Table 4. Average frequency (Mean ± SD, % Total Volume) of swimming and strength & conditioning sessions prescribed weekly to elite swimmers with different event specialisation (sprint, middle and long distance).
General dimensions
Higher Order Themes
Distance category
Statistics (ANOVA)
sprint (n=8)
middle (n=7)
long (n=3)
p-value
df
F-value
Effect size (Æž2)
I. Swim Sessions
Common Sessions
Aerobic
58.3 ± 22.1
37.5 ± 6.7
46.7 ± 5.8
0.067
2
3.26
0.30
VO2/Heart rate
5.0 ± 9.3
14.3 ± 9.8
6.7 ± 11.5
0.204
2
1.77
0.19
Threshold *$
2.5 ± 4.6
13.2 ± 5.5
23.3 ± 11.5
0.000
2
13.28
0.64
Tolerance *
1.3 ± 3.5
16.2 ± 10.6
10.0 ± 0.0
0.004
2
8.27
0.52
Pure speed *$#
29.2 ± 3.9
17.3 ± 4.6
6.7 ± 11.5
0.000
2
18.66
0.71
Unique sessions
5.0 ± 14.1
1.6 ± 4.2
10.0 ± 0.0
0.584
2
0.56
0.58
II. Strength & Conditioning Sessions
Common Sessions
Power $
32.3 ± 15.7
21.4 ± 2.4
6.7 ± 11.5
0.016
2
5.52
0.42
Strength
44.8 ± 24.0
35.7 ± 7.3
13.3 ± 23.1
0.081
2
2.99
0.29
Unique sessions
Hypertrophy
15.6 ± 16.9
7.1 ± 12.2
0.0 ± 0.0
0.239
2
1.56
0.17
Metabolic conditioning *$#
7.3 ± 13.7
35.7 ± 7.3
80.0 ± 34.6
0.000
2
22.05
0.75
Post-hoc paired comparisons: ANOVA power analysis - critical F = 3.68 to achieve effect size of 0.8 at α = 0.05
* p < 0.05 - significant difference between sprint and middle distance groups
$ p < 0.05 - significant difference between sprint and long distance groups
# p < 0.05 - significant difference between middle and long distance groups.