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Training von Penny Heyns

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  • Saisonplanung
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  • Trainingsbeispiele

Penny Heyns had one of the most remarkable swimming seasons ever last year, breaking world records in the 50, 100 and 200 meter breaststrokes on 11 different occasions! Her coach, Jan Bidrman, shares how he trained Penny from May 1998 through her memorable summer of 1999.

After the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, I moved to Calgary while Penny stayed in Nebraska. At the 1998 World Championships in Perth, Penny finished a disappointing fourth in the 100 meter breaststroke. After the meet, she struggled with motivation and was determined to retire from swimming. We talked, and she decided to give swimming one more shot and moved to Calgary. Penny joined the University of Calgary National Swimming Centre and University of Calgary Swim Club in May 1998.

1998 Summer Season
After she moved to Calgary, we spent a few hours talking about her swimming, then set a goal for the 1998 summer. The goal was to swim her fastest 100 meter breaststroke since Atlanta at the 1998 Goodwill Games. The goal was very reasonable. Another goal was for Penny to adjust to her new training environment and a different program.

Mike Blondal, head coach of the University of Calgary, and I are responsible for about 25 swimmers. We work with heart rate monitors, and our training intensities are based on heart beats per minute.

Working with Penny prior to the Olympics and looking back at her training program, most of the swimming was done at or above anaerobic threshold. She rarely completed a full cycle without being broken down. Too much swimming at medium intensity (anaerobic threshold) was probably the reason why she was getting tired and overtrained. High intensity swimming such as lactate tolerance and MVO2 was not the issue. The problem was too much ÒeasyÓ swimming at a high intensity.

Dr. David Smith, exercise physiologist at the University of Calgary, helps with monitoring our training program. Most of the meters are swum at a low aerobic level. It is something that I thought I had been doing all along, but I was not.

According to Dr. Smith, low intensity aerobic swimming should be done at the level of 50 beats below the swimmer's maximum heart rate. Swimming at this level develops the aerobic system, but allows the swimmer to recover and prepare for sets where high intensity and high heart rates are required.

Dr. Smith was involved in the preparation of Olympic medal swimmers Mark Tewksbury and Curtis Myden. I figured that I would give slower swimming a shot.

The next challenge was to persuade Penny that easing off was the way to go. Penny's max heart rate is 200 beats per minute. Penny values hard work above anything else-if she were not reminded, her heart rate would be 170 beats per minute and above all the time.

She still struggles a bit with the whole idea, but throughout the summer she started to swim slower on the slow aerobic sets. The main sets were fast, which indicated that her specific fitness was improving. She completed the training cycle without being tired, not overtrained. Also, her in-season meet performances and training performances were steadily improving.

I had not seen Penny working out for almost two years. Not having seen her for a long time, I noticed that she was not as smooth in her stroke as she used to be. She was taking fewer strokes per length, but watching her from a distance, I could see a hesitation in her stroke.

Penny's favorite drills are 2 kick/1 pull and pulling breaststroke with paddles. She had stopped doing these drills after the Olympics, and we decided to include these drills in the training program. In the beginning of the summer, Penny was barely able to do the 2 kick/1 pull drill for 50 meters under 40 seconds. Before the Olympic final, she went 33.8. Breast pull with a dolphin kick, if done right, is very demanding.

Prior to Atlanta, she had done sets of 200s. That summer, Penny struggled with distances over 50 meters. We did some video filming, and as Penny became more fit, her stroke began to improve.

Penny has always worked very hard in the weight room. Bill Makki, the University of Calgary National Sport Centre weight coach, developed a program that combined muscle endurance and explosiveness. That program was somewhat different for Penny-it did not take as much time, but it worked well.

At the Goodwill Games, Penny went 1:08-low twice in the 100 meter breaststroke and a 2:26-high in the 200. Both of these times were Penny's fastest performances since Atlanta. As a bonus, she broke a world record in the 50 meter breaststroke on the way to one of her 100 wins.

Penny was not allowed to compete at the 1998 Commonwealth Games, and she finished her season swimming a few short course meters meets in South Africa. She was very pleased with her performances. Summer goals were accomplished, and she enjoyed swimming. Penny completed the whole summer with a very consistent period of training. The training environment in Calgary was working well.

1998-99 Winter Season
The season started in the middle of October. The winter season finished with the Short Course World Championships and the South African Nationals in April of 1999. The summer season started after that and finished with the 1999 Pan Pacific Games in Sydney. In the beginning of the season, Penny said that she would like to win the Short Course World Championships. Also, she boldly said that at the 1999 Pan Pacific Championships, she would like to break the 200 meter breaststroke world record. I think that she felt that her 100 meter breaststroke world record was a bit out of reach. Most of Penny's main sets are done in 50 meter repeats. She feels that she needs to take breaks to be able to swim with a proper stroke. Penny's 2 kick/1 pull drill is always done at high intensity. That is the only way she can feel her stroke correctly. Following are some of the sets she swam:

  • 3 x (10 x 50) on 1:00; after each set, about 400 easy. Her best set was done in December of 1998.

