Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. Maarten van der Weijden, a nominee for the 2008 2008 World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year, prepared himself in thoughtful ways for his Olympic triumph.
The Olympic 10K Marathon Swim gold medalist adjusted his sleep patterns at home to match Beijing time several months in advance using light therapy and slept – and napped – in a high-altitude tent prior to going to China. He also focused on his morning practices that helped him be prepared for the 9:00 am start time in Beijing.
Maarten and his coach, Marcel Wouda shared their workouts with the admirable philosophy that fits the personality of open water swimming's most visible ambassador: "it is best to be open about Maarten's training methods and share his love and knowledge of the sport with others."
Marcel frequently changes Maarten’s swimming volume between 40,000 meters in easy weeks to 120,000 meters in the hardest weeks of training. Maarten does a good amount of (relatively) slow work, where his lactate readings are not reaching 2 mmol/l lactate concentration. Maarten also does max holding sets and lactate production sets, but that is not a significant part of his total workout volume. During a typical high-volume week, Maarten’s schedule is as follows:
5:45 am Wake up
5:50 am Eat a quick breakfast
6:05 am Head to pool
6:30-10:00 am Swim practice
10:00-10:30 am Core body workout
11:15-12:00 Eat a big breakfast/lunch
12:00-2:15 pm Nap
2:30-2:45 pm Eat
5:00-7:00 pm Swim practice
7:30 pm Eat
10:30 pm Bedtime
A typical long swim practice is:
4 x 400 meters with 10-15 seconds rest (Odd 400’s are 150 freestyle, 100 wis, 50 backstroke, 100 freestyle. Even 400’s are 150 pulling + 50 kicking)
8 x 50 with 10-15 seconds rest
4 x 500 with 10-15 seconds rest (Odd 500’s are freestyle pulling with paddles. Even 500’s are with snorkel)
8 x 800 with 25-30 seconds rest
5 x 400 with 15-20 seconds rest pulling (2 with snorkel, 2 with 150 @ 65% and 50 at 80%, 1 negative split by 10 seconds beginning at 70%)
2 x 150 kicking @ 70% + 3 x 50 kicking @ 80%, 85% and 90%
1 x 100 snorkel
10 x 50
Other swim practices include the following sets:
1 x 600
1 x 400 (with 100 pulling + 50 kicking)
4 x 50 @ 1:00 (15 meters max + 25 meter + 10 meters max)
1 x 100 with snorkel
8 x 300 with 10-15 seconds rest (4 x LA0, 2 x LA1, 1 x LA½, 1 x LA2)
1 x 100 with snorkel
8 x 200 with 10-15 seconds rest (3 x LA0, 2 x LA1, 2 x LA½, 1 x LA2)
1 x 100 with snorkel
1 x 1000
8 x 300
8 x 200
1 x 1000
1 x 300 (50 kicking + 50 pulling) with 10-15 seconds rest
1 x 200 with 10-15 seconds rest
2 x 100 with 10-15 seconds rest
1 X 200 with 10-15 seconds rest
1 x 300
1 x 800 (100 freestyle + 50 backstroke + 50 breaststroke)
4 x 200 with 10-15 seconds rest (odd kicking and even pulling)
2 x 1500 with 25-30 seconds rest
2 x 2000 with 40-45 seconds rest
2 x 1500 with 25-30 seconds rest
3 x 200 kicking with zoomers @ 70-90% + 100 kicking with zoomers @ 85-90% + 100 with snorkel
12 x 100
For the last two months after Beijing, Maarten has been very busy with his charity work and commercial activities often scheduling 2-3 different appointments or speeches per day. Maarten continues to leverage his new well-deserved fame for the benefit of those around him. But as the winter approaches, open water swimming’s most visible ambassador is shifting more time and effort to his training as he prepares for the Dutch Swim Cup and Nationals in December and preparing for the three FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix races in Argentina.
Information on Maarten and the other 13 nominees for the 2008 World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year is posted here. Details on the 11 nominees for the 2008 World Open Water Swimming Woman of the Year are posted here. Voting can be done to the left.
Photos from Beijing by Pei Qingsheng and photos from 2008 World Championships in Seville by Javier Blazquez.
Copyright © 2008 by World Open Water Swimming Association
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