Test set for evaluating changes in anaerobic power

The purpose of test sets for anaerobic power is to evaluate changes in an athlete’s rate of anaerobic metabolism. A small number of very short repeats should be used so that acidosis and its slowing effects on anaerobic metabolism will not cause interpretation errors.

The best repeat distances are 25 and 50 m. The whole set should be between 100 and 300 m in length. The rest intervals should be long to allow for the elimination of much of the lactate that is produced during each swim. It’s better if you use send off times of 2 to 3 min between 25s and 2 to 5 min between 50s. Athletes should be encouraged to swim easy during the recovery periods between repeats to assist in clearing their muscles of lactic acid. Some examples of repeat sets for monitoring changes in anaerobic power are 8 x 25 m on a send off time of 3 min and 6 x 50 m on a send off of 4 min.

The average repeat speed for these sets is the best statistic to use for evaluating changes in anaerobic power. When the average time for the set of sprint repeat improves, the athlete’s anaerobic power has probably improved.  It is not recommended to use just one sprint because factors like waves and timing errors could affect the outcome.  A number of repeats, as described earlier, are far more reliable in evaluating changes in anaerobic power than just one repeat.

The accuracy of this evaluation set can be improved by counting stroke number or by calculating stroke rates. When an athlete uses fewer strokes or slower stroke rates, his/her swimming efficiency may have improved even when his/her times do not get better. At the same time, a lack of effort could be suspected on a previous test if swimmers improve their times on the subsequent test by taking more strokes or by using higher stroke rates. In this case, anaerobic power may not have improved even though they improved their average speed for the set of repeats.

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