Determining Functional Swimming Threshold

Don Macdonald training in 58 f fresh water for the English Channel
with support team under watchful eye of Doug McConnell.

There are a number of training assessment methodoligies. Understanding, especially as we age, how to train effectively, efficiently, and safely is critical to a long life and positive outcome.

TrainingPeaks WKO+ automatically generates training stress scores (TSS) for bike rides uploaded from a power meter and for run workouts uploaded from a speed and distance device. Triathletes who use WKO+ and appreciate this feature often wish that the program could do the same for swim workouts. Unfortunately, the swimming equivalent of a bike power meter or run speed and distance device does not yet exist. However, you can calculate TSS for your swims manually using a method we’ll describe in this article.

Why not simply use the same calculation for swim TSS that is used for running, in which the metric of pace is also used to quantify the training load? Because water presents more resistance than air, so the physiological stress of swimming increases with increasing swim speed faster than the physiological stress of running increases with increasing running speed.

The simplest, if not the most accurate, way to account for this difference in calculating TSS scores is to weight the “intensity factor” of swim workouts differently than it is weighted for run workouts. Specifically, we suggest, it should be cubed as opposed to squared.

Determining Functional Swimming Threshold Speed

Training stress score calculations in running and cycling are scaled according to the individual athlete’s current functional threshold pace (running) and functional threshold power (cycling), which correspond roughly to the lactate threshold running pace or cycling power. The lactate threshold can only be determined through laboratory testing, while the functional threshold is determined through field tests that are known to yield roughly equivalent results.

Similarly, the functional swimming threshold pace is a stand-in for the laboratory-determined swimming lactate threshold pace. There are two approaches that are most appropriate for the determination of swimming FTP. The first is the straightforward timed effort, where you swim as far as possible in a given time (e.g. 30 or 60 minutes). So, if you swim for 30 minutes and cover 1000 meters, then you can use the value of 33.3 m/min. as your FTP. Since the actual FTP is closer to the one-hour effort, it might be more advisable to perform a 60-minute test, or to take the value obtained for 30 minutes, multiply by two and subtract 2.5 percent (as most trained swimmers swim roughly 2.5 percent slower in a 60-minute maximal effort than in a 30-minute maximal effort). So again, if you cover 1000 m in 30 minutes, your 60-minute FTP would be 1900 m/hr or 31.7 m/min. This may seem like a minor difference, but due to the resistive aspect of swimming, small differences can have a substantial impact.

If you are not inclined to perform such long, exhaustive efforts in the pool, you may alternatively perform a critical velocity (CV) test. This method consists of two test efforts at different distances (200 m and 400 m) separated by a complete rest. Because complete rest is required for the results of a CV test to be valid, it is best to perform the first all-out effort at the beginning of one workout (after warming up, of course) and the next at the beginning of another. Record the time required to complete each effort and simply plot the results on a graph as distance vs. time. The slope of that line is your critical speed. Alternatively, a simple equation yields the same result:

Critical speed = (Distance of longer test swim – distance of shorter test swim) divided by (Time of longer test swim – time of shorter test swim)

For example, suppose you swim your 200m test swim in 2:02 (2.04 minutes) and your 400m test swim in 4:21 (4.35 minutes). Your critical velocity, then, is (400m – 200m) ÷ (4.35 min. – 2.02 min.) = 86.6 meters/min.

The results of your critical speed determination should yield a result that is very close to a 60-minute test or a laboratory-determined lactate threshold pace. Either of these results can then be used as the FTP for determination of TSS and performance modeling.

