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Clinic 2001 |
ASCA World Clinic 2001 Summary
As in all things in life, what I heard may be different than what they said! Overall USA Swimming is an impressive organization. ASCA has 5000 coaches as members! There is a lot of knowledge in this organization and a commitment to improving. 1400 coaches attended this conference -- I sat in on some very, very impressive speakers. Generally, swimmers are volume addicted -- We aren't the only ones! Someone asked why certain coaches have their athletes swim 80K per week. The reply, "because it works". If you do huge volume then you will either get economy gains (to survive) or you will burnout and leave the sport. Given the huge number of athletes that the USA has in swimming -- there are some that think it is a price worth paying. It is worth noting that there are several elite coaches who train on the BT theory, rather than "hammer until they crack then back off." There is an increasing focus on intensity cycles, dry land training and the importance of technique. Listening to the most successful modern coaches talk about how they have changed their approach since the "old days", these are the points that stand out. There is a deep respect for female athletes at all levels of the sport. There is a true egalitarian spirit -- although one speaker did point out that the lads still seem to get better sponsorship deals (even when the ladies are breaking world records!). Volume and Intensity Swimmers are famous for doing huge amount of volume and mega intensity. I have always wondered how their bodies are able to cope. Actually sitting in on a week of swim discussion, I realized that they really aren't all that different from triathletes. They experience overuse injuries, overtraining syndrome and burn out just as much as we do! There also appears to be "something" about swimming that allows certain people to recover quite quickly. Here are the key points: Women recover faster than men -- it is generally accepted that male athletes at all ages and abilities take longer to recover from hard sessions than female athletes. For example, collegiate men can generally handle two lactate tolerance sessions per week while female athletes can handle three. Biological age -- particularly relevant when working with juniors. There is a huge variation in what athletes can handle when they are young. I think it is also worth extending the concept to "Sport Specific Age". Sport Specific Age -- in determining appropriate volume and intensity, rather than the age of an athlete it is far more relevant to consider years of sport specific training. We are often shocked to hear of 14 year old athletes swimming twenty hours a week. However, what we often overlook is the fact that the athlete has undergone an gradual progression of volume since the age of six years old. Take the above points and it finally dawned on my why I can't (yet!) swim much more than 6 hours per week. I have the body of a 32-year-old swimmer but the base of a ten-year-old! Something for us to keep in mind. If you have kids then it is worth noting that most world champions (in the US at least) didn't start swimming "seriously" (two a days, etc...) until they were in their early teens. They also crosstrained with other favorite sports up until this time. USA Swimming, itself, points out that all juniors should crosstrain up to about age twelve in order to promote the healthy development of bones, connective tissue and muscles. Three Stages of Athletic Development First we "train to train" -- in other words we spend years building the base and the skills necessary to be able to put our bodies through the rigors of higher intensity training. Using myself for an example, I had five years of base endurance training before I ever competed in a triathlon. Many athletes rush this process and end up with poor skills and/or overuse injuries. Next we "train to compete" -- we are competent in our sport and have the necessary base to increase the workload and intensity of our training. Finally, we "train to win" -- this is the level of training that it takes to compete at a world class level. Many of us read about the training done by world class athletes and forget that they can be up to two stages in front of us. Many of them have undergone up to 15 years in the first two stages before they were ready to "train to win". Elite Intensity and Volume In the lectures, the speakers all stress the importance of recovery. However, when I sat in on presentations of the specific training done by champion swimmers -- they sure do a lot of hammering! I think it comes back to the three stages of athletic development. Many athletes have spent their whole lives preparing for the opportunity to train hard enough to set a world record. Elites have spent their lives "preparing to train" -- this is an interesting difference (for me). Swimmers all realize the importance of hard work and dedication. Many elite coaches operate on four-year plans. They talk about putting in huge volume two years in advance of the Olympic trails to prepare for Olympic year training. The best coaches have an ability to work backwards from the Olympics all the way to "this morning's workout" -- I was impressed at their planning. There is an increasing focus on the benefits of proper recovery intervals. See my Physiology Notes for more details on appropriate rest intervals. Even for masters swimmers limited to 60 minutes, they recommend a proper, targeted main set. My favorite quote, "Focus on your goals not your yardage" I was lucky enough to spend the summer training with a coach who could care less about volume. His only focus was achieving the technical and phisiological goals of each session. At first, I was frustrated because my yardage was way down. After two months, I saw the results of his method. Of course, this method of coaching takes a greater commitment on the part of the coach. I can only see three times when elites back off the volume: (a) they taper for a meet; (b) they are injured; or (c) they are over-trained. Volume tends to revolve around 6-8 week cycles. Even when they back off, it is only on the order of 20-30%. Elements of Modern Freestyle Any deviations from these points tend to be either poor technique or a compensating movement for some other error (specifically when legs move out of alignment).
"Think of how fast they could have gone if they knew how to swim" -- speaking about Olympic Champions in the early 1900s. "Pretty good technique, I wonder why he wasn't faster" -- speaking about Mark Spitz! Stroking Action Forbes emphasized that the catch should be straight back and that there is no s-shaped movement. This came through loud and clear watching his video of the elites. Enter, snap catch, crank back, repeat with perfect body position. Forbes also emphasized that the muscles involved in the swimming stroke, "take years of judicious practice" to reach their potential. No doubt this is due to the fact that an efficient swimming stroke is not something that comes naturally to humans. Also an excellent case for correcting our technique ASAP. Implications for Long Course Triathletes (my view)
gordo - 15 September 2001 |