Viking has been wanting to write quite a bit lately but have struggled to find the time. I have been working pretty hard on a write up for SwimSwam about nutrition and training to be posted soon, since I opened my big fat mouth and tried to act like I am smarter than the nutritionist who posted some nutrition tips there. I decided that a great way to tie into that would be to supplement it with a series of smaller posts here. The first thing that will help with that is to describe my swimming comeback so that readers have some kind of reference to understand some of the the points I am making in case they want more info. I hope that starting a little bit of a training log will add some depth to it without getting annoying. Once in a while I might just post a link or a video that anyone following along might want to see. Sometimes it might just be a random thought, since finding time to write with the hours I work is nearly impossible. I would not post any of it if I did not think it was interesting and relevant. I think that anyone who is curious about making themselves a better swimmer and has a mind open to new ideas might like following along with my little experimental adventure.
First, I have to say that in the same way that "we don't choose swimming, swimming chooses us," I must explain that I did not change my diet to make a swimming comeback. I got back in the water to see how I could do after I changed my diet, lost a bunch of weight, and cut my best 5k down by about four minutes with the same running routine I had been doing every spring for years. This has become an experiment to see if there is a better way for swimmers to do this fast racing thing. I am trying to make the case that what I have started here is optimal for swimmers, and I may be the first person to actually try it this way that I know of.
I am determined to swim faster in my forties than I did in my early twenties. I am certain that I can, even while facing pretty severe limitations in comparison to those in my life twenty years ago in my prime. I currently work anywhere from 10-17 hours per day, with many weeks of that being a complete seven day work week with teaching classes all day plus meets for club and high school teams. Yes, it's insane and if I didn't find a way to squeeze in some exercise I wouldn't be able to manage my anger issues, my body would fall apart before retirement, and I would go crazy from being three feet away from a pool for so many hours without ever being able to get in it myself.
My rules in this experiment are simple. I do almost the exact opposite of everything I was ever told to do in my first swimming career. I will:
- give up absolutely no family time to pursue my own swimming. I swim if I am at a practice or meet where I am already obligated to be there as a coach. Most of my practices are a short warm up and one set with the kids I coach. It is a good week when I can fit in three of those, since any time I coach younger or less experienced athletes I need to be on deck rather than in the water. My team has been tremendously supportive of this so far.
- adapt to the minimal training philosophy. I tried to make a comeback in my mid-twenties and it sucked. I felt miserable all the time. I never swam really fast even though I was less busy back then and put in more yardage. I was constantly discouraged when I could not fit in the workouts I felt I needed to excel. Now I am training smarter. You will read more about that later. Let's just say I am not wasting any time. All of my swimming has a purpose, and that purpose is racing.
- stick with the low-carb, high-fat diet. This was how I got sucked into this experiment in the first place. When I stumbled upon this diet my health improved considerably. My running and swimming did as well, even though it goes against every bit of advice I have ever received on nutrition for health and for athletics. I want to take this as far as I can to see if adapting to this will be better than the standard nutritional recommendations for athletes.
- stay low stress and keep it fun. I am not allowed to throw a pity party when I am not able to train consistently. That is just a part of being a 40 year old guy working two full time jobs and trying to swim in the cracks in-between. Hey, if I swim fast enough to land a sponsorship that can free up my schedule by making up the income for some of my extra-duty stipends I am all over it, but the odds of that are pretty slim. I am just gonna go with the flow and carry the same philosophy at 40 that I did at age 10... it's fun to go fast and I intend to have more fun than anyone else in my heat.
So far, I started last December hitting a 58.92 100 breast and 2:12.33 200 breast at the 2013 KMSC Pro-Am, after never having broken a minute, even in an illegal suit, since my last college meet in 1996. Those swims were after being on the new diet since April of 2013 and running, with just a little swimming to prepare. I was shaved and in a blueseventy Nero XII. After that, I swam about less than 3000 yards a week in the long course pool last summer, and sprinkled in some running and short course swimming when I could fit it in. I dropped from 1:12.2 to 1:09.0 in the 100 and 2:39.0 to 2:31 in the 200 LCM from May to Sectionals in July. This fall, I did a 59.9 and a 2:10.7 in unshaved meets with a TYR AP12. At the Pro-Am in December 2014 I shaved and swam 58.1 and 2:07.2. I am pretty proud of those swims but I know I will keep getting faster. Just last weekend I did my fastest unshaved 200 with a 2:09.7.
Wish me luck. I took those couple of weeks off of training after the KMSC Pro-Am in December thinking it would take a while to get back to where I was, but surprisingly, when I jumped back in the water I had not taken a step backward at all. It's funny... I found that in my running too. I don't seem to get "out of shape" the same way I used to. I truly believe the diet has something to do with that. In the last two weeks I have turned in best scores on sets for both the 100 and 200 breast, and both were significant improvements. I really think I will be ready to rock at Sectionals in March.
Please stay tuned and let me know what you think. I am hoping that all of this craziness generates some great discussion here and at Swim Swam.
58.92 for 100 Brst that is a fantastic time - was it in a 25m pool or 50m pool ?
