Thoughts on Coaching/Training for the 1500/1650
"The 1650 is just 16 fast 100's with a really fast 50 at the end." Katie Ledecky
Introduction-Characteristics of a Distance Swimmer
How many of us coaches have taken the time to really watch an 800, 1000, 1500, or 1650 when you do not have anyone entered in the event? What is the typical reaction that fans have at a meet when it is time for swimmers to compete in the 400, or 500, or one of the longer events? A good portion of the fans in the stand head for the rest rooms, or snack bar or even the closest Poke-stop. When it comes to these events being swam for the average, non-involved fan (meaning they have no one that they are connected to) this is the usual reaction. Fans seemingly treat the distance events like it is half time at a football game but without the on field marching band.
How many of us coaches have taken the time to really watch an 800, 1000, 1500, or 1650 when you do not have anyone entered in the event? What is the typical reaction that fans have at a meet when it is time for swimmers to compete in the 400, or 500, or one of the longer events? A good portion of the fans in the stand head for the rest rooms, or snack bar or even the closest Poke-stop. When it comes to these events being swam for the average, non-involved fan (meaning they have no one that they are connected to) this is the usual reaction. Fans seemingly treat the distance events like it is half time at a football game but without the on field marching band.
Over the course of my coaching career as I have coached swimmers from the 6 and under beginning swimmer, through to college level and post grad swimmers that have included Olympic Trial Qualifiers. Never at any point have I coached swimmers to be one event, and one stroke swimmers. I have been fortunate to coach young men and young women who became very fine swimmers in all the events and strokes. However what I have experienced, and observed that it takes a special type of swimmer to swim with enthusiasm the distance events. Often have I wondered what type of swimmer is best suited for the longer races required in distance swimming, or even if there is a "type" of swimmer best suited to distance swimming? As a coach I am not convinced that I can truthfully declare that a givens swimmer's talent,or physical make up, makes the given swimmer best suited for distance events.
Recently I have been reading Volume II of The Swim Coaching Bible edited by Coaches Dick Hannula and Nort Thortnon. In this wonderful book, I highly recommend it, the section of the book about Training Distance Freestyle was written by Coach Bill Rose and Mike Lewis. In this section they describe five characteristics of the best distance swimmers, or what they list the Five D's of Being a Distance Swimmer. These are:
1. Discipline
2. Desire
3. Devotion
4. Determination
5. Dedication
I really like these adjectives describing what a good distance swimmer might look like. However personally, I tend to like to think of just one characteristic of a good distance swimmer-they have a love, or passion for the distance events. They love everything associated with distance swimming. They love the learning, the training and the challenge of being a distance swimmer. The key for us coaches is to identify those swimmers who demonstrate this love by their actions in practice sessions and in competitions.
I am using the 1500/1650 as the foundation because it is easier train up and then come down than to compete in a 200 or 500. I hope to share my opinions and get feedback so that I can grow, and enlarge my own coaching tool box.
Coaching the 1500/1650-It's all about "the culture".
The coach who wants to develop swimmers who love longer races faces an uphill battle. Some of the things the coach will face are out of his/her control. Meet and event formats are largely out of the coach's control. Let's face it neither high school, club, or college swimming are entirely organized to foster a feeling that distance events really matter. In high school swimming, for example there are three relays all sprint, plus one diving event and 8 swimming events with only one considered a distance event-the 500 Free. Every event in high school swimming caters to the short distance and middle distance swimmer. Even college swimming caters to the short and middle distance swimmers, however in college the 1000 and 1650 have been added thus making three distance events at a college level conference championship, while in dual meets there are typically two. Most college conferences do not swim the 1000 at their conference championships thus allowing distance swimmers to swim only two true distance events, plus one other event that may be a mid-distance event. For club swimming, which is a lot like college a swimmer can participate in the 500/1000/1650 (short course) and the 400/800/1500 (long course). At the coming Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2020 men and women will now be able to compete in both the 800 and 1500 races as they did at this summer's World Championships-about time. Of course a recent phenomenon with the increasing popularity of open water swimming we see swimmers being able to compete in 5K, 10K and 25K distances internationally. It is safe to say that there is not a culture that supports the distance swimming like there is a culture that supports the 50/100/200 Free races.
