Swim Coaching Brain

Talent ID in Swimming: the Talent Pool!

Wayne Goldsmith — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 05:05:45 +0000

: swimming-pool from Crestock Photos

Talent is Harder to Hide than it is to Find.

When looking for the characteristics, traits and abilities that may indicate a swimmer’s talent, the most obvious things to look for are the physical ones.

However, swimmers with real physical talent are harder to hide than they are to find!

How many times have you been to a Swim Meet and seen the ten year old who is built like a fifteen year old blitz the opposition and break the Meet record? Finding physical talent in very talented swimmers is like telling people you discovered the Pacific Ocean-someone was going to find it sooner or later – hiding it would have been a far greater challenge!

And…ultimately, physical talent is only one indicator - and not a particularly good one - of performance potential.

It’s more than merely muscle.

Real talent is a far more complex thing than merely muscles, tendons, nerves, blood and ligaments. It’s an integration of mind, body and spirit: a combination of physical, mental, technical, tactical, genetic, cultural and personality factors that come together in a pair of swimming costumes that may one day break the World record or win the Olympic Gold Medal.

So what are the Top Ten Talent ID Techniques for Swimming: how do you find the most talented swimmers in the talent pool?:

Parents – (genetic material): choose your parents carefully;
Parents- a supporting, loving, caring environment, where parents or carers provide a swimmer’s core needs in nutrition, time management, sleep, rest, education and family support;
The Ability to learn fast – learn more in a shorter period of time = faster progression and improvement;
The Ability to deal with difficulty, adversity and change – the path to greatness is never straight or smooth. Many Olympic Gold medalists have had to endure set-backs, surgery, illness and disappointment and fight hard to achieve their dreams;
Physical talent- you have to have at least one “weapon” – speed, size, strength, power, flexibility….having at least one physical gift is useful;
Self confidence / self belief – they can who believe they can;
Passion – the love of swimming is the driving force of so many great swimmers and great swimming performances;
The ability to get along with other people - swimming is an individual sport wrapped up in a team environment. The ability to work well with team-mates in often tough, hard, high pressure situations, e.g when touring with a representative team, is a critical skill and a much under-estimated talent;
The ability to keep a sense of humour and balance about life – after all it is only swimming and you are so much more than just a swimmer;
Time availability – whilst not strictly a measure of talent, the amount of time available to train, prepare, rest, recover and compete are critical determinants of the level of swimming you can achieve.

Or if you like…

Talent is….
Attitude to train to your full potential everyday;
Love of the sport;
Enthusiasm – particularly in the tough times;
Nurturing – unconditional love and support at home from a family who cares;
Toughness – being able to persevere and keep giving your best when your feel so tired you can barely lift your arms;
Inherited characteristics – choose your parents carefully;
Desire – never give up.

Putting it all together.

So when looking in the talent pool for talent in the pool, keep your eyes, ears, heart and mind open.

It’s a lot more than just being the biggest, the strongest, the tallest or the fastest…..talent is a total package: a combination of factors that, when combined with consistent hard work, dedication, commitment and an uncompromising devotion to perfect preparation, turns potential into performance.

Wayne Goldsmith

Complementary Carnivals: Why Swim Meets Fail.

Wayne Goldsmith — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 22:20:12 +0000

: Track & stands from Crestock Free Stock Photos

Ever wondered why the Grandstands and bleachers at your Club Swimming Carnivals and Swim Meets are empty?

Ever wanted to know how to get lots of people to come along to your Swim Meets?

Ever wanted to know how to get the support of Coaches so that they actively support your Swim Meet and send large numbers of their swimmers along to race?

Then design and deliver Complementary Carnivals!

The simple answer to all these question is this: Design your Swim Meet program to reflect the needs of the swimmers and coaches you are hoping to attract: Complementary Carnivals (i.e. as in the dictitionary definition - acting as or providing a complement – something that completes the whole.

Too many Clubs, Regional Associations, State Swimming Associations and even National Swimming Associations conduct swim meets which are designed around the four Cs:

Cash – using Swim Meets as Cash-cows and designing a program to deliver the maximum possible financial return rather than the best result for swimmers and coaches;
Convenience – making the Swim Meet fit into the schedule of the Administration rather than the optimal fit into the training and competition cycles of swimmers and coaches;
Continuity – repeating the same program over and over again, year after year;
Committee – doing what the “committee” or Board think is what’s best for swimmers and coaches rather than consulting with them, collaborating with them and asking them what they really need from a Swim Meet.

Too many times we hear these three comments:

From Coaches: “I am not going to send my team to that Swim Meet because it does not work in with our training or competition goals”;

From Swimmers: “I am not going to that Swim Meet. The events are always the same, it’s boring and I get sick of going there every year to do the same stuff” and then…………….

From Swim Meet Organisers: “Why aren’t swimmers and coaches supporting my Swim Meet?”.

Well, duh!

The secret to success in Swim Meet organisation is to design and deliver a program which provides swimmers and coaches with the opportunity they need to enhance their training and competition goals.

There are two ways of doing this.

At Club and Regional level, design and deliver Swim Meet programs which complement the training and competition goals of the swimmers and coaches;
At State and National level, design and deliver Swim Meet programs which reflect the competition schedules and competition formats of the next level meet, i.e. State Level Swim Meets should replicate and simulate the competition conditions swimmers will face at National Level Swim Meets and National Level Swim Meets should replicate and simulate the competition conditions swimmers will face at their targeted International Level Swim Meet.