Calculating swim TSS

Now that you know your swim FTP, you can easily calculate the TSS for any swim workout using the following procedure:

1. Measure total distance covered for the workout

2. Determine time to cover total distance (not including rest periods)

3. Express distance vs. time in m/min to obtain normalized swim speed (NSS), which is analogous to the normalized power and normalized graded pace in cycling and running, respectively

4. Divide NSS by FT to obtain IF

5. Swim TSS = (Intensity Factor cubed) x hours x 100

For example:

Once you have determined the swim TSS, you can manually input values in Training Peaks WKO+ and then use the program’s analysis features for swimming as you do with running and cycling. Let’s look at an example of a specific workout. First, let’s suppose that your swim FTP is 75 m/minute. Next, let’s suppose you complete the following workout (remember, rest periods are not counted):

Warm-up: 200 m @ 3:20, 30 sec. rest (3:20 total)

Drills: 4 x 50 m @ 1:00, 10-sec. rest (4:00 total)

Main set: 10 x 100 m @ 1:15, 20-sec. rest (12:30)

Cool-down: 200 m @ 3:20 (3:20 total)

Total workout distance: 1,600 m

Total workout time: 23:10 (or 0.386 hours)

The average pace for the complete workout is 1,600 meters divided by 23:10 (23.16 minutes or 0.386 hours) or 69 m/min. The intensity factor for the complete workout is the average pace (69 m/min.) divided by the athlete’s functional threshold pace (75 m/min.) or 0.92. To cube IF, multiply it by itself three times (So, in this example, 0.92 x 0.92 x 0.92). So the TSS for the workout is So the TSS for the workout is 0.778x 0.386 hours x 100 = 30.1.

There are some important limitations of our do-it-yourself method of swim TSS calculation to bear in mind. First of all, although this simplistic approach can be effective, it should be noted that by simply tracking distance and time swum, the effects of rest periods on the sustainable efforts are neglected, whereas in cycling and running they are not, because power meters and speed and distance devices capture coasting and non-movement as part of the workout.

Similarly, our rough-and-ready method of calculating swim TSS lacks the exponential weighting of higher intensities that is done automatically with pace and power in the digital calculation of normalized cycling power and normalized graded pace, and which is an important means of capturing the exponentially greater stress imposed by higher intensities. That being said, the cubed weighting of the IF counterbalances this limitation to a certain extent.

These calculations ignore the differences between different swim strokes and the rather substantial differences in efficiency that result from good or poor technique. Finally, the impact of flip turns and push-offs is essentially neglected using this approach.

Still, it’s a lot better than nothing, which is what triathletes interested in logging their swim workouts on WKO+ have had up to this point!

This article was reprinted from and co-written by Matt Fitzgerald and Stephen McGregor, PhD. 

Making It A Game - How to Get Across

Make It A Game

Outtakes from Article by Erin Barker on Navy Seal Training

Don about 14 miles into the Tampa Bay Marathon Swim

In this second part of the series we are breaking apart Erin Baker's article on why Navy Seals are so tough (Resilient) and what the everyday open water marathon swimmer can learn. 

When we do things repetitively we do take notice. More often than not however its an annoying type of recognition rather than motivating. I choose to make it a game.

• What’s one of the things people who live through disaster scenarios have in common? They make survival a game.

• Happiness expert Shawn Achor said the best way to deal with stress is to see problems as challenges, not threats.

• Kids do better in school when it’s treated like a game.

James, a Navy Seal, said the same thing about getting through the tough times at BUD/S:

Many people don’t recognize that what they’re doing at BUD/S is assessing your ability to handle a difficult circumstance and keep going.

It’s a game. If you want to be or attempt a seriously long swim in excess of say 6 miles and/or in cold water , you’ve got to play that game. You’ve got to have fun with it and you’ve got to keep your eye on the bigger picture.

A Navy SEAL Explains 8 Secrets to Grit and Resilience

Getting Across

Outtakes from Article by Erin Barker

In this series we are breaking apart Erin Baker's article on why Navy Seals are so tough (Resilient) and what the everyday open water marathon swimmer can learn. 

Purpose And Meaning

To say SEAL training is hard is a massive understatement. 

The initial vetting phase (“BUD/S”) is specifically designed to weed people out who aren’t serious.

