Bad performance in in distance

I'm worried because I think my performance in distance
is not what it should.
I swim at master competitions. I'm 35 years
old and I started swimming at 25.
I train around 12 km each week.

competition times in 100 metres pool

+ 100 free: 1:06
+ 200 i. meddley: 2:51
+ 100 fly: 1:15
+ 50 fly: 0:33

but

+ 800 free: 12:01
(splits 1:21 first 100,
and then 1:31 - 1:32 the
other 7)

Then, the first question: is it 12:01
a good time for 800? I think it's not
because other swimmers with similar
times in the short events, beats me
in 800 in about 30 or 40 seconds.

Why?

I'm investigating my technique and
exercise induced asthma.

I'm not asthmatic. But I have the following
symptoms:

+ Reaction to chlorine after hard training:
like having a cold: sneeze, runny nose first and
blocked the next day. Red throat.

The symptoms are worse if the training is harder.

+ Doctors said I have chronic pharyngitis. Two seasons
ago I had pharyngitis (with slight fever)
always after hard tranining
(one every 6 weeks).

Not this seasons as I started to take A,C, E vitamins.

Anyway, i always have red throat in more or less degree.

+ Two seasons ago I couldn't feel the sensation of being
fit and having endurance.

+ Shorten of breath at the end of the 12:01 800 m.
I couldn't take air. I couldn't take deep inspirations.
I only made "aaahhhhh" :-)
This disappears in 2-3 minutes.

Two seasons ago I suffered that even in some trainings,
when doing comptetition pace races or long
sets at 85-90%.

I'm very confused, surely I don't have asthma
but perhaps if I have a deficit of say 10-15%
of oxygen, then in long races my performance
gets worse.

Any comment is welcome.

Jordi
SPAIN

Jordi Bataller i Mascarell said:

Otis B. Driftwood said:

For a 35 year old guy, who started swimming at 25, it's not bad. 12km
per week might not be enough to get distance times down, depending on
what you do in those training sessions. For example, how often do you
do a set of 800's or 1500's for pace training? A distance swimmer
would do that sort of set frequently.

Thanks for your rapid response.

The team coach doesn't come to see the masters. He only writes
workout for us. We have a lot of them. They are very varied.

For instance:

Workout A)
- 800 (200 crawl, 200 feet, 200 crawl 200 back/breast)
- 15 x 100 each 1:45
- 800 (200 crawl, 200 back, 200 crawl 200 breast)
- 16 x 25 feet (1 easy , 1 hard)

Workout B)
- 4 x 200 crawl rest 20''
- 4 x 100 i.m. rest 20''
- 4 x 200 (crawl back crawl breast) rest 20''
- 8 x 25 crawl at 95% each 2'
- 800 (200 crawl 200 feet)

It looks like your coach is writing "one size fits all" workouts for
your team. To swim the 800, you will probably want to do more. That
might be difficult if you don't have a "distance lane," where everyone
in the lane is training for longer events. You might have to go to the
pool some extra days and swim on your own, or you could add some
distance to the end of each of these workouts, but it's kind of a
downer to stay in the pool after everyone else gets out.

But one thing you should do for sure, if you are training for the 800,
is do an 800 for time, during your workout, once a week or at least
once every two weeks. It doesn't have to be a big, formal time trial.
Just add an 800 for time to the workout. Or a 1500. Maybe you can
convince the others in your lane to schedule something like that each
week. You don't have to start from a dive. You can do it as a regular
set, but the difference is your attitude and effort are like you are
swimming a real race.

Quoted message said:

Also we swimm in open water. Races from 1.500 meters to 5.000
(most frequently 2.500).
Last sunday: I did in a 2.500 meters race a time of 40' (good
for me) but in the sea the buoyance is greater and I try
to follow the group.

Open water races are good training for distance events, if you swim
them with the same intensity as pool races, but you can't judge much
from open water times unless you are swimming the same course under
the same conditions. Then you can compare open water times to look for
a trend.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

If you are doing 1:06 for the 100, your technique is not what is
holding you back. It doesn't sound like you have trouble breathing
during the race, so I don't know what to say about that, except that I
have swum with some pretty good distance swimmers who had asthma.