Swim Meet organisers have to think in reverse to make this happen.

Instead of thinking “let’s put together a program which generates the most possible revenue for our Club or Region or State” , they need to think, “what is it that our swimmers and coaches need from a Swim Meet that can best help them improve and realise their performance goals?”.

At Club level this concept is critical. If the Club’s coach is working hard on developing the swimmers’ endurance, improving their aerobic capacity and building the team’s stamina in training, then it makes sense to help the coach and the swimmers by delivering a Club Night racing program which is based around endurance, aerobic capacity and stamina!

This should be a no-brainer: the Club competition program should reflect and support the Club’s training program. Again…well, duh!

This is not a hard concept to understand folks – so why do so many Swim Meet organisers get it so wrong?

All over the world, Swim Meet organisers are coming together to discuss and plan their next competition program: format, structure, order of events, timing etc etc.

The smart ones have consulted the swimmers and coaches they represent and have designed a Swim Meet program which delivers something of real value and relevance.

The not-so-smart ones have just rolled out the same program they have used since 1961, thrown in 200 extra events to try and milk every possible cent out of swimming parents and created the whole Meet to suit their own timing, own needs and their own agendas.

Smart or Not-So-Smart………..which one are you?

Wayne Goldsmith

Multi-Eventing in Swimming: How being a M.E.S.S. makes swimming a lot more fun.

Wayne Goldsmith — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 06:10:29 +0000

Swimming has changed! The sport’s got a whole lot mess-y-er!

It wasn’t all that long ago when you had to be a butterflyer, a backstroker, a breaststroker, a freestyler, a sprinter, a distance swimmer or an IM-er. Seemed like you had no sooner taken up the sport of swimming, when someone was trying to make you A-something.

Somebody would tell you, “If you want to be a great swimmer, you need to be a-something” – (usually a-one thing).

Now – if you have to be something – you can be a M.E.S.S. – a Multi Event Stroke Swimmer! Gives a whole new meaning to someone telling you your room is “messy”doesn’t it?

With some of the world’s greatest swimmers now showing that it is possible to be great at more than one stroke, multi eventing – (or M.E.S.S. for short) has become something for all swimmers to consider.

Why be a M.E.S.S?

Swimming several events gives you races to look forward to – no matter how good or bad you might be feeling in the water. Sometimes you can feel great in every event, and across every stroke. Other times you feel great in one stroke, but not in others. Some days you feel great over one race distance, but not over others.

No matter how you feel, as a M.E.S.S. there will be something for you to look forward to.

1. Being a MESS gives you lots of options in racing;

Imagine going to a meet and knowing: “I can do anything!”

A Freestyle event comes up – you can do it!

A great backstroke race is on – you can do it!

The Medleys – distance events – the sprints…. You can do it, you can do it, you can do it!

The great thing about being a MESS is having the skills, technique, confidence, knowledge and abilities to choose to do anything!

You could choose to concentrate on one stroke across several distances. You could choose to concentrate on one distance with several strokes – all the 50s, all the 100s, all the 200s.

You could swim every stroke on the program in order to gain race fitness and master back-up racing – perfect for improving your ability to swim fast heats, semi finals and finals format racing.

You could do only the events where you currently feel fast and fit: or you could deliberately do the events that don’t feel so good and improve your skills, strokes and speed: strengthen your strengths and overcome your weaknesses.

Nothing feels better than being able to choose to choose!

2. Being a MESS gives you lots of choices in training;

As well as having the choices in racing, being a MESS means you have more choices in training: millions of ‘em!

Fitness is fitness. Sure – stroke specific skills, power and strength for each event have to be practiced and mastered sometimes, however swimming is swimming, water time is water time, streamlining is streamlining! Underwater swimming is the same for fly and free, and also backstroke, and the skills practiced in one stroke will often improve skills in another stroke.

Most swimmers go to training thinking “I have four training choices – my main stroke, my main stroke kick, my main stroke pull and my main stroke skills /drills”.

MESS swimmers go to training knowing they have more conditioning combinations and training options than the best Pizza place in the world has topping choices!

3. Being a MESS gives your body (and your brain) a break;

Being a MESS means never having that “Oh no – not another freestyle session” kind of feeling. Every session is an opportunity to learn, grow, improve, discover and experiment.

No more mental “blah” days when you find it hard to concentrate and find the right motivation to switch on your swimming brain.

No more workouts when your legs are so tired and worn out from swimming miles and miles and miles of the one stroke.

With MESS you feel fast, fresh and fabulous most of the time because every session – every day – every week is delightfully different.

4. Being a MESS is more fun.

Write down the things you really enjoy doing – what is it about the most fun things you do that makes them so much fun?

They are:

Interesting;
Challenging;
Enjoyable;
Stimulating for your brain;
Something you can do with your friends;
Always new, different and exciting.

Ta-daaa! That’s what being a MESS is all about.

5. You never grow out of being a MESS!

We’ve all seen the swimmers who were great backstrokers at nine years of age and sort of outgrew the stroke – (or the stroke outgrew them).

We’ve all trained with the swimmers who were doing huge volumes of training in their favourite event when they were 13 and then got tired, bored and flat and were off playing one of the big four balls (Baseball, Basketball, Football and staying at home having a ball doing nothing) by the time they were 14.

As a MESS – you never outgrow your stroke or your event – because you don’t have one….you have lots of them. As your body changes, develops and matures – you can simply switch focus, change direction, change emphasis and voila: You are still the great swimmer you always were!

