Begining the season

[wordofmouth]

One thing that is still a bit of a feeling out process for me is how to start the season.
My inclination is to do more long slow swimming and then transition. Or should I start with repeats that are a little slower than Best Time pace. Or just swim a limited amount of goal pace swims no matter how early it is in the season.
Any feedback is appreciated. This is the one part of the season that just seems counter intuitive.

On a possibly related note, has anyone purchased the USRPT video series? I have read most if not all of Rahall’s papers so it might be redundant but it could have some valuable new info. in it.

[kevin]

I bought the dvd’s, they do not contain a lot of new info, it’s mostly Rushall going over all the principles and his ideas. Of course, hearing someone explain it helps in understanding.

He does mention the beginning of the season and suggests, as you said, to start at paces above (+2sec) personal best and build up from there. He claims swimmers should be able to reach their previous performance level in ±3 weeks.

[wordofmouth]

Thanks Kevin,

We are just getting started ( meaning everyone is trickling back from spring breaks )

When you mention the +2 seconds is that added on to each individual repeat or the goal time? The former seems a little too slow and the latter a bit challenging.

[kevin]

+2 seconds on the goal time. Depends of course on the distance, if I remember correctly he was talking about 100’s. If you feel this is to challenging for your swimmers, you can of course start slower. Better start a bit slow and build up a little faster.

[Author]

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