By Brad Culp
There was good and bad swimming news at the beginning of August.
The good: For the first time in 98 years, the city of Chicago approved a two-mile competitive swim in the Chicago River, and I was one of the roughly 350 swimmers whose application was accepted.
The bad: My pool was closed for six weeks for its first re-tiling since it opened 25 years ago. It would be closed for approximately six weeks, and the race was in exactly six weeks.
There was more than a moment of panic, and more than a few emails to the administration of my beloved health club asking why they chose to do this just as the area’s outdoor pools were closing for the season. (Evidently, that wasn’t considered.)
My anxiety subsided when I remembered that thing in my basement that gets ignored mainly during the summer: My VASA Ergometer (SwimErg). In the five years that I’ve had one, it’s primarily been used as a means of maintaining swim-specific strength while I focus on running, strength training, and all the other things I’d rather be doing during the Chicago winter than jump in the pool. The real swim training can always wait until it can be done outdoors.
So, I created a training plan for the six weeks leading up to race day and did the best I could. It was simple: Five mornings a week on the VASA Ergometer for 2,000-4,0000 meters, and one drive to Wisconsin each weekend for a long open-water swim of approximately 6,000 meters.
The Chicago River Swim consisted of two one-mile loops, each starting with a swim against the current and finishing with the current, so I structured most of my sets on the Erg to mimic the unique conditions of the race.
I’m a huge fan of 400-meter intervals on the SwimErg. I think it’s long enough to pack an incredible amount of open-water-specific stimulus, and just short enough that you don’t lose focus toward the end of each rep.
My favorite set while preparing for this race—one I do three times every week—was simple:
400m build warm-up
400m @ 110 watts (to mimic upcurrent mass start)
:30 rest
400m @ 100 watts (to mimic settling in and lower HR)
:30 rest
400m @ 90 watts (to mimic turn downcurrent)
:30 rest
400m @ 100 watts (to mimic picking up pace and HR)
400m @ above 110 watts (to mimic kick to finish)
200m easy
This roughly half-hour set was repeatable nearly every day and very specific to the race I was training for. No need to mess with walls or stop to check my pace on the clock. River racing is all about maintaining a steady and straight course, and the VASA Ergometer proved to be the perfect tool for training for this type of racing.
Race day went almost exactly according to plan, because I trained with a plan and had a tool that allowed me to stick to it. It was nearly as if I were putting my body on autopilot. With an Olympian and one of the most decorated open-water swimmers in the world in the mix, I knew third was the best I could hope for, so I let the two kids take off and settled in with one other guy at the front to race for the final podium spot.
I thought I had him right where I wanted him in the final 400 meters, ready to unleash my legs and pull away, but that’s when I found the one problem with my otherwise perfect training program: I hadn’t kicked in six weeks. (And I never skip the kick set.) Not only was the strength in my legs missing, but they’d had it with the surprisingly warm water, and both seized with cramps the minute I tried to turn them on.
Instead of sprinting away to the final podium spot, the last 400 meters were spent accepting the reality of fourth. But this wasn’t the Olympics, and my kids got to see me race for the first time.
And I’d surprised myself with what I was capable of after six weeks out of the pool, even though it shouldn’t have been a surprise. Not only did the VASA Ergometer maintain my swim fitness during the final six weeks, it vastly improved it and put some much-needed strength and muscular endurance back in my shoulders and arms.
Here’s to never taking another six-week break from the pool, the Ergometer, or kick sets ever again.
Brad Culp is a sports journalist, former Editor-in-Chief of Triathlete Magazine, Media Manager of the International Triathlon Union, and LAVA magazine, the official publication of the IRONMAN triathlon series.
He is the author of the acclaimed book, The Norwegian Method
The Culture, Science, and Humans Behind the Groundbreaking Approach to Elite Endurance Performance
He is a sports journalist, former Editor-in-Chief of Triathlete Magazine, Media Manager of the International Triathlon Union, and LAVA magazine, the official publication of the IRONMAN triathlon series.
Culp is also an accomplished athlete. He won three state titles in high school water polo and earned All-American honors in swimming as part of a relay team. Culp finished his first Ironman triathlon during his junior year of college, where he was the youngest athlete competing at Ironman Wisconsin at age 19. He also founded the high-performing Miami University Triathlon Club and continues to compete at a high level in endurance sports.
Culp is a contributor to the Red Bull Red Bulletin, Men’s Journal, 220 Triathlon, Triathlon Lumina, Triathlon Plus, and Slowtwitch. He lives in Geneva, Illinois, with his wife and two children.