OK – so maybe you are reading this and thinking, “but I want to specialise in one stroke and be the best of the best at doing it”.

That’s great – if you have the passion, talent, commitment, desire and motivation to be the best in one event –go for it – give it your best – give it everything you’ve got.

But the point with being a MESS is that you don’t have to be a-anything – being a MESS means you can choose to do one, two, three, four or twenty seven thousand different events and get out of swimming what ever you want to get out of it. It’s a great sport – make it yours!

So go ahead – be a MESS – and for the first time (and maybe the only time) in your life being MESSY will really pay off!

And now…for all you MESS’ out there, The MESS Poem:

Being a MESS with lots of strokes,

Means I have more fun than other folks.

I get to master all the skills,

With lots more strokes and lots more thrills.

I never get tired, or bored or flat,

Or lazy or dull or anything like that.

I never get sick of the same old pool,

Cause everyday is new and cool.

So why not be a MESS like me,

Have a lot more fun and feel a lot more free.

Wayne Goldsmith and Helen Morris.

The Last Race

Wayne Goldsmith — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 05:44:14 +0000

For every swimmer there will be one last race.

One time when you hit the wall, look up at the score board, see “Jones, P 1:03.07” for the last time. Or “Lane 6 56.83”. Or “Lane 3 – 2:45.71”

And in that one moment, how do you want to remember your swimming career?

And in that one moment, how do you want to be remembered as a swimmer?

And in that one moment and throughout the next 50, 60, 70 years…..what will you remember about swimming?

What will all those early mornings, long sessions, tough gym workouts and competitions mean?

It would be easy to measure a swimming career in terms of medals, cups, trophies, ribbons, records, titles, championships and podium finishes: to measure your swimming career in terms of your competition performances.

But that will reduce a career of wonderful experiences and life changing events to a few dollars worth of plastic, metal and cotton.

What has swimming really meant to you?

The world has changed.

Everything is fast, instant, immediate and entertaining.

Swimming on the other hand stayed true to old fashion values like hard work, commitment, dedication, being selfless and working with others, being part of a team.

Swimming taught you lessons – not just about fly and back and turns and starts but about the things that really matter.

It taught you to set goals and work hard to achieve them.

It taught you that when things got tough, you got tougher.

It taught you that hard work and a positive attitude could overcome any obstacle.

It taught you to be humble – how to deal with losing.

It taught you to be humble – even in victory.

It taught you about honesty – about the importance of giving all you had to give and letting people see what you were capable of.

It taught you to deal with pain and discomfort.

It taught you about discipline, about time management, about being organised.

It taught you about nutrition, about health, about fitness, about taking care of yourself.

It taught you to stand up and face challenges – to be assertive – to never be intimidated by anything or anyone.

It taught you about confidence and believing in yourself and in believing anything is possible.

Swimming was the best teacher you ever had.

So what if you didn’t win the State final.

So what if you didn’t break the World record.

So what if you didn’t get that Olympic gold.

You became so much more than a flashy piece of metal – you became something far greater.

You became a person who achieved amazing things. A person who could push themselves through barriers other people see as insurmountable. A person who could overcome adversity and meet any challenge life threw at them. A person who gave everything they had to chase a dream and even if they came up short, got up and had another go at achieving it….and another….and another.

You became an outstanding student: staying up late to study for an exam was nothing compared to driving yourself up and down a lane 20 hours a week.

You became a great parent: having a child and losing some sleep was insignificant compared to travelling over night to a meet, racing all day, driving home and then getting up for training at 4 am the next day.

You become a wonderful partner: dealing with the differences between you and your partner was a small issue after working so close to a team of people pushing themselves to their limits day after day after day.

Don’t measure yourself or measure your career by gold or silver or bronze. Don’t measure it by ribbons or medals or titles.

Measure it by the only things that really matter – how much you enjoyed doing something you loved with people you loved being with. Or how many fun times you had with mom and dad on the way to training or on long, sleepy drives home from meets. Or by the jokes between repeats that went on and on and on and had you laughing under water most of the session. Or by the friends you had when you were ten who would still do anything for you 20 years later.

Or by the lessons you teach to your children: passing on the swimming experience and life lessons to the next generation and helping them be all they can be.

So when it is your last race, whether you grab the gold medal at the Olympic Games and retire on top or if it is swimming 3:35 for 100 free as a 92 year old in the State Masters championships, take a moment or two to smile, think about what you have achieved and feel very, very satisfied.

You did it.

Wayne Goldsmith (written for and inspired by Helen Morris)

All New Swim Coaching Brain Mobile Theme.

Wayne Goldsmith — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 03:10:35 +0000

Now you can access all the articles, ideas, information and innovations of the Swim Coaching Brain on your Smartphone thanks to our all new Mobile theme.

Check it out using your I-phone, Blackberry or Android phone.

The Swim Coaching Brain: anytime, anywhere and for anyone who loves swimming.

A.T. – does it stand for Anaerobic Threshold or A Total Waste of Time?

Wayne Goldsmith — Mon, 24 May 2010 21:00:50 +0000

: earth from Crestock Creative Images

A.T. – what does it stand for?

Anaerobic Threshold? Yep – for senior athletes, elite swimmers, swimmers 13 years of age and older – absolutely.

For swimmers 12 and under what does A.T. stand for? A Total waste of time.

We’ve all heard the old swimming cliches about kids and training:

“You’ve got to get the miles into the kids.”

“Kids recover fast so you can push them harder more often.”

“Training kids is all about volume – you have do a lot of work.”