      1. Set: Odd: 50 drill, 2 kick/1 pull holding 37-38. Even: 50-25 2 kick/1 pull and 25 easy.
      2. Set: Breaststroke (best set holding 35-high to 36.5 at 18 to 19 strokes per 50 with a heart rate above 190 beats per minute).
      3. Set: Odd: easy choice. Even: breaststroke fast (best set 34-high at 23 to 24 strokes per 50).

  • Breaststroke pull sets are usually 600 meters in length and mostly in 50 meter distances. These sets were done three times a week.
    •

  • Race pace 50s: a typical set

      24 x 50 on 1:00, done as 8 x 3
      2: easy choice
      1: 2nd 50 of the 100 minus 1 second (about xx sec.)

  • Breaststroke 2 kick/1 pull done at fast pace. At this time, Penny could go 36 seconds per 50 any time. It was a big improvement from the summer.
    •

  • 10 x 50 breaststroke on 3:00. In March in short course meters, Penny averaged 32.3.
    •

Most of these sets indicated that she was getting as fast as she had been in 1996.

In the weight room, Penny started doing Olympic lifting three times a week to improve her strength. Twice a week, she did a core strength program using physio balls and wobble boards. Her dryland and weight program took about five hours every week.

Penny and Joanne Malar wanted to go to Australia and Europe for the World Cup meets. Penny was always a better long course swimmer than short course. At these meets, however, she raced really well. Her 50 was consistent at 31-low to -mid, and her 100 meter breaststroke was always 1:07. She did not swim the 200 meter breaststroke at these meets, but she knew that she had done enough work to have a good one.

At the Canadian Nationals in a long course pool in the middle of March, Penny swam her best in-season performances. She went 1:09.3 in the 100 meter breaststroke and 2:28 in the 200 meter breaststroke.

Almost immediately following nationals, Penny traveled to Hong Kong for the Short Course World Championships. She finished in second place three times, swimming her best short course times. However, the results were not as good as expected. She later realized that she had let the issue of prize money interfere with her racing. For Penny, swimming fast is a joy in itself.

After the World Championships, Penny went to South Africa to swim in the South African long course nationals. She swam the 100 meter breaststroke in 1:08.0, which was again a bit faster than the times from the summer before. In the 200 meter breaststroke, she went 2:25.9, which was only a half-second off her best time and a bit more than a second off the world record.

She described the race as ÒglidingÓ for 150 meters and working the last 50. The last 50 was 37-low. She said that during the last 50 meters, she was thinking about the 10 x 50 breaststroke set on 1:00 that she had done before.

After the meets, I spent time looking at the tapes of Penny's races and her stroke analysis. I realized that since the 1995 season, her stroke rate declined every year. For example, at the 1995 Pan Pacific Championships, her stroke rate was between 54 to 56 strokes per minute. At the Olympics, her average stroke rate was about 51, and she did 22 strokes in the first 50 meters and 27 strokes in the second 50 meters. Now, when she was racing, her stroke rate in long course rarely got over 45 strokes per minute. Her stroke counts were about 20 and 24.

1999 Summer Season
After a short break at home in South Africa, Penny met the Calgary team at the University of Hawaii. When we started training, the main focus was to swim with a higher stroke rate. Penny did sets of 15-meter swims at her 50 stroke rate.

In the beginning, she was not able to stroke that high without feeling uncomfortable. After a few weeks, swimming with a higher stroke rate became easier and more comfortable. After a month of training, we again did a set of 10 x 50 on 3:00 in short course, and her average was 32.0. Several of the 50s were 31-lows. The stroke rates were 51 to 49 with stroke counts of 8 and 9-10 strokes per length. Prior to that, Penny had never broken 32 seconds in training.

During this time, Penny worked extremely hard in dryland and weights. She was stronger than before the Olympics and was swimming fast in practice. Following is an example of her weight room session:


    Hang cleans-3 x 5
    Squats-3 x 5
    Military press-3 x 5
    Hamstring-3 x 10
    Bench press-3 x 5
    Box squats-3 x 5
    Seated rowing-3 x 5
    Lat-pull down-3 x 5
    Rhythm squats-3 x 10

In June at the meet in Charlotte, she went 1:09.3 in the 100 meter and 2:28 in the 200 meter breaststroke. She finished second in the 200, but raced really well.

