EPT
In July, my coach told me that he would be leaving his position in my club and move to Denmark to coach VAT Copenhagen. To put this in esports terms for you, he left a rough equivalent of 2013 Prime to go to 2013-2014 SK Telecom. VAT have money (more than they can even spend, from what I'm told), influence, good coaches, a roster (from a youth talent pool all the way up to the senior, world elite level) deeper than or at least on the same level as arguably any other team in Scandinavia.
My decision to stay where I am was more than a little questionable, given that my club has neither the money nor the contacts to match VAT (therefore directly impacting the caliber of coaches we can hire, our chances to compete overseas, and to get good deals for training camps etc). Stability has been a precious and rare commodity in my swimming career (I have had more coaches than my number of active years as a swimmer), but I decided to stick it out with my current team. They're my family, and even though I had a very good connection with my then-coach it would be a profound change to switch to one of Denmark's best teams (and probably move to Copenhagen in the process) from where I am now.
The transition period between coaches is always a bitch. Every coach worth his salt has their own unique approach to the sport, and chances are much of what has become routine over the course of the last coach's stint on the team will be uprooted and thrown out the window. This time would be no different.
With my old coach, weeks were centered around two or three A3/A4* sessions (they're the ones that kick you in the face really hard and make you want to quit immediately), one distance session (it's why I hate saturday mornings) and one to two technical sessions. The remaining four to six sessions were typically up in the air, a combination of gym and pool practice. The coach's philosophy was to have miniature tapering cycles within each week, so your energy level is on a high on wednesday (when we'd typically swim A3) and saturday afternoon. Those were the two sessions where you needed to be at your best and consequently also the sessions that were the most rewarding (For an example session, see spoiler below).
The Aerobic/Anaerobic scale
A1 = easy
A2 = long distance pace, the bread and butter pace
A3 = the highest pace you can maintain for an extended period of time without lactic acid
A4 = sprint pace
+ Show Spoiler +
Torsdag EM, A3/A4 Sprint [block]
600 (200 choice, 200 IM, 200 freestyle)
2*300 (1 pull, 1 kick)*
4*150 (100IM + 50 choice)
8*50 (25 sprint, 25 no breath)
8*25 (UV-kick)**
--
FROM BLOCK
3*100 (1 free, 1 fly, 1 IM)
200 EZ
2*50 (1 breast, 1 back)
200EZ
2*200 (1 IM, 1 back)
200EZ
2*50 (1 free, 1 choice)
200EZ
1*Spec***
--
600 cool down (200 kick, 200 pull, 200 back)
*Pull = swimming using only arms, typically using strokemakers and a pullbuoy (google it), kick = swimming using only legs
** = kicking under water
*** = Best race, provided it isn't longer than 400m
600 (200 choice, 200 IM, 200 freestyle)
2*300 (1 pull, 1 kick)*
4*150 (100IM + 50 choice)
8*50 (25 sprint, 25 no breath)
8*25 (UV-kick)**
--
FROM BLOCK
3*100 (1 free, 1 fly, 1 IM)
200 EZ
2*50 (1 breast, 1 back)
200EZ
2*200 (1 IM, 1 back)
200EZ
2*50 (1 free, 1 choice)
200EZ
1*Spec***
--
600 cool down (200 kick, 200 pull, 200 back)
*Pull = swimming using only arms, typically using strokemakers and a pullbuoy (google it), kick = swimming using only legs
** = kicking under water
*** = Best race, provided it isn't longer than 400m
The new coach has a very different philosophy. His sessions are more intense, featuring a lot more A3/A4 / no-breath swimming on average, even on the "easy" sessions (that term, by the way, has lost a lot of its meaning since November). He has a thing for a few really short and intense sessions coupled with a metric ton of long, grueling sessions. (We swam 17600m on New Years' morning, ending with 100 sprint like we weren't all waiting for our arms to fall off) A typical session will look something like today's session:
Måndag 23/2
400 choice
6*100 IM (60 -> 85% strain)
8*50 kick (60 -> 90% strain)
16*25 fly (3 A4, 1EZ)
300 red zone* kick
100 EZ
--
12*100 BA** kick
3* [4*300 pull + 4*100 A4 pull + fins]
800 EZ
16*50 A3, 25 no breath 25 fly
4*25 A4 from block
--
20*50 EZ, 4 back/4 kick/4 pull/4 breast/4 back
*= 5m A4/15m EZ/5m A4 per 25m
**= Best Average, maintaining the best time you can per 100 over the course of X number of 100s. Typically low rest time to go along with it.
400 choice
6*100 IM (60 -> 85% strain)
8*50 kick (60 -> 90% strain)
16*25 fly (3 A4, 1EZ)
300 red zone* kick
100 EZ
--
12*100 BA** kick
3* [4*300 pull + 4*100 A4 pull + fins]
800 EZ
16*50 A3, 25 no breath 25 fly
4*25 A4 from block
--
20*50 EZ, 4 back/4 kick/4 pull/4 breast/4 back
*= 5m A4/15m EZ/5m A4 per 25m
**= Best Average, maintaining the best time you can per 100 over the course of X number of 100s. Typically low rest time to go along with it.
Or, if you're more the type that prefers mind-numbing pain coupled with boredom, here's what we swam tuesday last week:
Tisdag 17/2
800 choice
4*100 kick w. fins
8*50 pull A3 -> A3+
16*25 fly A4 w. fins
200 kick
100 ez
--
55*100 (First 30: 4 A2 1 A4 from block, next 15: 2 A2 1 A4 from block, next 10: 1 A2 1 A4 from block)
15*100 kick BA
--
1000EZ
800 choice
4*100 kick w. fins
8*50 pull A3 -> A3+
16*25 fly A4 w. fins
200 kick
100 ez
--
55*100 (First 30: 4 A2 1 A4 from block, next 15: 2 A2 1 A4 from block, next 10: 1 A2 1 A4 from block)
15*100 kick BA
--
1000EZ
Provided the above makes sense to you, you might also understand why I've been feeling like I'm being run over by a truck in slow motion for most of the week. The first month with the new coach was absolute insanity, and I was pretty sure I would end up either quitting or going to VAT after all rather than playing along with a practice philosophy made in hell. But I stuck with it, deciding to give it half a year before making a decision.
Apparently good things do come to those who wait, because last week finally really worked out for me. I ended the week on a high note with 5 PBs at our in-house meet, my first personal bests across the board since September.
+ Show Spoiler [PBs!] +
New personal bests (short course)
50 back: 27.59
100 fly: 55.98
100 breast: 1.07.29
100 IM: 57.88
200 back: 2.06.10
50 back: 27.59
100 fly: 55.98
100 breast: 1.07.29
100 IM: 57.88
200 back: 2.06.10
I'm more than a little inconsistent in how I perform between weeks and months, and sometimes I just get my shit together. It's too soon to say if the new coach will help me to the same extent that my old coach did, but I'm feeling good about it. Quoting Dora from Finding Nemo: Just keep swimming. Things somehow work out on their own.
