Table 3.

Summary of predominant characteristics of middle-distance and distance swimmers by periodization profile of training.

	Long	Stable flat	Balanced	Short
Pattern	2 well-defined cycles, longer 2nd cycle	Lowest peaks ∼40% of TTL, a short taper period	2 well-defined balanced cycles	2-cycles, shorter 2nd cycle
Variability	Moderate 6 (5%)	Moderate 6 (5%)	Moderate 6 (6%)	High 8 (8%)
Performance	Medium	Second fastest	Fastest	Slowest
Training volume	High in-water, low dryland training	Low in-water, high strength training	Low in-water and dryland training	High in-water and dryland
Progressivity	Progressivity	Degressivity	Progressivity	Degressivity
Distribution	Intermediate volume [La]b ≤ 4 and >6 mmol/L.	Large volume [La]b ≤ 4 and >6 mmol/L.	Large volume [La]b ≤ 4 and >6 mmol/L.	Large volume [La]b between 4 and 6 mmol/L.
Peak in the second macrocycle.	6 weeks before the best performance.	3 weeks before the best performance.	9 weeks before the best performance.	6 weeks before the best performance.
Swimmer’s experience	Experienced	Experienced	Experienced	Inexperienced
Season	Pre- and post-Olympic	Pre- and post-Olympic	Olympic and World Championship	Pre-Olympic