It seemed that this meet was a big milestone in Penny's summer. After we came back to Calgary, her training was even better, and she was steadily swimming faster at each set. Following are some of those sets:

  • 8 x 100 breaststroke pull with Zoomers and paddles on 1:40. Penny was able to hold 1:08 comfortably. She did this (or a very similar set) three times a week.
  • 10 x 50 on 1:00
    Odd: 2 kick/1 pull drills at 35-lows.
    Even: easy choice
  • 10 x 50 breast on 3:00. This set was done almost once a week in the second part of the summer about a month before the Pan Pacific Championships. Penny averaged under 32 seconds (long course) with a stroke count between 21 to 23.
  • 6 x 100 breaststroke on 8:00. This set was swum about 10 days before the Janet Evans Invitational. Penny averaged under 1:09.
  • 10 x 100 free on 1:40 holding about 1:08 at HR 185 to 190. Penny did this set three times.
    •

Feeling very confident from these sets, Penny went to the Janet Evans Invitational with the goals of 1:08 in the 100 meter breaststroke and 2:26 in the 200 meter breaststroke. We arrived at the meet about two days prior to the competition. Penny did a few training sessions at about 4,000 meters each. At one of the sessions, Penny pushed a 100 meter breaststroke in 1:10 and a few controlled 50s at 33.5. Apart from that, she was diving 25s to her head at 13-high, with a stroke rate of 49 to 50 and 8 strokes per length.

Penny has always swum fast in every race, prelim or finals. In the prelims of the 200 meter breaststroke, she took everyone by surprise by breaking the world record with 2:24.69. She swam very evenly through the first 150 and again worked the last 50 meters. In that race, Penny's splits and stroke counts were: 


        Time        Stroke Count
50      33.3        16
100     1:10.6      19
150     1:48.1      19
200     2:24.69     24

In the finals, she swam a very similar race and improved her morning time by a few hundredths of a second. The final time was 2:24.51.

The next question was how fast she would go in the 100 meter breast. In the morning of the 100 meter race, Penny went 1:06.99, which was another world record. 


        Time        Stroke Count
50      31.7        20
100     1:06.99     24

The evening's swim was again faster with a final time of 1:06.95. 


        Time        Stroke Count
50      31.4        21
100     1:06.95     25

The Janet Evans Invitational was an amazing meet-and she still had the Pan Pacific Championships in six weeks! For the first two weeks after the Evans meet, Penny followed a regular routine. The next four weeks, Penny stopped her weight training, and her weekly volume gradually decreased, but, in general, her training followed a similar routine.

Penny was very confident before the Pan Pacific Championships. In the preliminaries of the 100 meter breaststroke, she went 1:06.52. 


        Time        Stroke Count       Stroke Rate
50      31.13       21                 49/48/48
100     1:06.52     25                 50/50/48

The semifinal race was a bit slower, and she seemed to be trying too hard to go fast. It was reflected in the first 50 meters. Penny's stroke rate and stroke count increased. 


        Time        Stroke Count        Stroke Rate
50      31.48       22                  50/49/49
100     1:06.99     26                  48/49/48

The final race was very similar to the semis, and Penny's time was 1:07.08.

The 200 meter breast was two days after the final of the 100. Penny used the same strategy-ÒglidingÓ for the first 150 and working the last 50. She missed the world record by a tenth of a second, but she still had two other opportunities to swim. 


        Time        Stroke Count
50      33.06       17
100     1:10.41     19
150     1:47.96     19
200     2:24.61     24

The semifinal swim was very similar to the one in the prelims, but the time (2:24.42) was under the world record, and there was still one more swim to go.

In the final race, Penny decided to use a different strategy. Her splits and stroke counts reflect the race, and the final time was 2:23.64. 


        Time        Stroke Count       Stroke Rate
50      32.5        18                 38.9/36/36
100     1:09.16     20                 35.8/35/36.4
150     1:46.02     21                 38/38/38
200     2:23.64     25                 44.2/43/43/44.7

The next day, Penny decided to swim a 50 time trial, and her time of 30.86 was an improvement from the summer of 1998. 


        Time        Stroke Count       Stroke Rate
50      30.86       23                 54/56/51

It was an amazing meet and accomplishment by Penny.

After Pan Pacs, Penny competed in the All-Africa Games in Johannesburg plus two short course meets, the South African Nationals and Seagull Winter Championships. Penny bettered the 100 meter breaststroke short course world record twice to 1:05.40 and the 50 meter breaststroke once to 30.60.

Penny broke 11 world records during the summer. She showed again a great ability to train and realize the benefits of training. Her motivation and focus during training and racing are unbelievable.

 

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