In order to change the "culture" of distance swimming, the coach has to teach his/her swimmers a true love competing and training for the distance events. One way to do this is by providing swimmers with learning opportunities to train and compete in the longer events during practice sessions. I am not sure it means that they have to do unearthly sets, or train seven days per week and three times a day. I do believe that there is a time and place for these things on a scheduled and built in basis but not necessarily on a daily or even long term basis. I have been known to challenge my swimmers over a Christmas vacation period to do 100,000 yards in 9 workouts for a specific purpose. Generally I have challenged the swimmers to doing something few swimmers do in a week. I once had a young man, Joshua Patterson who challenged me. He wanted to do 200,000 during the two week Christmas break. In fact he ended up going 212,000 yards in 18 practices. When it came to taper time he had a great end of short course season meet. Josh did go on to swim in college at the D III level which is where he wanted to go. Josh had a pure love for the longer events. As for the extended distances at Christmas time those were Josh's idea, not mine. The last thing I want to do is sit down and plan out workouts that are 12,000 to 13,000 yards and not be considered "garbage yards". Josh led his teammates into these workouts and he was joined by several teammates, but not for the two week challenge. If it is approached in the right way a love for the 1650 can be taught and learned if the swimmers can be connected to the distance events through learning opportunities.
Having an internal support group for distance swimming is very important. Those swimmers who do distances should be recognized for their efforts to swim the longer races. A coach might put together a recognition board for those swimmers who complete a designated open water swim, or compete in and improve an 800/1000/1500/1650 time. The swimmers could be given a t-shirt that recognizes what they achieved, or have their name put on a plaque to be hung in a team trophy case. One time I had five swimmers complete 109,000 yards in nine practices and we had a pizza party for them and put their pictures up in the lobby of our pool. They took a great deal of pride in completing the 100,000 plus yards and they were honored by their teammates. This helped to increase interest in distance swimming and in not being afraid of training for the longer distances. These are just a few things that can be done to change the culture. I am sure if you brain storm with your coaching staff and others around you I am sure you can come up with a few of your own ideas on how to help change the culture. Please feel free to share any ideas you may have in the comments section of the blog.
Training and Learning
Having an internal support group for distance swimming is very important. Those swimmers who do distances should be recognized for their efforts to swim the longer races. A coach might put together a recognition board for those swimmers who complete a designated open water swim, or compete in and improve an 800/1000/1500/1650 time. The swimmers could be given a t-shirt that recognizes what they achieved, or have their name put on a plaque to be hung in a team trophy case. One time I had five swimmers complete 109,000 yards in nine practices and we had a pizza party for them and put their pictures up in the lobby of our pool. They took a great deal of pride in completing the 100,000 plus yards and they were honored by their teammates. This helped to increase interest in distance swimming and in not being afraid of training for the longer distances. These are just a few things that can be done to change the culture. I am sure if you brain storm with your coaching staff and others around you I am sure you can come up with a few of your own ideas on how to help change the culture. Please feel free to share any ideas you may have in the comments section of the blog.
Training and Learning
In order to provide learning opportunities to help swimmers learn to love the longer races, swimmers need to feel and see success in their practice sessions. Learning such things as race strategy, pacing, stroke count, tempo, kicking practicing turning on and off the legs for longer sets can help someone have a successful 1650. The coach should create a training plan to recognize the needs of swimmers who show a talent, ability, or just a love for the challenge of training for, and competing in longer races. The coach can also teach a love for longer events by helping swimmers develop race tactics that can be learned and trained during practice sessions. These race strategies will make longer races more "strategic" in nature. I believe that something else that may help is if the coach will blend in some open water during training in a lake or other body of water. This open water training will have a great carry over for the 1500 and 1650.
Learning pacing, stroke count, tempo, and the ability to go to a higher intensity of legs can help the swimmers have some additional tools in their swimming arsenal that will help them in being successful for longer races. In training sessions the coach can provide a variety of training distances, as well as varying the paces in a given set to help prepare the swimmers for competing in the longer races. Regardless of the distances and paces, everything should be done with preparing for the longer races in mind. Something that is important to teach is turns and the push-offs the walls with feet getting beyond flags on all walls. Stress that the walls later in the race will be critical in building the tempo, descending the times by 50s or 100s. The best example of using the walls late in the race is Katie Ledecky. For the perfect example watch her last 200 of her 800 Free final from the World Champioships at this link: https://www.nbcsports.com/video/world-swimming-championships-2019-katie-ledecky-wins-800m-freestyle.