How do you get serious? Grit often comes from a place of deep purpose and personal meaning. Here’s James:

"At BUD/S you have to know what you’re getting yourself into and what you’re there to do.I still mentor a lot of guys who are interested in trying out for BUD/S and they always ask, “What do I need to do to make my push ups better?” or “Can you teach me the proper swim technique?” My first question is always, “Why do you want to be a SEAL? What is it about being a SEAL that appeals to you?”

The research backs James up. Without a good reason to keep pushing, we’ll quit. Studies of “central governor theory” show our brains always give in long before our body does.

“…Overall, it seems that exercise performance is ultimately limited by perception of effort rather than cardiorespiratory and musculoenergetic factors.”

But this isn’t just true for athletics, it also holds for careers. In a study of West Point alums, those that had intrinsic goals (“I want to serve my country. I want to test my abilities.”) outperformed those that had extrinsic goals (“I want to rise in the ranks and become an officer because that’s a really powerful position and it’s prestigious.”)

So purpose matters. But what’s the attitude that keeps you going in the moment? It’s actually a bit less serious.

If your just trying it to see if you will get across, you will more than likely fail.

The Greatest Gift of All - saving Someone's Life

In the New Year  Learn How to save someones life  Learn How to Perform CPR 2012, Triathlete dies in NY swim. As athletes we rarely consider this will happen to ourselves much less someone we know know or a fellow competitor. I can assure you it does, and when you least expect it and sometimes from the fittest people. Do you know how to perform CPR, use a defibrillator? I did not.  Try this video and see what you think. You may just save a life....  We have all walked by the Red Cross sign in malls, schools and airports indicating where a heart machine is located, learn to use one and maybe pay it forward.  Link: http://www.heartrescuenow.com/

Anxiety & Stress relief lasts long after workout

Relaxing before a morning swim, Don Macdonald, Isle Royale

“While it is well-known that exercise improves mood, among other benefits, not as much is known about the potency of exercise’s impact on emotional state and whether these positive effects endure when we’re faced with everyday stressors once we leave the gym,” explains J. Carson Smith of University of Maryland School of Public Health.

Straight from the Source

Read the original study

DOI: 10.1249/MSS.0b013e31826d5ce5

“We found that exercise helps to buffer the effects of emotional exposure. If you exercise, you’ll not only reduce your anxiety, but you’ll be better able to maintain that reduced anxiety when confronted with emotional events.”

Smith, whose research explores how exercise and physical activity affect brain function, aging, and mental health, compared how moderate intensity cycling versus a period of quiet rest—both for 30 minutes—affected anxiety levels in a group of healthy college students.

As reported in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, he assessed their anxiety state before the period of activity (or rest), 15 minutes after, and finally after exposing them to a variety of intense pleasant and unpleasant photographs, as well as neutral images.

At each point, study participants answered 20 questions from the State-Trait Anxiety inventory, which is designed to assess different symptoms of anxiety. All participants were put through both the exercise and the rest states on different days and tested for anxiety levels pre-exercise, post-exercise, and post-picture viewing.

Smith found that exercise and quiet rest were equally effective at reducing anxiety levels initially. However, after looking at the emotionally charged images for roughly 20 minutes, the anxiety levels of those who had simply rested went back up to their initial levels, whereas those who had exercised maintained their reduced anxiety levels.

“The set of photographic stimuli we used from the IAPS database was designed to simulate the range of emotional events you might experience in daily life,” explains Smith, an assistant professor in the department of kinesiology.

“They represent pleasant emotional events, neutral events and unpleasant events or stimuli. These vary from pictures of babies, families, puppies, and appetizing food items, to very neutral things like plates, cups, furniture, and city landscapes, to very unpleasant images of violence, mutilations, and other gruesome things.”

The study findings suggest that exercise may play an important role in helping people to better endure life’s daily anxieties and stressors.

Smith plans to explore if exercise could have the same persistent beneficial effect in patients who regularly experience anxiety and depression symptoms.

In collaboration with the new Maryland Neuroimaging Center, he is also exploring the addition of functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, to measure brain activity during the period of exposure to emotionally stimulating images to see how exercise may alter the brain’s emotion-related neural networks.

