A Few Interesting Results
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We have two dual meets left this season (one was yesterday) so we swam a few off events just to get an idea of where we ended the season. Had some good/surprising swims.
Our flyer/IMer swam the 200 free in 2:01.7. previous lifetime best was 2:03.5 also from this season. She swam her 500 in 5:25.1! I just found it pretty impressive because she only swims about 16-20 50s on M,W,F @1:00. Everything else is training for IM, Fly or 100 and 50 free. She’s definitely a unique case and a special swimmer. She could place at state in any event. Still it gives me confidence that with only around 2,000 yards a day you can still be pretty good in longer races. Her best time this season was 5:37 and her lifetime best before this year was 5:39.
Our top sprinter swam the 200 free in 1:59.4. Her previous lifetime best was 2:02.4 also from this season. Coming into the season her best time was 2:06 but she has never swam the race at a tapered meet so getting lifetime bests isn’t all that surprising. The time was pretty good though. She only swims about 12 50s on M,W,F and she does them on 2:00 so not a lot of “aerobic” work. Almost all of her yards are from 25s. Her splits were 55 and 1:04 so could definitely work on pacing it better. She also cut about a second off her lifetime best in the 100 free going 54.29. That 52 high is looking much more realistic now.
Overall we had a lot of good swims at the meet.
"Most people have the will to win. Few have the will to prepare to win."
Those are some good results for swimming up a distance than what they train for. Josh Davis swam a crazy 500 free after only doing 50’s at 200 pace. A lot people overlook the effectiveness of USRPT for middle distance free just because it’s Michael Andrews weakest area even though he is technically a good 200 freestyler. He does have a NAG in the 200 scy free. Other people have had success in mid distance free like Glenn Gruber who broke a masters WR in the 400 scm free in his age group. Gary P on here has also had success with mid distance free and USRPT. Don’t forget about MA’s 352 400 IM. That’s also swimming up a distance. I doubt he was doing sets of strokes at 400 pace when he did that, probably just 200 stuff. The Screaming Viking swam a top 10 all time ranking for his age group in the 200 LCM breast on very limited yardage.
Recently I have been looking at Tim Noakes Central Govenor Theory again. The “An Advancement in the Concept of Fatigue” article that is linked up on Rushall’s website talks about it. I believe that Tim Noakes is absolutely right that there is way more to fatigue than previously believed. As exercise goes on lactate rises, glycogen depletes, oxygen debt increases, then you get tired and slow down. While there may be truth to that, there is way more to fatigue. I believe I have figured out the missing link in the Central Governor theory and why some people can go really fast times on longer races while doing low yardage. I’m pretty sure that USRPT can manipulate what Tim Noakes calls the Central Govenor through a mechanism that cannot be utilized in traditional training or other forms of race pace training. I was going to write up a post a few weeks ago but I decided not to because it’s some pretty deep stuff that a lot people would call pseudo-science and I don’t want to look like a crazy person. It is based on a few real scientific studies though. It may take me a while to put it all together and have it make sense but I am going to write it up when I have time.
I am interested in the write up. Let me know if you wanna guest post it the Swim Brief. I totally agree there is much more to fatigue than we would commonly think.
I came into this world naked, toothless and screaming and that's exactly how I plan to go out.
I would also like that write-up.
I have for a some time argued (not on this forum) that lactate is not the reason for getting tired, but merely a marker for excertion levels and type of metabolism used. There is no scientific evidence that serum lactate would cause fatigue. Lab rats have been injected with insane amounts of lactate without showing any sign of pain or fatigue. Supersprinters can reach “lethal levels” of lactate without being much physically affected. So, there is probably a great cause-and-effect mixup here.
Neuronal fatigue and overheating I believe are much more important factors in the experience of fatigue. “lactate numbness” I believe is merely the bodys protection against overheating or electrolyte depletion in motor neurons (I think this has also been argued earlier on this forum and Rushall as well). For that reason I believe that “lactate tolerance” sets are just insane – to go on training past the point of numbing fatigue – you would probably be better off to rest and then go on when recovered.
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