Swim Training - How Hard And How Fast?
If you were asked how hard and fast do you swim in training, what would you respond with? It is probably most productive to think about swimming in terms of easy, fast and various percentages of the ‘rate of perceived exertion’ (RPE).
In terms of effort levels and training zones in swimming, the vast majority of swimmers find that using a ‘rate of perceived exertion’ of an all out 100% effort seems to work best.
Using a device to monitor heart rate and power is not too difficult, but if you could do it, getting the information while swimming would be a massive challenge. For example, a heart rate monitor chest strap is a little difficult to keep in place; however the bigger obstacle is the fact that you can only read the values of it when you stop. This does not allow you to adjust your effort as you swim.
So considering this, it makes sense to work with your own feeling of what level of effort you are putting into the swim. Using this method will help you learn to get in touch with your body’s signals and not rely on other methods of feedback whist swimming.
The categories of your RPE could look like;
Easy (E): Anything under 65% RPE, used for warming up and recovering.
Easy aerobic (EA): 65-75% RPE
Fast Aerobic (FA): 75-85% RPE
Threshold (THR): 85-90% RPE
Anaerobic (AA): 90-100 RPE
Creatine Phosphagen, superspeed (CP): 100% + RPE
In theory there is no such thing as 100% plus RPE. The last level listed above is for very short durations, so sort that you’ll go beyond anaerobic level and activate the creatine phosphagen system and you’ll stimulate this by going flat out for very short duration of less than 10 seconds. This pace would be much faster than you could maintain for two lengths hence it could be termed as ‘100% plus’.
Most coaches will suggest that the bulk of your training should be in the aerobic zone (EA and FA) in order to achieve the most effective results.
Happy training!!
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