Smith also investigates the role of exercise in preventing cognitive decline in older adults. His research has shown that physical activity promotes changes in the brain that may protect those at high risk for Alzheimer’s disease.

Source: University of Maryland

Our Coach and Mentor - Marcia Cleveland

Our Coach and Mentor - 

Marcia Cleveland Rocks

Winnetka mom Marcia Cleveland looks like your next door neighbor because she is. But she swam the English Channelin 1994 and since has become one of the world’s top advisors and organizers for open water swimming. She’s famous in her universe, though you might not have heard of her. She’s a Master Swimmer who is sought out worldwide for her knowledge. She’s advising two Barrington men now on how to swim the Channel in August. But her place in the world was not so predictable. She was scared out of the ocean by Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws” at age 11 and didn’t get back in the deep water until she was 23.

Quintessential Barrington:The year you swam the English Channel, 1994, doesn’t seem like a long time ago. But the years pile up. What most do you remember about the day you swam the Channel? What do you still feel in your mind when the moment comes back to you?

Marcia Cleveland:Remembering that is one reason I wrote the book (the “Bible” of Channel swimming, “Dover Solo”) because I wanted a memoir so that I could remember everything. People always ask about it and this summer it will be 17 years. It’s just that life was so different then being at a world caliber level. What I remember vividly, of course, was the pain in my shoulders and the cold. But I mostly remember what it felt like when my hands touched the rocks (on the French shore). It was this feeling of complete relief.

QB: Why relief?

MC: You say to yourself: This is one of those days when you really feel like you’ve done something in life. When you’re over there, all of these people are involved in the same thing and it seems almost usual. My life had been focused on that for such a long time. It was just my life. But the further you are removed it, the more you realize how big of a deal it was. Not everybody can get it together to do this. So in reflection – and even now – it sort of amazed me that I could get myself to do this. Doing the training, everything, every day. It’s even innovation of the training. I had a fulltime job at the time, I was married, I was tired a lot, and I was just able to have my big girl pants on every day. It took me five years to write the book. But it gave me perspective.

QB: Was the experience of the Channel swim what you thought it would be?

MC: Much better, a thousand times better. Before you swim you think it’s going to be hours of agony and misery, but you get yourself so physically and mentally prepared. First, my first hour in the water was in the dark, and I had not prepared for that; so I was scared out of my mind. But then you realize you are in your element. You are rocking and rolling. So you never whine or cry. My husband and a friend were in the crew boat and they were in their element, too. You begin by thinking it’s going to be 150-foot waves and 10-degree water. But you get so really, really ready. And once you start doing it, you don’t pay any attention to that.

QB: Is this the hardest swim in the world?

MC: Actually not. Lynne Cox swam the Bering Straight and there was her swim to Antarctica. And the Irish Sea is really hard, 55 degree water and huge jelly fish. Most humans can’t do that. So K2 is a harder to climb than Everest. But not nearly as famous. It’s just that the Channel is the most famous swim.

QB: You were a great kid swimmer in high school (her school was undefeated her junior and senior years) and college. So was this long distance swimming the obvious next thing for you? Were you built for this?

MC: I think when I was a kid, I “left a lot of money on the table” as they say. I did OK. I never had much speed; sort of the ball and chain. I never really blossomed. Coaches then just had a high decibel level. But when I swam my last race for Yale, I was more interested in how good the glass of beer was going to taste. I didn’t have the right approach. So when I started swimming Masters level, I did eight lifetime bests in 10 years. That’s a lot.

QB: But you prepared as a kid by swimming in the ocean off Connecticut?

MC: Not really. I saw the movie “Jaws” when I was 11. And I didn’t go into the ocean for 12 years. It had really scared me to death. I didn’t even start this open water swimming until I was 23. I was suddenly around older swimmers who were brave and they just tugged me into the water. And before I knew it, I was doing marathons around New York. It makes me a little more understanding of swimmers’ fears now (as a teacher) and how they can have a thousand fears and phobias in the open water. Like a blade of grass touches you, and you think it’s a jelly fish. Then you gradually start to learn that you are going to get through this.