The volume of training appropriate for kids 12 years and under is not for debate here (and let’s be honest, no one really knows the answer to that one anyway) – it’s all about intensity – and by and large, we are pushing young swimmers too hard too often: we are pushing them at or around A.T. for no logical or rational reason.

Whilst the evidence for including some quantity of A.T. work in the training programs of senior swimmers is hard to question, the role of A.T. in the training and development of young swimmers is uncertain at the very least.

Here’s the case for pushing kids 12 and under at A.T. pace for extended periods during swimming training:

It looks like they are training hard so everyone feels good about the workout;
It keeps the noisy and disruptive kids quiet.
Their parents like it because the kids are too tired to argue with them, and they sleep!

Now here’s the case against pushing kids 12 and under at A.T. pace for extended periods during swimming training:

They don’t produce a lot of lactate but what they do produce (i.e. by swimming at or above A.T.) they don’t deal with very well;
They don’t race over distances requiring high level A.T. adaptation abilities, i.e. most 12 and under swimmers race 50s and 100s;
Most of the events they race over are approximately 50% dives, turns, underwater swimming and finishes - i.e. skills based – with only around 50% of race distance being free swimming;
Pushing them hard at A.T. for long periods leaves them fatigued and impacts on their ability to swim at max or near speeds in training during speed development training;
A.T. is the proverbial metabolic “no man’s land” for swimmers aged 12 and under. It has the effect of young swimmers doing their slow work too fast and their fast work too slow – developing neither endurance or speed and largely wasting their all too valuable water time.

So why do so many coaches spend so much time bashing and belting young swimmers up and down the pool in the A.T. “no man’s land”?

Because it is easy to do!

The easiest way to coach a large team of young swimmers is to push them as hard as possible as often as possible. It keeps them under control. It keeps them working hard. It makes parents think they are getting fitter and stronger. And…just occasionally, a few swimmers get a good result from the too hard / too often approach if they manage to get a lot of rest during their taper and have some underlying sprinting abilities.

This is of course the old “broken-egg” coaching approach. Throw enough eggs against a wall and maybe, just maybe one or two out of a thousand will survive the impact.

Instead of the other 998 eggs lying broken on the ground…. think!! - is this really good coaching????? And we wonder why so many kids drop out of the sport at 13, 14 and 15 years of age…. they just got sick of being made into omelettes!

So weigh it up in your own mind.

Old way – push the kids as hard as possible at or above A.T. in every workout for a few months, taper them for a few days and hope it all comes together on race day or……

New way – adopt a common sense, practical, sensible approach that helps develop the swimmers’ physical, mental, technical and tactical abilities in a way which is relevant and appropriate to their competition goals.

Hmmmmmm – difficult choice!

Summary and Practical Coaching Tips:

When coaching swimmers 12 years of age and under, stick to the simplicity and practicality of the P.A.C.E. model;
If in doubt, either work very slow (60-70% speed, very aerobically, great technique) or very very fast (100% speed, short distances, great technique, lots of recovery) – and always work in an integrated way – i.e. managing training speed plus mental factors plus technique plus skills;
Break your old habits! The old “let’s push the kids every workout so their faces are red, their shoulders sore and they are out of breath” days are over! Effective training is about balance, adopting an integrated approach and including physical, mental, technical, tactical development activities in every session.

Wayne Goldsmith

The W Word: Winning.

Wayne Goldsmith — Tue, 18 May 2010 05:17:24 +0000

: business graph from Crestock Photos

Winning. Winning. Winning. There, I said it.

That felt good. I’ll say it again. Winning.

That felt so good I’ll do it again. Winning!!

It’s time we made the “W” word fashionable again.

Everyone talks about “doing your best” and “trying really hard” and “never giving up” and “achieving my personal best” but when is the last time you heard someone get up and say, “I am here to win”.

So let’s start thinking about winning, talking about winning and doing things in training, preparation and competition that make winning as certain as night follows day, dogs chase cats, and having too much homework to do on weekends.

Winning. To come first. To be the best. To be better than your competition. To be the leader.

All these things sound really positive and worth striving for but why have they become so difficult to talk about and so rare to find?

Because talking “winning” means putting yourself “on the line”. It means making a clear statement that your intention is to win and that second is unacceptable. Making a statement like “I am here to win” means you have made a commitment that nothing except the Gold Medal matters. It is absolute – it is finite – there is no misunderstanding: you thirst to be first! You want to go for the gold and leave the silverware for someone making a dinner setting.

And that’s why it is so scary and so intimidating for so many people….there is no “out” clause, no excuses, no alternatives – it’s win or it’s lose. When you declare “I am going for the win” there is no ambiguity, no misunderstandings, no confusion…winning means winning.

It’s ok to talk about pushing for the podium, to go for the gold and to want to win…..IF and this is a big IF, your winning thoughts and winning words are supported by winning actions.

Winning thoughts – The process of winning begins with Winning thoughts. Winning thoughts are dreams, and everyone dreams. They are those moments when your spirit soars, when your imagination flies and you dream about achieving great things. They are the fire – the inspiration for all the great things you want to do and will do in the future. Lots of people dream about winning – lots of people can even imagine (visualise) themselves holding up the Olympic Gold, doing the press conference in front of the world’s media and some people even imagine what they will say when they get asked “So what does it feel like to be the Olympic Champion”. Having winning thoughts is not the issue…..it’s going to the next step and saying (and meaning) winning words.

