Training Plan Levels for each discipline?

Chris Oubre

As a developing adult onset swimmer I find the swim workouts more than I can do.  The volume called for in each swim set exceeds my capacity to execute the specified paces.  At the end of the set I am barely hanging on and just swimming back and forth across the pool, often with poor form.

This thread isn't about making me specifically a better swimmer, it's about customizing plans.  I imagine my story could be duplicated across most of us.  Many have one discipline that we excel at and one or more that we lag in.  Would it be possible to merge the Advanced, Intermediate and Beginner plans?  The backbone is the same across all of them.  For example I might select

• Distance: Half
• Swim: Beginner
• Bike: Advanced
• Run: Advanced

As I develop in the swim I would move that one up and so on.

 

Thoughts?

 

Brad Marcus

@Chris- I'm more or less in the same boat with you. I've actually had the exact same thought as you too regarding mixing and matching parts of plans. At the end of the day, I've learned to modify my swim workouts so, #1 - I can include what seems to be the most important parts of that particular swim, and #2 - I'm not in the water for 2 hours! Some days I get the entire workout done, other days I'll leave out a few reps. In some of the wkos, Coach R will write in an "optional" set towards the end, which is usually an extra 4-600 or so. Those are easy to leave out.

Shaughn Simmons

Same class here as both of you. Agree with Brad's feedback.

Keep in mind, to improve you need a minimum of 3, 1 hour sessions/week.  For folks like us, we need to focus on form over speed in most cases.  Doing so has improved my speed. My goal is to spend 60 - 70 mins each session with short intervals of form focused speed after my warm up.  That has really helped me improve somewhat over the last 6 months.  

Another thing that has helped me with form is the use of the ROKA swim pants which better simulate race day conditions with a wetsuit.  Most, if not all of my racing, is wetsuit legal.  I use the pants every time I get in the pool now.

Mike Roberts is a great asset to the team in regards to providing advice based on your level of swim fitness.

SS

Mike Roberts

@Chris, the big difference between the plans is volume. Some adv swimmers can do 4k in an hour, but it may take you 80 minutes. Do the Intermediate or Beginner version until you gain speed/fitness. And don't ever do a set or interval with bad form. E.g., if R wants 6x400 and you fall apart at 200, that set just became 12x200. Stop, rest, start back up with good form. Frequency and form are key: I would much rather see you do nothing but 30x100 focus on good form, 3x per week for a month, then reinforce bad form by flailing at the end of a prescribed WO. Finally, I know I sound like a broken record, but using cords 2-3x per week is a great way to develop form, fitness and strength. And you don't have to go to the pool.

Mike Westover

The bike and run are more self-regulating as the workouts tend to be based on time, so if you are stronger you just go further. Swim workouts make it tougher to do that if there aren't sections marked optional. Tuesday's 3400m swim session meant over 90 minutes in the pool for me rather than the 60 in the plan. But I figure at some point I need to build the endurance.

@Shaughn, I also like using sim shorts / core shorts or a pull bouy to simulate a wetsuit position. I've mostly been avoiding them in my swimming so far this year as I figure I'll improve my body position faster without. But as I get closer to the race and the volume goes way up I plan to add them more to better simulate the wetsuit and reduce the load on my legs.

scott dinhofer

Listen to Mike Roberts ^^up there^^ smart advice.

I am in the adult onset swimming issue as well. I work up to a point that I CAN do the overall volume, but it takes me longer. My goal is to get to 3500-4000 yds per session 3x a week. But I am divorced and have time on my hands and don't mind being in the pool at 5am to do this... that said, FOCUS on form... Invest in a few sessions with a good swim coach to help with a few issues to focus on, go back a few months later. Also note that the volume helps one become more "swim fit" that will translate into holding better form for more of a workout...I've only been back in the pool for a week. Did 2400 on saturday, followed by a weight training wko and then monday/Tuesday back to back 3300 yd sessions - arms wanted to fall off! Follow me, SS, and others on Strava, look at our WKOs, compare them to the plan and you will see how we hack our wko... 

Two things that have helped me -

1-I mix up the workouts as written by Rich & use them as a guideline and know my limits, i also know what will burn me out and prevent me from finishing the volume and hurting my downstream workouts.



2- I have found that I will do many long sets with a pull buoy and invested in the lava shorts. Some may call this cheating, but there are lots of articles out there by very accomplished coaches that argue "race as you train and train as you race" when you get to Kona you can train without mimicking a wetsuit..

Derrek Sanks

A while back I asked a similar question to my Masters Swim coach, who is also a AG podium triathlete, which might apply here. Most workouts are written for the faster swimmers to complete in an hour but everyone should do as much of the workout they can in the hour. Swimming is mostly about technique/form and your swim fitness will build with these 1 hour workouts, if you're swimming 3-4x a week. He said this along with your cardio fitness from biking and running you should have no problem when the weekly long swims (3500-4400 yds) start. This worked well for my last year (but I'm a MoP swimmer)...all my swims were with Masters/50-60 mins and I did the Friday EN long swims once they started in my IM build.
As far as mixing the beginner/intermediate/advance plans, it make sense to a point but doing advance bike workouts might cause too much fatigue for a beginner runner after a few weeks.