ReplyDeletewell, it's short course yards, but I am getting there. :)
DeleteOmg, you are like the male version of me. I was directed to your blog by a fellow member of a keto community. I'm currently 5 weeks into a LCHF diet, I coach US Masters swimming, I am all done having babies and I'm looking to make a great comeback this year (I age up to 30-34 right before MI states). I can't wait to read through all of this info; my first meet this season is in about 7 weeks and lately swimming more than 100m makes me feel like I'm swimming in a sweatshirt with a horse sitting on my chest! Not cool!
ReplyDeletePlease let me know what you think of the Manifesto. After two years I am still really enjoying lchf. Keep me posted on your progress and let me know if I can help in any way on your journey!
DeleteI'm wondering specifically what I can do to up my energy during practice. Is it just a matter of becoming better adapted? Would a small amount of carbs before practice help? We do USRPT probably once a week, other days are focused on longer sets. The longer ones are killing me and whereas I used to be able to swim 2700m in the hour, I'm down to about 1000-1200 and then I'm wiped these days.
ReplyDeleteMy best advice is to find your ideal carb level, which will hopefully not be over 150-200 grams. The goal is to be fat-adapted and to be able to use carbohydrate to it's optimum application. On race day we do want full muscle glycogen, and to be honest, why not on practices too. muscle glycogen refuels, even on a low carb diet... it just does so more slowly. If you are dragging, add some carbs at night to speed up that process. add 50 grams per night this week and see if it makes a difference. if not, add another 50 the next. We want to be optimized to burn fat, and not dependent on carbs to the point that it stands in the way. We don't need to carb deplete just for the sake of it. We can eat carbs appropriate for our workload. Most people just eat WAY more than what is appropriate.
DeleteDr Attia has a blog about ketones and carbs co-existing that explains how to eat carbs while in a glycogen deficit (at night after practices are over) without even halting ketosis depending on the workload. Remember, the goal is to get good at burning fat so that we can spare our carbs for higher intensities at the end of the race. the goal is not to stay carb depleted.
I hope that helps. If I were training as often as you I would probably adjust if I felt I needed it.
Are you trying any of this with the swimmers you coach? And, is the whole team training USRPT?
ReplyDeleteThanks & I appreciate the work that went into the manifesto
Paul
I haven't pushed the diet on any swimmers but I have discussed it with several parents who have asked.
DeleteOur team does train with USRPT but this season I am experimenting with a hybrid system, trying to apply some USRPT principles to other energy zones as well. I will probably write about that decision at some point, but I have been narrowing down a small group of athletes who have the mental will to make something of USRPT, with many of my swimmers moving on to add back some traditional work. I may make USRPT training a specialized group within my team depending on the maturity of the athlete.
You read my mind I believe. I used the system exclusively for the past year and while I like & believe the concepts, the kids who aren't mentally strong enough to push constantly just didn't seem to do that well. In fact, they seem to get a little de-conditioned from previous seasons. Now, I feel a little stuck. I'm a chiropractor with a good amount of physiology knowledge so I know that training for a marathon but running the 40 doesn't make sense but at the same time, different kids may need different things. So.....I'm considering a hybrid of sorts as well. Would be interested to know your approach/plan? I'm definitely not going back to mundane, semi-meaningless yardage though.
ReplyDeleteThanks again,
Paul
My plan is still evolving. I am trying to find ways to get my swimmers to have more of a mental investment in tracking their progress. I will be happy to share as the season progresses.
DeleteI accept the LCHF USRPT challenge.
ReplyDeleteI am surprised more people are not willing to give this a try. I clicked on a few of your links and found far more negative comments than positive.
Currently my swim and fitness status is too pathetic to post with my name, but I'll give you some feedback either way.
I've taken the LCHF USRPT challenge very seriously for 4 weeks. Here are my results:
ReplyDeleteLCHF: Does not work for me. I gained 6 lbs in 4 weeks. However, there a benefit of sticking with it. I have almost completely eliminated wheat products from my diet. I am down to 2-3 servings a week from 3-4 servings a day. Previously I've had trouble limiting bread and pasta.
USRPT: Awesome! I did one or two sets per day, 5 days per week.
Most were 24 x 25 yds and typically I failed between 13-16 reps.
About once a week I did a 16 x 50, but never finished the set.
Once I did 16 x 100 yds and failed at 13.
I stayed in the pool about an hour regardless of how long the set took (usually less than 20 minutes); I did not swim during this time but walked, tread water, or kicked.
RESULTS: Dropped my mile swim time from 45:33 to 37:26. More than 20% decrease. My goal was to get under 40 minutes, so I far exceeded my goal.
It was easy to stay focused during the sets. If I daydreamed I failed to meet the time, so 95% of the time I was focused on my stroke. I had some sore muscles, and had trouble sleeping some nights; I would get up and massage my muscles with my Sport Thumper; that helped.
For November, I am going to continue with the USRPT workout with the goal of dropping 4 minutes off my mile time. I'll change my diet, adding carbohydrates and reducing the fat, but still avoiding wheat.
Thanks for the inspiration!
I have gained weight too... 7 pounds of muscle while simultaneously losing 10% body fat. before you give up on the diet, I recommend getting body composition tested rather than the scale. I have seen several progress pics at /r/keto where people have lost several inches from their waist and still weighed the same!
Deletegreat to hear that your progress in the pool is going well.
Hmm. That's tough to see the scale go up.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do feel much stronger.
I'll have to think about this.