or dps for short. These coaches emphasize the importance of maintaining a long stroke even—or rather especially—as you feel yourself tiring. I count strokes almost every lap of every workout and in every lap of every race.

You might want to try it too. Swim a hundred yards freestyle at a moderately fast clip, remembering to count the strokes you take for each lap. Let’s say you take nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, and twenty-one strokes and swim 1:30. Next, set yourself the goal of swimming the same time taking nineteen strokes for each lap. Feel yourself stretch each stroke as your arm enters the water and as you pull through the stroke cycle. Once you have accomplished that, try reducing the strokes to eighteen per lap. Then try to lower your time to 1:28 or 1:25, maintaining eighteen strokes per lap. And so on. This exercise will focus your mind on making your stroke as long and efficient as you can. The result will be that you swim more efficiently, faster and with less effort.

The Taper

Tapering is a key element in preparing for your most important meets. Most experts agree that it is not possible to “peak”—that is, swim the fastest you are capable of—more than twice a year, and having a successful taper, or “hitting your taper,” as swimmers say, is a major factor in determining whether you will peak or not.

When you taper, you gradually decrease the amount of yardage you swim during each training session. At the same time, you rest longer both during and between your sets, and you increase the quality and intensity of your sprints. The idea is that after months of building strength and cardiovascular conditioning, you can peak by giving your body additional rest and by swimming in practice at close to race speed.

The taper begins several weeks before your big meet. Exactly how long it should last varies from person to person; you will have to learn what is best for you from experience. But among the important considerations are the yardage “base” you have put in over the previous several months, your age, and your body’s ability to recover.

If I have been able to train consistently, a typical taper for me takes about three weeks. During that time I gradually decrease the distance I swim daily from about 4,000 to only 1,500 yards. Finally, the day before the big meet I may not swim at all.

Broken swims are often used during the taper to give you a sense of how fast you are likely to go in your big meet. In a typical broken swim, you take a brief rest at the halfway point, then an even shorter rest at the three-quarters mark. Your time is the total elapsed time minus the resting time.

When I do a “broken” 200-yard swim, I usually rest for fifteen seconds after the first 100 yards and another ten seconds after 150. In a “broken” 100, I rest for ten seconds at the fifty-yard mark and five seconds more at the seventy-five.

A typical broken 200-yard breaststroke for me is as follows:

100 yards—1.14 (rest 15 seconds to 1:29)

150 yards—2:06 (rest 10 seconds to 2:16)

200 yards—2:54

My time for the 200 yards is the total elapsed time (2:54) minus the 25 seconds I rested, or 2:29. This is often a remarkably accurate predictor of how fast I will swim under race conditions.

One of the most distinctive rituals of swimming is shaving down before a big meet. Swimmers shave their legs, arms, and chest to decrease water resistance. Some high school and college swimmers also shave their heads, but wearing a cap provides the same benefit. I’m worried that if I shave my head the hair may never grow back, and I’m not ready yet for the Yul Brynner look.

Shaving was introduced on the international swimming scene at the 1956 Olympics by Australian sprinter Jon Henricks. He was so embarrassed at having denuded himself of body hair that he wore a robe literally until he mounted the starting blocks. “I looked like a plucked chicken,” he said later. But the saucy Aussie blasted to victory in the 100-meter freestyle, swimming’s glamour event, in record time. His teammates took notice and quickly followed suit. The result was that Australia dominated the competition as never before or since, winning every freestyle event for both men and women. But the secret was out; by the early 1960s, shaving down before the big meet had become a swimming ritual around the world.

And ritual is the right word. Many teams conduct “shaving parties” a day or so before their major competition. On the day of the meet, many swimmers can be found in the showers trimming the shave they did the day before to remove any hair that has grown in the interim.

Nonswimmers often ask if shaving really helps you go faster, or whether it is all in the mind. The unequivocal answer is it really helps. And it helps psychologically. Careful scientific studies have demonstrated repeatedly that shaving can reduce a swimmer’s time by about 2 to 3 percent, depending on just how hirsute he or she was before shaving. Two or 3 percent can easily be the difference between winning and finishing last in the Olympics or the Masters world championships.

It also feels great! Although the total amount of hair removed probably weighs only a few ounces at most, you feel much “lighter” after shaving. You seem to glide effortlessly through the water like a dolphin. And, contrary to what I have been told hundreds of times, the hair is not coarser or darker when it grows back. It comes back just as it was before.