Jim--
Here's a poll idea for you to consider. During Nationals at Cleveland, I got a lot of conflicting "pacing" advice. I think everyone hopes to swim that flawless race--go out fast enough so as to not get behind and dig yourself an insurmountable hole; but save enough so you don't completely die on the way back.
The extremes of the philosophy boil down to those who:
1) like to save themselves for a strong finish
vs. those who:
2) like to blast off in the beginning and hope to hang on.
This might be a bit of a simple poll, but I'd be interested to see which of these two extremes my fellow swimmers are more likely to side with. In my own case, it's clearly #1 (I negative split the 400 m at Nationals--2:28 for the first 200; 2:20 for the second..)
Others, such as possibly the amazing Greg Shaw, went out during the 200 butterfly in around a 1:05.5, but swam 50 seconds (of agony, it seemed) on the final 50.
I decided to try the "go all out" approach on my last event of the meet--the 100 free. You know you're in trouble when you're dying before you hit the first wall! The last 20 meters reminded me of Xeno's Paradox. Anyhow, I've decided to stick with my original philosophy, i.e., #1 above in everything save 50s.
What do other people think? And does this change with age?
I would subscribe to the #1 philosophy. I think that it is important to swim fast, but more importantly, a swimmer should desire to hold stroke form throughout the event. I wouldn't encourage a swimmer to swim in a manner that depletes them of all reserve, only to risk letting their stroke efficiency and form fall to pieces in hopes of staving off hungry competitors. I recommend the third-quarter approach, where the third-quarter of any race is the most critical, and most attention should be paid to that segment...
1st quarter - set up your stroke and let it cruise, fast
2nd quarter- maintain stroke form and try to "hold" the pace from the first quarter (even if it is a mental image only)
3rd quarter - increase your effort and begin any "attack" on those ahead of you
4th quarter - finish it off with whatever is left in the gas tank.
This seems to work well in general, but some tweaking is required for specific swimmers with over-aggressive tendency or a tendency to hold too much in reserve.
Brad
I would subscribe to the #1 philosophy. I think that it is important to swim fast, but more importantly, a swimmer should desire to hold stroke form throughout the event. I wouldn't encourage a swimmer to swim in a manner that depletes them of all reserve, only to risk letting their stroke efficiency and form fall to pieces in hopes of staving off hungry competitors. I recommend the third-quarter approach, where the third-quarter of any race is the most critical, and most attention should be paid to that segment...
1st quarter - set up your stroke and let it cruise, fast
2nd quarter- maintain stroke form and try to "hold" the pace from the first quarter (even if it is a mental image only)
3rd quarter - increase your effort and begin any "attack" on those ahead of you
4th quarter - finish it off with whatever is left in the gas tank.
This seems to work well in general, but some tweaking is required for specific swimmers with over-aggressive tendency or a tendency to hold too much in reserve.
Brad