QB: So, besides being physically prepared for open water, how did you change your mental approach?

MC:When I got out of college, lots of things started to go wrong and get complicated. I was having to be a grownup. And swimming became my security blanket. When you have a good day or a bad day, you get into the water and let out your joys and sorrows. It was better than the drugs of choice others had. That is very typical of swimmers. You can always say to yourself: I swam today and everything is OK. So I moved to New York, got a job in six days and decided to go swimming at a YMCA on the Upper West Side. I just happened to walk into a Masters Class. I started to realize I was on my own. My own boss. I was in charge and it was all on my own terms. I was both the prisoner and the warden.

QB: Is long distance swimming a human athletic talent, or is a question of mostly consuming will power?

MC:It’s the first option. You have to be good swimmer to do this.

QB: In your book, you describe the level of repetitive work required to be fit enough for these open water events as if you were describing a recipe for lemon meringue pie. But I would guess not a lot of people can do that work – 40,000 yards of swimming in a week for two years – or would even want to do it.

MC: When it comes to preparing to swim the Channel, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. In this society, everybody wants to be the red race car. Some weekend warriors may do really well against the cold once, but then the next day they don’t want to get out of bed. When I started working with Don Macdonald and Doug McConnell (in Barrington), I sent them the workouts for every day, and they are expected to do it. I’m not forcing anyone. But they both know what’s at stake. The fact they have many other things going on in their lives is OK. These workouts are designed for real people.

QB: Doug McConnell and Don Macdonald seem serious about this. I would guess there’s no other way to make this swim than to be serious about preparing for it.

MC: Yes, as teacher and coach I have to know what your real story is. But I can smoke out people quickly. Don and Doug have yet to give me any excuse. Like, “Ooo, I broke my toenail.” But they are in it for the real reasons. I’ve had people who are not committed. Some want the dream and the ideal, like a knight on a white horse. But real life doesn’t go that smoothly. If I decide you’re not able to do this, I’ll say you need to think about it and then call me when you decide what to do.

QB Do your children know what swimming the English Channel means? Do they want to “beat mom?”

MC: I think my daughter has read “Dover Solo” but I don’t know if Sam has. My husband hasn’t read it because he lived through it. It’s not exactly required reading in the house. (Chuckling). Sam swims for the Michigan Shore team. Julia swims for the New Trier club, and she’s doing very well. We did a swim together last summer off Long Island Sound. She is in the middle of this group of my friends who are like her extra moms. She has a lot of people in swimming who care about her. I’ve told them that if they ever want to stop, it’s fine with me. It was not to be mean. They aren’t swimming for me. But there isn’t much pressure to “show up mom.” She’s already beaten 11 of my lifetime bests.

QB: How does that make you feel?

MC: She takes delight in that, and so do I. It’s fun to see her kick my butt. Of course, if she wants to inherit Aunt Mildred’s couch pillow, that’s OK with me, too.

QB: What’s your best estimate of how ready McConnell and Macdonald are for the swim?

MC: Good as long as they do the training. But there are no guarantees, and I would be a fool to give any. They know that totally.

QB: What happens when swimmers don’t succeed?

MC: It’s a lack of preparation obviously. Or the weather deteriorates. Or the swimmer gets sick from what they eat when they swim. You get tired. You get cold. Or some just give up. That’s a bad omen in life. Sometimes the pilot does call off the swim because he has the final say. Obviously when this happens, everyone is tremendously disappointed. Not so much the swimmer right away. Because when you get out of the water because of hypothermia, the boat has been looking really good to you for a long time.

QB: Do they fit the training experience model of your other students who have made it?

MC: They are doing what they need to do to be successful, to give them a chance to be successful.

QB: How many have you tutored for the Channel?

MC: It’s more like advised. About 25. Maybe 10 have made it. Some have started the training but dropped out because they couldn’t do it.