Summary and Conclusion
Outside of Katie Ledecky, swimmers from the US have not been a dominate force in the distance races. In the Men's 1500 Free since our last gold medal, won by Mike O.Brien at the 1984 Olympic games in Los Angeles. Prior to 1984 it was not uncommon to have two Americans take two medals in the 1500, usually a gold and either silver or bronze. Since 1984 we have generally seen American swimmers win only silver or bronze and most often none at all in the 1500. Comparing the US Men to the US Women, the women have been dominate in the 800 m Free having won gold medals in 9 of the last Olympics since 1968, and frequently there are two American women winning medals in the Olympic 800 M Free.
As a nation we need to address and creatively develop teaching and training plans that will help us change this lack of gold medals by our men. I believe more can be done, and I do not believe it necessarily lies in doing more yardage but using practices sessions to teach and prepare young men and women to develop a love for the longer races. Thank you for reading and please feel free to leave you ideas and feed back.
Learning pacing, stroke count, tempo, and the ability to go to a higher intensity of legs can help the swimmers have some additional tools in their swimming arsenal that will help them in being successful for longer races. In training sessions the coach can provide a variety of training distances, as well as varying the paces in a given set to help prepare the swimmers for competing in the longer races. Regardless of the distances and paces, everything should be done with preparing for the longer races in mind. Something that is important to teach is turns and the push-offs the walls with feet getting beyond flags on all walls. Stress that the walls later in the race will be critical in building the tempo, descending the times by 50s or 100s. The best example of using the walls late in the race is Katie Ledecky. For the perfect example watch her last 200 of her 800 Free final from the World Champioships at this link: https://www.nbcsports.com/video/world-swimming-championships-2019-katie-ledecky-wins-800m-freestyle.
Summary and Conclusion
Outside of Katie Ledecky, swimmers from the US have not been a dominate force in the distance races. In the Men's 1500 Free since our last gold medal, won by Mike O.Brien at the 1984 Olympic games in Los Angeles. Prior to 1984 it was not uncommon to have two Americans take two medals in the 1500, usually a gold and either silver or bronze. Since 1984 we have generally seen American swimmers win only silver or bronze and most often none at all in the 1500. Comparing the US Men to the US Women, the women have been dominate in the 800 m Free having won gold medals in 9 of the last Olympics since 1968, and frequently there are two American women winning medals in the Olympic 800 M Free.
As a nation we need to address and creatively develop teaching and training plans that will help us change this lack of gold medals by our men. I believe more can be done, and I do not believe it necessarily lies in doing more yardage but using practices sessions to teach and prepare young men and women to develop a love for the longer races. Thank you for reading and please feel free to leave you ideas and feed back.
Your point in identifying culture as a major component is, I think, paramount. I don’t think you can wait until an athlete is 14-15-16 and beginning to show some physically precocious tendencies toward the longer events to then try to talk them into the (tedium) of what it takes to be successful. Early in the days of Mission Viejo, their use of the ‘Animal Lanes’ is a great example. We trained out younger age-groupers as distance IM’ers, for the most part, and Coach Todd would routinely push them toward preparing for, and entering 400 IM races as 10-11-12 year olds. We were lucky enough to have ample pool time and lane space to run one, and sometimes two LC distance lanes, and it was recognized as a badge of prestige to train with those groups (if that is where your talent was). It didn’t hurt to have quite a number of Junior national and even Senior level college athletes to build on, and lead those lanes. The mystic, and the desire to belong, was a given.
ReplyDeleteAlso, and unfortunately in this era, it is something that some coaches feel they have to apologize for, is you gotta get the ‘hay-in-the-barn’. I belong the the ‘beyond school’ of physiology, and as a result, not a huge fan of USRPT training...distance-types simply have to to put in the miles, and it has to start fairly early (13-14-15) be consistent, and continue for a number of seasons/years for peripheral systemic effects to be apparent. Again, we were lucky enough to have adequate pool time, and lane space, to necessarily log the 60-70-80 km weeks/micros I felt (and STILL feel) are necessary for consistent development, and long term success. It proved out in numerous instances with our athletes going on the sterling collegiate careers that continued to improve over their competitive lifetime. Distance type animals, if they are the ‘real deal’ are in it for the long haul, and your educating them to this fact and teaching them to embrace the work ethic as a source of pride is critical, and it must start early.
Great comment Russ. Thank you.
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