800 Lengths of Aquatic Enjoyment: A Test Of Endurance

KNOXVILLE, TN - December 5, 2013 - A member of the Villanova University swim team watches the Men's 50 Yard Freestyle during the USA Swimming AT&T Winter National Championships at the Allan Jones Aquatic Center in Knoxville, Tennessee

800 Lengths of Aquatic Enjoyment: A Test Of Endurance

Every coach has their go-to challenge set.

Bill Rose, legendary coach of two-time Olympic gold medalist Mike Bruner, made the former world record holder do 100 x 100s on one minute. In developing some of the best sprinters in history, Brett Hawke had his Auburn Tigers do 100x25s at 100 goal pace with descending intervals.

At Villanova, head coach Rick Simpson likes to challenge his swimmers to an annual 20,000 race.

Dubbed the “800 Lengths of Aquatic Enjoyment,” it is aimed to be a “terrific aerobic overload opportunity for swimmers of all competitive distances,” according to Simpson.

While it obviously has fitness and mental training benefits, it has scientific advantages as well. Some of the physiological gains include: strengthening the heart through increasing stroke or pump volume, increased myoglobin concentration in muscle fibers, and teaching the body to burn fat as fuel.

The swim, first introduced a little more than 25 years ago, is traditionally done about a month into the season. It is designed to push swimmers beyond their comfort zone as they battle it out in the pool for around three and a half to four hours.

“I believe the first year I started it was 1995,” said Simpson. “I was coaching at Rutgers at the time, and then I introduced it when I was the head coach at Seton Hall, and when I came to Villanova, I introduced it to the group, and 21 years later, we’re still doing it,” he added.

Training under legendary coaches like Dick Shoulberg and Frank Elm, both of whom believed in developing lasting aerobic bases, had a strong influence behind Simspon’s reasoning for creating the set.

“Dick Shoulberg has had decades of success with athletes on a very overt aerobic base training philosophy, so there was a lot of influence from him, as well as my college coach (Frank Elm), who was an Olympic coach who believed in the importance of aerobic base training.”

Simpson also credits seeing the effects in other sports as a motivational factor.

“I was spending a lot of time paying attention to how runners train, cyclists train, other cardiovascular, aerobic athletes, how they train, and the whole idea of an aerobic overload and the long-term benefits of an aerobic overload on all performances, and that was sort of really what drove the concept.”

While some may see the set as “garbage yardage,” Simpson has seen first-hand how beneficial the set can be for swimmers.

“The list of athletes who have done it and have had some significant breakthrough swims is more than I can remember,” he said.

He recalls how school record holder in the 500 and mile, John Davidson, had some immediate massive time drops after doing the swim in his sophomore year.

“One of the ones I think that always stands out to me, it was John Davidson. I always say nobody’s ever surprised when a record is broken. You know, it’s always part of the plan. He swam the mile a month and a half after (completing the 20,000) at the Princeton Invite and broke our school record, and I was not expecting the school record to be broken.”

While completing 20,000 yards straight may seem a daunting task for most swimmers, five-time Big East championship finalist Brenna McLaughin relishes the opportunity to do the swim every year.

Though she was nervous at first, she has seen the massive benefits it has given her at the end of the season.

“The aerobic base that the 20,000 provides is unmatched,” said the 2020 Big East Champion in the 1650. “Beyond the swimming itself, it provides and instills additional mental toughness every time I have completed it. After swimming 800 laps, 20 laps for a 500 or 66 laps for a mile seems like nothing!” she added.

Big East silver medalist in the mile Jake McIntyre had done similar challenge swims in high school and decided against the 20,000 as a freshman. After being contact traced for COVID-19 in the middle of last season, he decided to give it a go.

“I decided I would do the 20,000 to reset my aerobic system, having taken a significant time off of swimming, and it being about six weeks out from conference,” he said.

Completing the swim certainly paid off as McIntyre dropped 10 seconds at the Big East Championships in April and came within four seconds of Davidson’s mile record.

Like McLaughlin, the six-time Big East finalist found how mentally significant completing the swim is.

“It benefitted me a lot in terms of my confidence and ability to maintain a strong, smooth stroke through the end of my races,” said the junior.

While ‘challenge’ sets may seem useless or pointless at times, coaches do have methods to their perceived ‘madness.’ Like a set of 100 x 100s or 100 x 25s all out, the 20,000 has not only physical benefits but incredible mental ones also.

What is the most challenging set or swim you have done? Let us know in the comments.

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Tom Musch

2 years ago

One hour 400 on fastest send off you can make
One hour 200 on fastest send off you can make
One hour 100 on fastest send off you can make
One hour 50 on the fast send off you can make

One group of high school boys finished at 17,000 yards and then got back in the pool to do an additional 200 to make it an even 10 miles.

Won state meet in record time for the 200 free relay.

Preston Hammontree

2 years ago

Coach Rose gave us a challenge set in October of 1994 of 50×500’s. The hardest thing I ever did at MVN or anywhere.

GCSTO

2 years ago

320 x 25’s Butterfly
Odds @. :20
Evens @. :25

thezwimmer

2 years ago

Who counts the laps?