Winning words – If your dreams are the fire – the spark of your winning ways, then your words – your winning words are your fuel. We all use some form of self talk in everyday life – you know that little voice that says “I can do this” or “This isn’t so tough” or “Hang in there – this pain will pass”. Winning is about taking these inner voices and actually giving them a real voice. Letting winning thoughts out and hearing them makes them real. It takes them out of the world of dreams and imagination and into the real world where they can be heard – by you and others. Saying it is one thing…now comes the big step: turning winning words into winning actions.

Winning actions…and the key to it all is action. Winning thoughts are easy to think. Winning words are easy to say. But winning actions….they require something different – they require your energy, your enthusiasm, your commitment and you taking responsibility to make your dreams real. It’s easy to dream “Wow – I really wish I could win”. It’s easy to say “I really want to win”. But the reason why so many people never actually win is that they are not prepared to do what it takes to prepare to win.

Imagine for a moment you were looking through a magic mirror at the swimmer who will be the Olympic Gold medallist in your favourite event in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. They are in a pool somewhere in the world today, doing what you are doing, training, stretching, kicking, doing drills and all the other stuff that you do every day in every workout.

It’s not what they are doing…it’s how they are doing it.

They got to the pool early and did some extra stretching and strengthening work.

They had their own drink bottle and drank regularly throughout workout.

They attacked every turn like it was the final turn of an Olympic final.

They drove off every wall with power and speed.

They finished off every repeat on the wall with race quality finishes.

They completed all their sprint work at maximum speed – holding nothing back in spite of the pain and discomfort.

As soon as workout finished, they immediately started recovering from training and began the preparation process for the next session

They made a decision that they would out-train, out-stretch, out-strengthen, out-kick, out-pull, out-dive, out-turn, out-swim, and out-prepare any swimmer in their event in the world and that’s why they will win the Gold medal in Rio. They had a dream – they spoke it – they believed it – they put it into action and…they will win.

So, my question to you is this…“if you know what it will take to win the Gold Medal in Rio in 2016…why aren’t you doing it now?”

You’ve got the dream. You know the words. You know what actions you have to take….so do it! You can do it.

Summary:

So don’t be afraid of thinking about and talking about winning: winning is a good thing;
But…..and this is the key to it all….it’s only cool to think about and talk about winning IF you then turn your winning thoughts and winning words into winning actions with outstanding, consistently brilliant and uncompromisingly excellent training and preparation;
And, if you don’t win….learn, learn, learn from it. Winning means improvement and improvement comes from learning. So every experience, win, lose or draw is learning. Learn more – improve faster – win more often.
What the mind can conceive, and with words can believe, the body can achieve.

Wayne Goldsmith

Speed development workouts – five of the best speed workout sets to have you burning up the lanes!

Wayne Goldsmith — Tue, 04 May 2010 05:48:21 +0000

: winner from Crestock Images

Gennadi Touretski– coach of legendary Russian speedster Alex Popov once said, “speed is the most precious thing in swimming – in the end it is what we are all about – it is what we are all trying to achieve”.

There are no gold medals or world records for the person who can swim the slowest or swim with the best technique or with the strongest kick or who has the best heart rate. There are no gold medals for the swimmer who wears the most expensive swim suit (at least not any more!).

There are no gold medals for the person who can lift the most weights or who has the best hairdo – winning is all about speed.

Speed’s seven golden rules: (to be read to swimmers at every speed development workout!!!!)

Train fast to go fast – train the way you want to race and include speed development training every week – and in all cycles of training;
The faster you want to go – the more relaxed you have to be! The only difference between swimming slow and swimming fast is the speed. Speed has nothing to do with gritting your teeth or tensing your muscles or pulling / pushing harder in the water – the faster you want to go, the more relaxed you have to be;
Only fast is fast. 90% of your best is not fast. 95% of your best is not fast. Only 100% is fast. You don’t get faster by doing your speed workouts at near to best speed. You get faster by training faster than you ever have before;
Think fast to go fast. Get yourself mentally ready for speed training by thinking about speed – focus on words that give speed meaning to you like “explode”, “drive”, “power”, etc;
Wall to wall speed. The fastest swimmers in the world usually get to top speed before their opposition. In other words their acceleration is critically important. They also have great finishing speed and often will swim over their opposition in the final few metres. If you are practicing speed, work on it wall to wall – maximum speed starts – maximum speed finishes;
Quality not quantity. The aim of speed development workouts is to develop speed. Increasing the number of repeats to achieve an increase in workout volume at the expense of the quality (speed) of the workouts will only develop the ability to swim slowly more often;
Maintain skills / technique and legality at speed – going faster does not mean a compromise on skills, technique and legality (i.e. Legal dives, starts, turns and finishes).

Here are five speed development workout sets to help your swimmers burn up the lane!!!!!!!!!!!

Number One: Killer kick set- Parts one and two.

Fast swimmers are invariably strong kickers. The ultimate aim of this set is to help a swimmer bring their 50 kick time as close as possible to their 50 swim time.

Killer kick set part 1 – finding your speed limit.

Start with the swimmer’s pb swim time for a 50 and add 15 seconds.

They then aim to kick a 50 in better than that time.

Now take off 1 second.

The aim is to kick a 50 in better than that time.

Now take off 1 second.

The aim is to kick a 50 in better than that time.

Keep going until the swimmer is at the point where they can just make the wall in the target time.

This is their kicking speed limit.

Killer kick set part two – practicing at your speed limit

8 x 50 kick on 2:00 minutes holding the individual kicking speed limit.