I suspect you just need to do more distance training. Distance
swimmers will normally do a lot more swimming per week than 12km. You
could double that and still be well below average. And some of that
distance should be at race pace.

Well, it doesn't seem the other guys are doing much more than 12 km.

I'll bet most of them swam as kids. Masters who swam competitively as
kids will have developed different muscle fibers in their upper bodies
than you. I don't know if you can still develop that kind of muscle
fiber. Others in this newsgroup can comment, but assuming you can, you
will probably have to swim more and longer workouts and higher
intensity workouts to do it.

Quoted message said:

Another possibility is the pool. I always train in a 25 meter pool.
I did in january 5:27 in 400 free in a short pool race
but 5:56 last month in 400 free in a long pool.

That is expected. Training in a long course pool would help a little,
but training in a short course pool is not a hindrance at your level.
You will get more out of increasing the number of workouts, the length
of the workouts, and the length and intensity of some of the sets.

Quoted message said:

But the thing that annoys me the most is that always after a hard
training or a day of competition I have problems with my throat.

It sounds like a doctor's advice is required, preferably a sports
medicine doctor. Ask your personal doctor to recommend one. Or ask
others on your team.

Otis B. Driftwood said:

For a 35 year old guy, who started swimming at 25, it's not bad. 12km
per week might not be enough to get distance times down, depending on
what you do in those training sessions. For example, how often do you
do a set of 800's or 1500's for pace training? A distance swimmer
would do that sort of set frequently.

Thanks for your rapid response.

The team coach doesn't come to see the masters. He only writes
workout for us. We have a lot of them. They are very varied.

For instance:

Workout A)
- 800 (200 crawl, 200 feet, 200 crawl 200 back/breast)
- 15 x 100 each 1:45
- 800 (200 crawl, 200 back, 200 crawl 200 breast)
- 16 x 25 feet (1 easy , 1 hard)

Workout B)
- 4 x 200 crawl rest 20''
- 4 x 100 i.m. rest 20''
- 4 x 200 (crawl back crawl breast) rest 20''
- 8 x 25 crawl at 95% each 2'
- 800 (200 crawl 200 feet)

Also we swimm in open water. Races from 1.500 meters to 5.000
(most frequently 2.500).
Last sunday: I did in a 2.500 meters race a time of 40' (good
for me) but in the sea the buoyance is greater and I try
to follow the group.

Quoted message said:

If you are doing 1:06 for the 100, your technique is not what is
holding you back. It doesn't sound like you have trouble breathing
during the race, so I don't know what to say about that, except that I
have swum with some pretty good distance swimmers who had asthma.

I suspect you just need to do more distance training. Distance
swimmers will normally do a lot more swimming per week than 12km. You
could double that and still be well below average. And some of that
distance should be at race pace.

Well, it doesn't seem the other guys are doing much more than 12 km.

Another possibility is the pool. I always train in a 25 meter pool.
I did in january 5:27 in 400 free in a short pool race
but 5:56 last month in 400 free in a long pool.

But the thing that annoys me the most is that always after a hard
training or a day of competition I have problems with my throat.

Thanks again,

Jordi

Thank you very much Otis, I'll try to
follow your advice.

Today we have scheduled a 5000 m
training at the beach.

Jordi

If you're having reactions to the pool water, it's not the chlorine,
it's likely a reaction to chloramines, a sign of a poorly maintained
pool. You should seriously consider using a nose clip (this will fix
the sinus problems, and some of the throat irritation), or talking with
the pool manager about improving the water quality. You also might
consider finding another pool. If you "smell" chlorine in the pool,
you're actually smelling chlorine byproducts, and it's a sign of a bad
pool. I find that most university pools that host a competitive swim
team are acceptable. You may have to check out a few pools in the area
before you find one that is reasonably well maintained. For more
information

For more info on chloramines:
http://www.poolwizard.net/problems/chloramines.htm