Ironically, for someone who is a devout member of the aerobic training club, I have been fortunate enough to have helped more sprinters than middle- or long-distance swimmers.

Oh sure, there have been some good middle-distance and distance swimmers. For example, Jane Copland was an open New Zealand 100m and 200m breaststroke champion and open New Zealand SC 200m breaststroke record holder and an NCAA Division One finalist. Rhi Jeffrey was an Olympic 200m freestyle swimmer and Gold Medallist.  John Foster was a sub-4minute 400m swimmer, ranked 12^th in the USA. Jessica Marsden was a New Zealand open 800m medallist. Bridget Mahier was a silver medallist in the New Zealand 5k open water swim and Darcy La Fountain won the American Age Group 5k open water championship three times.

But the list of sprinters is longer.

Toni Jeffs – New Zealand 50m and 100m free open champion. Pan Pacific bronze medal and World SC Finals bronze medal. Broke 18 New Zealand open records.

Nichola Chellingworth – New Zealand open 50m fly champion. Set 24 New Zealand Age Group records. New Zealand representative.

Joe Scuba – Florida State 100m free champion. US National Championships, Mare Nostrum and World Cup finalist.

Andrew Meeder – Florida State schools 50m free champion

Jane Ip – New Zealand open 50m breaststroke champion

Ozzie Quevedo – masters (30-34year) 50 and 100m butterfly world record holder

Lindsay Meeder – Florida State schools 4x100m freestyle champion.

Eyad Massoud – World Refugee team 50m and 100m fly 2022 World Championships. Finalist 50m free open New Zealand Championships.

All those sprinters included a high percentage of aerobic swimming in their training. Their normal 6-month training cycle was divided into 10 weeks of aerobic swimming, 4 weeks of anaerobic swimming and 12 weeks of speed swimming and racing.

As you can see, about 40% of a sprinters training time is spent on aerobic conditioning – swimming up to 100k a week, doing weekly swims of 100x100m on 1.30, swimming sets of 2x3000m – all that sort of thing. Five of the sprinters named above swam 1000k in the 10-week aerobic period. I agree 1000k in 10 weeks is a long way to swim – from Auckland to Taupo four times.     

Of course, I have been asked a million times, “Why should someone who races for less than a minute spend 40% of their time swimming at a steady aerobic pace?”

There are several reasons. Let me explain.

First, it would be right to ask, “Does the long aerobic swimming work?” The list of good sprinters named earlier in this post suggests a yes answer. But when you add names like Alexander Popov, Michael Klim and Alain Bernard to that list of aerobically prepared sprinters, the answer of, yes aerobic swimming does work, seems to have merit.  

Second, the results of exhaustive academic study by Sir Peter Snell at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre confirm the benefit of aerobic exercise. In fact, Snell found that if aerobic exercise is continued for long enough (10 weeks of 100k for example) fast twitch muscle fibres will be called on to assist. Run or swim far enough and fast twitch sprinting muscle fibres will directly benefit from the training.

Third, at the recent World Swimming Championships in Budapest, High Performance Sport New Zealand provided a video analysis technician to film New Zealand swimmer’s races and provide a report on time, velocity, stroke count and stroke length. Eyad’s 50m races produced this shape of graph. Excuse my unsteady hand.

View post on imgur.com

The initial downward slope shows the drop in speed during and after the dive – out to 15m.

The second flat section shows Eyad held his velocity, turnover and stroke length between 15m and 35m.

The final slope down shows Eyad lost velocity, turnover and stroke length in the final 15m from 35m to the finish at 50m.

That shape of result is pretty consistent for every sprinter in the world. The trick to improving a 50m time is to

• Slow down less in phase one. Maintain more of the speed generated by the dive.
• Maintain a faster velocity through the middle of the race. Improve velocity, turnover and stroke length.
• Avoid the last 15m drop-off in velocity, turnover and stroke length. In other words, maintain the middle section numbers all the way to the finish.

There are three ways to address these three sprinting problems – technique, power and fitness.

Technique is most important in maintaining more of the speed generated by the dive. How can I kick better under the water? Can I improve my streamline? Is my transition smooth and does it lift me quickly up to full sprinting speed? Those features need to be drilled over and over and over again.

Power is most important in improving velocity, turnover and stroke length through the middle portion of the race. A good heavy gym weight program is essential. You will not get stronger by lifting puny weights. A sprinter’s life is too short to be small.  

Fitness is most important in avoiding the last 15m drop-off in velocity, turnover and stroke length. This is where the ten weeks of steady swimming are needed. The drop-off in the final 15m is hugely expensive. Ten weeks of swimming around the Waitakere Ranges will certainly reduce that cost.

And so that is why aerobic conditioning should be part of a good sprinter’s training. Of course, technique plays an important part in all three stages of the race. Of course, good power is required at the start, middle and end of the race. And of course, good fitness benefits the start, the middle and the finish. It is a balanced package. Aerobic fitness fits into that package as an important portion of a good sprinter’s training. If you are a sprinter, miss aerobic conditioning at your peril.