Variations:

No kick board;
Combine with a swim at target race pace, ie 50 kick, leave the kick board at the end of the pool, then sprint 25 / 30 metres at target race pace.

Number Two: Over / under set

Over / under sets are those which target speeds over a best previous speed at distances under a target race distance.

For example, if the swimmer is targeting 100 metres in one minute. An over under set might be:

Warm up;
Stretch;
Three to five minutes break;
2 x 25 metres at 15 seconds;
2 x 30 metres at 18 seconds;
100 easy swim and stretch;
2 x 40 metres at 24 seconds;
2 x 50 metres (feet on the wall) at 30 seconds;
200 easy swim and stretch;
2 x 55 metres (tumble plus five metres) at 33 seconds;
2 x 60 metres (tumble plus ten metres) at 36 seconds;
300 easy swim and stretch;
1-2 x 70 metres (tumble plus 20 metres) at 42 seconds;
1-2 x 80 metres (tumble plus 30 metres) at 48 seconds;
Swim down;
Stretch.

The key to the set is the flexible rest interval. Unlike most sets where the aim is to hold a cycle, e.g. 10 x 100 on a cycle time of 2 minutes, in speed development sets, the swimmer takes as much rest as they need to achieve the target time. Repeating mediocrity only achieves mediocrity!

Variations:

Shorter distances – more repeats;
Longer distances – fewer repeats;
Decrease rests between repeats only if quality can be maintained;
Start mid way down the pool so that the distances / times include a turn at target speed;
Add stroke count targets.

Number Three: 8-10-12-14-16

You can use any numbers you like – the principle is what matters. For example:

Warm up;
Stretch;
Break for three – five minutes;
8 strokes at maximum speed (no breathing on free or fly);
Easy swim to the end of the pool / one minute rest;
10 strokes at maximum speed;
Easy swim to the end of the pool / one minute rest;
12 strokes at maximum speed;
Easy swim to the end of the pool / one minute rest;
14 strokes at maximum speed;
Easy swim to the end of the pool / one minute rest;
16 strokes at maximum speed;
Easy swim to the end of the pool / 200 easy swim;
Repeat the above 2-4 times;
Swim down;
Stretch.

Variations:

Add a dive;
Use paddles (take care with young / inexperienced swimmers);
Control breathing patterns;
With young swimmers, these numbers will work fine. With senior swimmers their additional distance per stroke and distance off the wall underwater will mean using numbers like 6-7-8-9-10;
Start at various points in the pool to include more turns at target race speed.

Number Four: Dive cones

This is a fun speed workout for all swimmers.

Organize swimmers into pairs with similar swimming speeds.

Ask one swimmer in each pair to swim as fast as they can for ten seconds. The other swimmer walks along the side of the pool and places a cone (one of those brightly colored plastic cones used by gym teachers and other coaches to mark out training activities) to mark the distance their partner has achieved.

The set could be:

5 x 10 seconds at maximum speed – aiming to go a little further each repeat;
4 x 15 seconds at maximum speed – aiming to go a little further each repeat;
3 x 20 seconds at maximum speed – aiming to go a little further each repeat;
2 x 25 seconds at maximum speed – aiming to go a little further each repeat;
1 x 30 seconds at maximum speed.

Why does this work?

It taps into the competitive nature of swimmers;
It provides immediate, clear, visual feedback after each repeat;
It gives each swimmer a clear, immediate, tangible, measurable goal;
It provides an opportunity to develop stronger team bonds with each swimmer encouraging and urging their partner to achieve improved results over the set.

Variations:

Control breathing;
Set stroke count goals;
Have “world championships” where the winning swimmer is the one who improves their distance swum the most over the set.

Number Five: Super sixties

Sixty metres sprints are a great distance to train over. They are long enough to teach a swimmer how to sustain maximum speed but short enough to train at developing real speed qualities.

For example:

Warm up
Stretch
3- 5 minute break
6 x 60 metres at target race speed with an easy swim and stretch between each. Cycle time is dependent on the swimmer’s ability to maintain the quality of the set.
Warm down
Stretch

Variations:

Move the start / finish after each repeat. For example:

1^st repeat – dive, swim 50, tumble and swim ten metres;
2nd repeat – start at ten metres, swim 40, tumble and swim 20 metres;
3^rd repeat – start at 20 metres, swim 30, tumble and swim 30 metres;
4^th repeat – start at 30 metres, swim 20, tumble and swim 40 metres;
5^th repeat – start at 40 metres, swim 10, tumble and swim 50 metres (with a race finish);
6^th repeat – dive start, swim 50, tumble and swim ten metres.

So if it is speed you need, these sets will develop speed indeed!!!

Wayne Goldsmith

The Engagement Factor – the essential element in designing training sets and swimming workouts.

admin — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 03:34:02 +0000

In my last post, I introduced the P.A.C.E. system – a simple, easy to use, practical way of managing training intensity in young age group swimmers.

P.A.C.E. System Level	Description	Feels like	Used for
P or PACE 1	Practice and Preparation Pace	Easy, relaxed.	Recovery, drills and skills.
A or PACE 2	Air-robic Pace.	Easy to moderate.	Endurance development.
C or PACE 3	Competition Specific Pace	Hard.	Race specific practices with race specific speeds, skills, techniques and breathing.
E or PACE 4	Electric Pace	Fast - explosive.	Speed development.

Now, let’s build on the P.A.C.E. system by introducing the Engagement Factor: the first training prescription system which incorporates a mental skills focus in swimming workout design.

