Forging the Sheffield Plan
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
29 August 2026
It's been a relaxing week since I swam the 400 IM at the European Masters Championships in Slovakia, but recovery time is over because the Swim England Masters Championships kick off in eight weeks at the excellent Ponds Forge International Sports Centre:
Reflecting back on the summer of training and racing, I had three big lessons:
Vacation after the event - My wife and I had a great holiday, sandwiching in the 2/3 days of racing in Bratislava between 3 days in each of Vienna and Salzburg. While I loved our time in Vienna, took advantage of great pools there and thought I was limiting my activity, my step count told the truth - I averaged about 70% more steps per day than I had over the last six months of my normal life.
Stop weights/dryland earlier - While my performances were good, I never felt sharp and rested. The racing felt like I was in a mid-season event where I had done a quick drop taper.
I had intentionally kept my swim volume higher than were I tapering for an SCM event - at 12KM in the week before this meet vs 9KM, for example, for the same time period ahead of Canadian Nationals. I still think that was the right decision, both for the events I was racing and for racing long course.
But, rather than drop my dryland/weight routine three weeks ahead of this event, I did my last session twelve days before my first race day. I think that was too close.
Only do indoor championship events - Though I lived in Arizona for 21 years and did the vast majority of my training outside and maybe only two meets indoors, I have always preferred racing indoors. If I'm perfectly honest, I also prefer training indoors. I don't dislike outdoor pools; they definitely have their charms, but when it comes to a peak performance event, I strongly prefer fewer uncontrollable variables.
The other big lesson is really a longer arc over the last year or so. Ever since I started preparing last year for Sheffield, I've been highly focused on reduced total swim volume, but swimming much faster in many of my workouts (this is a good example of the kinds of repeat sets I've been doing). Even leading up to Europeans, the vast majority of my speed work were 50s, typically on a 1:1 rest ratio. I was not doing traditional 400 IM training. I never did a 100 fly straight, for example, in any workout, nor even straight 200 IMs.
I think I've proven to myself that swimming less, but training faster can produce good results.
But, as happy as I was with my 400 IM race result, I do feel that I had to pace it more than race it. I do think I need to start my training block with the kind of 400 IM focused training I used to do in my mid-to-late 40s, a period where I could routinely go well under 5:00 in SCM (my goal to do again in Sheffield).
So, with the big caveat that my work travels almost always mean that I can never stick to any training program, both for scheduling challenges of just getting to pools and for the bigger challenge of trying to do workouts in public swimming sessions, my eight weeks will directionally look like this:
4 weeks of my traditional 400 IM training (see here and here for examples)
3 weeks of my recent pure speed oriented approaches, the last of which will be my first week of taper
1 week of a pure, low volume taper week right before racinh
I will aim to swim 5x per week, ideally in a 2 on, 1 off, 3 on, 1 off weekly cycle
My dryland routine will be 2-3x per week consisting of my knee rehab work, my shoulder/elbow pre-hab work, and core exercises. Three weeks out from the meet, I will do this once; then drop it completely for the two weeks of taper.
As for my racing, I'm going to enter a limited program:
Friday - 200 back, 400 IM
Saturday - 200 fly**, 400 free
Sunday - 200 IM
... and then do relays with the team
** There is a chance I'll skip the 200 fly. The session lineup is not ideal for me, as I'd prefer to race one event per session, but the Friday events I want to swim are in the evening session and then the Saturday morning session contains the 200 fly and the 400 free. Of those two races, I'd rather swim a one great 400 free than mediocre in both.
