It’s that time of year again. Time to shake off the rust of 11 months without consistent training. Time to train for USMS Nationals to avoid making a complete fool of myself. With only a month left to train before the April 28th start date, I will be attempting to recreate an entire 4-month training cycle condensed into a 4-week period. Due to my time limitations, I am hoping to swim 3 times per week for the next 4 weeks, reporting each workout along the way.
The Plan:
Week 1: Aerobic Focus. I will swim mostly at a 130-150 heart rate to build my endurance. Each practice will be around 2500 yd.
Week 2: Aerobic Focus with a threshold set. I will continue to focus on moderate paced swimming for 2 workouts before building in an anaerobic threshold set.
Week 3: Anaerobic Focus. This week I will focus on lactate tolerance and swimming at a higher energy level (heart rate around 170-200 beats/min). These workouts will feature higher speeds with more substantial rest intervals.
Week 4: Taper/ Speedplay. This will be the “taper” portion of my training cycle where I will focus on my body’s muscle memory. I want to make sure I have the explosive power that is used during the first 10-15 seconds of a race.
-Paul