Everyone talks about the importance of the mental side of swimming and how important it is for swimmers to train both their bodies and minds in training and preparation.

Talking about it is one thing.

The next step for coaches is to make mental skills and the integration of the mind into every session and the way to achieve this is to incorporate mental skills in the workout design itself.

Introducing the Engagement Factor.We all know that optimal performance comes from the integration – or harmony if you like – of body and mind. When the body and mind come together to collaborate in competition anything is possible.

The problem is that at the moment, for the most part, we train the mind and body separately.

When we design swimming workouts, it is always done from a physical (volume and intensity), technical (stroke technique and skills) and tactical (stroke mechanics, pacing etc) perspective. Then, we train the mind quite separately by organising motivation talks, personal development sessions and mental skills workshops.

For example, a training set like 5 x 200 metres is typically written:

5 x 200 (volume) at a pace of 75% maximum speed (intensity) on a 3:30 cycle (intensity) – which are all physical variables.

We might add in some technical and tactical elements, for example:

5 x 200 on 3:30 holding 75% maximum speed / stroke count of ABC and stroke rate of DEF.

But again, our instructions to the swimmers are based on the execution of physical performance elements.

The challenge is how can we incorporate mental skills as an integral, core aspect of workout design?

The effectiveness of training programs and workout designs are dependent on how engaged the athlete is in the activities.

A brilliantly designed workout, with skilfully crafted sets and repeat times is of little value to swimmers who are not interested, not concentrating, not focused and not engaged in the workout.

As engagement is such a critical factor in the effectiveness of workout design, it makes very good sense to incorporate a measure or level of required engagement in the workout design itself: hence the Engagement Factor.

The primary goal of incorporating and integrating a mental component into workout design is to have swimmers go “on line” – to engage their brains and switch on mentally when completing important sets and repeats.

As a general principle, the Engagement Factor aims to help swimmers increase their level of engagement as the need for greater levels of technical excellence and higher speeds are required by the coach – or as the demand for excellence in technical execution and speed increases, so too does engagement level.

So,why do this? Why do we need an Engagement Factor?

Remember that the P.A.C.E. system is targeted at young age group swimmers.

Similarly the Engagement Factor is targeting young age group swimmers (aged 8-12 years) and is designed to help coaches working with young swimmers to better “train the brain”.

We have all heard the rhetoric about how “every lap is important” but the reality is young kids can not concentrate or focus for the full 45-60 minutes of an average age group swimming training session.

Our response to their lack of concentration or focus has been to yell and scream and pull our hair out. The Engagement Factor overcomes this frustration by clearly instructing swimmers when to “switch on” and when to “switch off”.

In the same way we instruct swimmers when to speed up and when to slow down their swimming pace using repeat times and goals speed, the Engagement Factor helps swimmers to learn how to control the “speed” of their brains during a training session.

To summarise the Engagement Factor:

Engagement Factor 1: Warm up (early stages) / swim down / recovery: Focus on relaxation, ease of movement and slow, steady breathing;
Engagement Factor 2: Warm up (later stages) / long endurance work: Focus on relaxation, flow, “switching on” to the workout;
Engagement Factor 3: Most conditioning work: Combination of relaxation and rhythm whilst focusing on skills execution and technique;
Engagement Factor 4: Drills and skills work. Focus on attention to detail, purposeful movements, quality in execution;
Engagement Factor 5: Competition preparation work and speed development – i.e. total concentration and focus to stimulate neural adaptation mechanisms and simulate competition conditions.

For example:

Traditional methods of swimming workout design using Physiological variables only (i.e. volume / intensity – P.A.C.E. system):

Warm up – PACE 1 (see table above ): Easy 400 freestyle on 6:30 / 8 x 50 Back kick in streamline on 1:30
Drills and skills – PACE 1 (see table above) 8 x 25 lateral freestyle kicking drill on 45 / 8 x 25 lateral 6 x 6 freestyle drill on 40.
Main set – PACE 2 (see table above ) 8 x 200 metres freestyle on 3:15.
Sprint development – 6 x 50 metres as (20 metres best stroke at maximum speed PACE 4 / 30 metres recovery freestyle PACE 1)
Swim down – PACE 1 (see table above) 400 as alternate 25s backstroke / freestyle

Now look at the same workout using the new concept incorporating the Engagement Factor, i.e. Mind and body incorporated into swimming workout design:

Warm up – PACE 1 (see table above ): Easy 400 freestyle on 6:30 / 8 x 50 Back kick in streamline on 1:30 – Engagement Factor 1-2.
Drills and skills – PACE 1 (see table above ) 8 x 25 lateral freestyle kicking drill on 45 / 8 x 25 lateral 6 x 6 freestyle drill on 40 – Engagement Factor 4.
Main set – PACE 2 (see table above ) 8 x 200 metres freestyle on 3:15 – Engagement Factor 2-3.
Sprint development – 6 x 50 metres as (20 metres best stroke at maximum speed PACE 4 / 30 metres recovery freestyle PACE 1) – Engagement Factor 5 on sprints / Engagement Factor 1 on recovery.
Swim down – PACE 1 (see table above ) 400 as alternate 25s backstroke / freestyle – Engagement Factor 1.

Or in swimming workout design “shorthand”, the shift in thinking means writing workouts this way:

Old method: 12 x 100 metres on 1:45 holding the target intensity level for example PACE 2:

New method: 12 x 100 metres on 1:45 holding the target intensity level of PACE 2 at an Engagement factor of 3 – or 12 x 100 on 1:45 P2 E3.