QB: Are there other successful Channel swimmers in the area?

MC: Maybe two dozen or so total in the Chicago region, although no one who is super young because that doesn’t help. Older swimmers are more patient. Maybe two or three in the Chicago area.

QB: Does the event change you?

MC: I think what it did was showed me the value of real hard work, and it was totally up to me to succeed. I could decide when to end it at any time. Nobody was holding me to this. But being able to put together a big project – there are lots of people who cared and helped – was something special. It helps on those horrible days when you can get it together. It’s helped me be a better parent.

QB: Can a person really know what it took to swim the Channel without having done it? Is this one of those human events with a closed enrollment?

MC:That’s part of mystique, and it’s true. This thing is not a dime a dozen. Sometimes someone will say they want to swim the Channel and even when they take baby steps, they say “Oh my God. I didn’t know what was involved.” That’s what brings the fraternity closer together of those who have done it. The mutual respect. When they come back, they don’t need medals or attention. You can just see it in their faces.

QB: I have never read an account of your exploits that goes long without noting how important a person you are in the sport worldwide as a teacher and leader. Are you comfortable being called one of the half dozen most significant persons in your sport?

MC: I never expected to be important. But there are several of us women at the top. Every year, we go back to England for a party. It’s great to see everyone and see what they’ve done in the last year.

QB: How much time do you spend in water each week in warm months and cold?

MC: Right now about 25,000 yards a week, about 14 to 16 miles. That’s seven or eight hours. When I did the Channel, it was 45,000 yards in 20 hours a week, and then up to 25 hours a week. In the summer it’s about 50-50between the pool and open water (usually Lake Michigan). I often use the pool to work on speed. But you don’t waste time, like with polar bear activities or goofing off like that.

QB: Tell me something about you that almost no one knows.

MC: I like to knit. I’m totally mediocre at it. But I just love it. I’ve knitted my husband lots of sweaters. Right now, I’m working on a washcloth. It helps keep my expectations low.

QB: What will you do next? Do you fear the Alexander the Great Syndrome: crying because there are no worlds left to conquer?

MC: Nah, that’s not me at all. Maybe (swimming the Straits of) Gibraltar. My husband loves Spain.

Family

Marcia Cleveland, 47, has lived with her husband of 20 years, Mark Green, in Winnetka for the past eight years. Their two children are Julia, 13, and Sam, 11.

She is a professional long-distance swimming coach, coach for Vision Quest Triathlon Group on the North Shore, Master Swimming organizer, a Girl Scout Troop leader and member of The Women’s Exchange. She grew up in Greenwich, Conn., and graduated from Yale.

She is serving a four-year term as the national chair of the United States Masters Swimming Open Water and Long Distance Committee.

The Resume

In 1994, she swam the 23.69-mile English Channel in nine hours, 44 minutes. She was the 445th to swim the Channel.

In 1996, she established the American women’s record for the 28.5 mile Manhattan Island Marathon Swim in five hours, 57 minutes. It was her fifth Manhattan Marathon.

In 2003, she swam the roundtrip English Channel route as part of a relay team.

In 2005, she swam the 23-mile Catalina Island Channel in the Pacific Ocean and reached California’s coast in eight hours, 56 minutes, virtually all of it at night.

The work

As a 30-year-old, she averaged 45,000 yards a week swimming for a year before her English Channel swim.

As a 40-year-old mother of two, she averaged 25,000 yards a week before the Catalina swim.

In the water

As she swam the Channel, her head filled with the B-52's version of the Flintstones theme song, a singing rendition of the ABC's stroke by stroke, and the British pop song, “I Saw the Sign.” Cleveland was also fueled by feedings which consisted of 30-60 second stops where liquid would be handed over the side of her support boat. She would tread water while gulping either chicken broth, watery oatmeal or Nutrament – and then begin swimming again.

In 1994, Marcia Cleveland is joined by her husband, Mark Green, to savor the ultimate finish for a swimmer – completing the English Channel swim.