Sprint training (lactate production training)

Lactate production training consists of short sprints at near maximum speeds for improving anaerobic power. 

Training effects

• Increase in the rate of anaerobic metabolism
• Increase in maximum spinting speed
• Increase in the quantities of ATP and CP stored in trained muscle fibers
• Increase in the rate of energy release from ATP
• Increase in the recycling rate of ATP with CP
• Increase in muscular power
• Increase in neuromuscular coordination at fast swimming speeds
• Increase in buffering capacity

Guidelines for Constructing Lactate Production Repeat Sets

• Set length: 300 to 600 m is the optimum range for these sets. Swimmers can perform several such sets in one training session.
• Repeat distances: 25 to 50 m is the best repeat distance.
• Rest intervals: 1 to 3 min for 25 repeats and 3 to 5 min for 50 repeats.
• Speed: Training speeds should be near maximum. Times should be within 1 to 2 sec of the swimmer's best time for 25 repeats and within 2 to 3 sec of the best time for 50 repeats. 

Although swimmers should do adequate amounts of lactate production swimming during all phases of the season, they should emphasize this form of sprint training during the early season to increase the rate of anaerobic metabolism. A considerable amount of lactate production training should also occur during the middle of the season to reduce the decrease in the rate of anaerobic metabolism that can occur when athletes perform a lot of threshold or overload endurance training. Finally, lactate production training should be an important part of the training day in the last portion of the season when athletes are trying to improve their sprinting speed.

The most direct method to continue overloading anaerobic metabolism is to increase the speed of repeats as the season progresses. Increasing the volume of lactate production repeats is also a good overloading procedure. Decreasing the rest intervals however, is not a usable overloading procedure with this kind of training because shortening the recovery time will simply cause acidosis to occur sooner and reduce the length and effectiveness of the set.