The philosophy behind the Engagement Factor is simple: it is an easy, practical way to incorporate a focus on mental skills into swimming workouts and thereby make workouts more efficient and effective.

When combined with the P.A.C.E. system of managing training intensity, the Engagement Factor provides a simple, practical way for young swimmers and their coaches to ensure the optimal stimulation and integration of physiological and psychological factors in training and preparation.

Let me know what you think.

Wayne Goldsmith

The P.A.C.E. System of Managing Swimming Training Intensity.

Wayne Goldsmith — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 05:14:51 +0000

: Olympic Gold Medal Winner for 100m freestyle, Goldfish league from Yuri Arcurs Website

The challenge itself is relatively simple.

How to simply, practically, reliably and accurately manage training intensity in swimming.

Now add in these complications:

67 kids aged 8 – 13 years all in the water at the same time;
Only one coach on deck;
No heart rate monitors (i.e. so any heart rate monitoring is done manually);
No sports science support.

The challenge just got a little more difficult…..or has it?

Introducing the PACE system – P.A.C.E.

So why bother to re-visit the topic of managing training intensity? There has been after all more words written about managing training intensity in swimmers than there have been in all the Harry Potter books!

The key is in the word - “practical”.

As most articles on managing training intensity are written by sports scientists or elite coaches working with small numbers of senior swimmers, they are not relevant or practical for part time, age group coaches working with large numbers of young swimmers in overcrowded lanes.

So the aim of the P.A.C.E. system is to “fill in the gap” – to give hard working age group coaches a realistic, simple, practical way of managing training intensity in their teams.

The other main benefit of the P.A.C.E. system is that it is based on swimming training times relative to the achievement of a future performance goal. Most training intensity management systems use a past event – i.e. a previous test or previous PB on which to base training intensity levels. The P.A.C.E. system uses the targeted speed of a future competition as the baseline measurement guide with the result being that swimmers and coaches are focused on achieving future performance goals rather than on duplicating previous testing or competition performances.

In summary, the P.A.C.E. system is:

P = PREPARATION AND PRACTICE PACE = or if you like easy swimming – around 50-60% max speed for warm up / warm down / drills / skills / recovery;
A = AIR-ROBIC = endurance development – around 70-80% max speed;
C = COMPETITION SPEED = training done at target race speed with race mechanics, race quality skills and race breathing patterns;
E = ELECTRIC SPEED = neural stimulation, speed development training – max/ supra max speed.

The P.A.C.E. system uses speed as the core ingredient because it is easy, simple, practical, reliable and accurate to measure and…………the other three most common methods of managing training intensity have too many problems associated with them when working with large numbers of young swimmers:

Heart rate – too hard to get kids to take it manually, too much variability day to day, too many questions about it as a determinant of training intensity in young kids;
Lactate - no one is even sure what it does in pre-pubertal swimmers, it is costly, invasive, and there are real questions about its value when working with young swimmers;
RPE (Rating of Perceived Exertion) – too subjective, too inaccurate – young kids have real trouble using RPE with any real consistency.

Again – the question is not what is the best possible test under perfect conditions – the question is “what can coaches working with 65 kids aged 8-13 years of age do that is fast, reliable, accurate, simple and easy to administer?”

Let’s look a little closer at the P.A.C.E. system:

PACE ONE – Practice and Prepare Pace.

Pace one is slow, easy, relaxed swimming (but with good technique and skills of course). It is the ideal pace for warm up, warm down, skills, drills and recovery.

PACE TWO – Air-robic Pace.

The core of most age group programs, Pace Two creates, builds and develops endurance capacities for the short and long term.

PACE THREE – Competition Preparation Pace.

Pace three is about preparing swimmers for the specific demands of competition swimming – i.e. to swim at the pace targeted to perform well at their next meet.

PACE FOUR – Electric Pace.

Electric Pace is speed development. It is work performed at maximum speed over short distances with the aim of developing real speed through stimulating neuro-muscular adaptation mechanisms.

And now, many of you are asking, “where is the AT / the anaerobic threshold intensity level?”.

The most over-used yet under-useful training speed when working with kids is AT. Many coaches still do their slow work too fast, and their fast work too slow, and as a result kids never full develop real speed or great endurance. The culprit….too much A.T. work! Pushing kids at threshold pace gives the impression that everyone is working hard and therefore everyone will improve if they swim at A.T. often.

However, the accuracy of measuring and managing A.T. when working with large numbers of young age group swimmers is questionable at best and the value of training young kids at sustained A.T. speeds is very doubtful.

As the majority of races kids compete over are 50 or 100 metres, there is no point in doing lots of kms at AT – particularly when almost half of the distance kids cover during races are dives, starts, turns and finishes – i.e. skills based.

Am I suggesting, the P.A.C.E. system is the best way of managing training intensity in all swimmers? No.

Am I suggesting the P.A.C.E. method should replace heart rates, lactates and RPEs in managing the training intensity of all swimmers? Not entirely.

What I am suggesting is that the current methods of managing training intensity are impractical when working with large numbers of young age group swimmers and for coaches who are working in this environment the P.A.C.E. system is practical, simple, easy to implement, common sense and replies on using the one tool every coach and swimming Club can afford – a clock!

So try the P.A.C.E. system and let me know how it works with your team.

Next Article: Introducing the Engagement Factor - a new way of writing workouts and designing training programs.

Wayne Goldsmith