Tampa Bay Aquatics

BY BONNIE MOSS
Special Splash Correspondent

Sprinting
Sprinters. They’re labeled like blonds. They just seem to have more fun, don’t they?

They’re a different breed all right, but while it sometimes looks like they’re goofing off with their starts and turns while everyone else is doing 400 IMs, it’s really just a big facade.

Sprinters may not put in the extensive quantity of yardage, but the quality of their work is quite demanding and extremely precise. Every single stroke is executed with calculating detail. A sprint race must be free from any mistake because there is no wiggle room. Either you’ve got it or you don’t. To get it requires all the tools from training that make up a finely-tuned sprinter. Sprinting experts like coach Dave Salo of Irvine Novaquatics and Olympic gold medalist Jason Lezak offer the following training tips to help generate the speed required for sprinting.

Endurance
Most swimmers don’t use the words endurance and sprint in the same sentence. But even the fastest men in the world still need endurance by the end of race to hold their speed, so it’s important to work on sets that focus on the endurance to maintain sprinting capacity.

Water-based stretch/resistance cords are great tools for sprinters. Salo gives his sprinters sets of repeats that last the duration of their race. For example, while attached to a resistance cord, a swimmer sprints half the length of the pool (a 50-meter pool works best), then sprint kicks the second half to within 5 meters of the wall, then sprint swims again into the wall. After touching the wall, the swimmer immediately starts sprint kicking (with hands flat against the wall) for the duration of the swimmer’s goal time. Sound exhaustive? Not done yet. The swimmer then explodes off that wall in a tight streamline position with the force of the cord pulling him back. When the force of the cord no longer pulls, the swimmer sprints into the finish. Rest about 15 seconds and repeat this exercise twice, then rest one minute and repeat four more times.

“This is an effective set because it works endurance while maintaining sprinting capacity,” Salo says. One of Salo’s favorite endurance sets consists of swimming a 25, 50, 75 and 100 as fast a possible, all on three-minute intervals. “I start out working on pure speed but still need the endurance to hang on,” says Lezak, one of Salo’s pupils.

Strength

Core, core, core. The buzz word is all the rage right now and for good reason. A strong middle section (abs, hips, lower back) is the body’s powerhouse, as it directly affects overall strength and stability. That’s because virtually every exercise you do starts from the center of your body. The stronger your powerhouse, the more explosive you will be off the blocks and walls, which is primarily what makes or breaks a sprint.

It’s important to remember that when developing a strong midsection, there is no single core exercise. It simply doesn’t exist. Core strength comes from performing a variety of exercises correctly in a consistent, well-rounded routine. If you’re pressed for time, do the basics. The standard sit-up, crunch, torso-rotation (oblique) crunch, reverse curl, straight-legged crunch, bicycle maneuvers and back extensions are all simple and effective, and target the major areas of your midsection.

If you pump iron (with your coach’s permission), think “low weight, high rep.” Salo recommends the reps to last between 20-30 seconds because those durations give emphasis to speed. It trains the body to respond to quick movement.

Technique

There is something to be said about a swimmer with a pretty stroke. It’s fun to watch because it looks effortless, as though the swimmer is simply gliding over the water’s surface. It’s also fast. That’s because in most cases, a pretty stroke means a technically correct stroke, which makes for fast swimming.

But swimming with proficiency requires constant maintenance. Drills are a great way to focus on what the body is doing. Good drills for freestyle sprinters are rotational drills, which emphasize head to toe balance, side rotation and in-line body positioning along the surface.

Salo offers a good drill for practicing rotation. His sprinters do a three-stroke catch-up with a five-count side kick. In the catch-up drill, swimmers take half a stroke and leave that hand stretched out in front until the hand from the second half of the stroke catches up to it. It forces the body to roll while staying balanced, because one hand is constantly in front.

Working on drills can be just as exhausting as any other set because it requires strong mental focus. The rest of your workout might consist of eyeing the pace clock or trying to make a certain interval, but a drill set is a chance to help your stroke. It is not a recovery set or garbage yardage, and it requires more than just going through the motions.

Use this time to your advantage, and it will carry over to positive changes in your stroke. The sooner you correct a mistake, the sooner you'll swim with a prettier, faster stroke.

Flexibility

Probably one of the most overlooked and underappreciated foundations of training is stretching. Some fitness experts don’t recommend 'active stretching' (yoga) for elite competitive athletes because they believe you need tension in your muscles to perform well. A little ‘spring’ is important for fast-twitch muscle fibers, the kind used in sprinting.

Regardless of what experts say, many coaches and athletes agree that stretching to remain flexible is an integral part of training. For sprinters, it can be crucial. Lezak says stretching is extremely important because of his size. His stretch routine takes 15 minutes, three to four times a day. “I have better results in competition and training because of it,” Lezak says.

Salo agrees about the importance of stretching, as long it’s taken seriously and not used to waste time. Keep your stretching program flexible, tailoring it to your needs as they change with swimming. Little steps can add up to big results.

Mental

“Sprinters have to be very mentally prepared because there is no room for mistake,” Lezak says. “Distance swimmers can often recover from their mistakes. I think sprinters have to believe they are the best.”

That’s the voice of a confident swimmer with medals and records to back it up. Preparing for a sprint requires belief in yourself that you are fast. Period. The margin of self-doubt or negative thinking is the same margin of error in a race: zero.

Sprinters must believe they can do it because their bodies have done it before.

“They need to relate what they are doing in training to what they will do in a race,” Salo says. “Their work has to have significant meaning to them.”

Basically, you have to believe that you are a sprinter so that you will naturally assume the responsibility of fulfilling that role. A sprinter’s mentality is a self-fulfilling progression: when you feel confident, you train a little harder, you become a better sprinter, you become more confident. The result from this cycle is that it’s now easy to swim fast.