Training for a Championship event

Gary Hall Snr, Coaching Masters Swimmers. Photo courtesy of The Race Club.

You are back in the water after a Covid lay off and masters swim meets are popping up all around you. In the distance, you have that one major meet you want to do well at, whether that be PB’s, top tens or on the podium. What do you do? How do you structure your training? And what should you concentrate on?

The Race Club’s Gary Hall Snr explains how to achieve this on TORPEDO SWIMTALK PODCAST outlining five essential areas all masters swimmers should embrace a few months out from that all important competition.

Obviously your swim training program is the main one, but you should also include time to concentrate on your strength program; your mental toughness training; making sure your nutrition is healthy and matches your energy output; and finally recovery - an often neglected component for time poor masters swimmers.

“You don’t need a coach for all these areas”, says Gary, “but you do need to have some kind of a program to follow” and guide your way.

1. Swim Training:

Identify 2 or 3 races you will concentrate on and gear your training to those. It doesn’t mean you can't enter more races throughout the carnival, but your training focus should be on those events. If you are part of a masters squad, your coach will be organising your training based on what events you have mentioned you will compete in. It doesn’t hurt to check in with your coach to make sure you are both on the same page.

If you train yourself, Gary advises deciding on two or three training method types within each session and build on those over the coming weeks. Will that include USRT, anaerobic threshold type sets or longer distance interval sets? Aim to change just one variable each week on the sets you choose - whether that be intensity, rest interval or the amount of repeats you do. Build race starts and turns into your sessions, as well as drills, kick and pull. Try to just concentrate on one thing at a time.

2. Strength Training

Functional body strength exercises such as pull ups, push ups, prone and supinated core work and cross body work all combine to prepare the swimmer for racing. It is a good idea to get some advice from a strength and conditioning coach, to assess your ability and set a program to follow. “Gains can be made in the 6 months leading into a major competition”, says Gary. All masters swimmers, no matter what age, can benefit from including 3-4 strength sessions into their schedule each week. Don’t forget some flexibility training, which is a s important when strengthening muscles.

3. Mental Toughness

The hardest area to train for many masters swimmers and the most difficult to succeed at. Imagine yourself swimming the race the way you want to swim it. Visualise your start, your turn/s and finish. Will you count your strokes, how many breaths will you take in each lap. Don’t leave these areas to chance. Think them through and then visually practice yourself achieving those things.

4. Nutrition

A healthy diet is a no brainer for any serious masters swimmer. More on this another time! Our focus in this piece is hydration, which is a cornerstone of good nutrition and is extremely important for swimmers. Did you know that you sweat as much in the water as you do exercising on land? But because the water is cooling your body down, you may not notice this during training and then you can end up dehydrated a few hours after your water session. Even before we exercise each day, our bodies need around 2- 2.5 litres of water to replenish what we excrete each day. Drink before you swim, and then try and regularly take small sips of water during the work-out, with more afterwards. This will leave you hydrated and your body replenished for the next training session. Coffee consumption, although a very necessary part of after masters training does not count in that water tally, as it is a diuretic. Have you coffee but also have water!

5. Recovery

This often neglected but important part of our training has some very easy solutions to making sure you recover from your training output. And the most important one of these is SLEEP. Make sure you get enough sleep each and every night, and even make use of a quick afternoon catnap to catch up on lost sleep when you can. Active recovery in the form of stretching, foam rolling, spiky ball rolling and stretching are all effective in helping the body get rid of any lactic acid and sore spots from training. Using these in conjunction with ice baths or cold water walking, compression clothing and massage - whether that be a therapist or with your own massage gun.

Bonus advice

Gary explains in this podcast that often the missing piece of the preparation puzzle is - COMPETITION. You have to prepare for racing by racing! And Gary recommends “at least once a month, for 5 or 6 months before your Championship Meet.

Conclusion

In preparing for a major meet, make sure to give yourself enough time to get your body ready to race. Gary Hall Snr tells us in the podcast how to do this by concentrating on the specificity in your training, taking into account intensity, overload and frequency in the sets and preparation you undertake. Gary also talks about the importance of strength training, mental toughness, nutrition and recovery. And that extra ingredient race practice.