I raced at PNA Champs near Seattle this weekend and all of my times were much slower than last year even though I trained for 11 months straight (Masters swim 3 days/week, weight lifting 2-3 days/week, with some cross-country skiing and biking on weekends). I stopped lifting 2 weeks prior to the meet but I swam up until Thursday before the Sat/Sun meet. Mostly did sprints on the Tues-Thur swims before the meet, about 2k meters all-up vs 3k meters for a normal workout. Plenty of sleep time. But I felt tired during the meet and ran out of energy on most events (200/500 yd free, 50/100/200 ***). Age = 51.
Should I have tapered more? I have no idea what caused my fatigue.
Thanks for any thoughts.
Seattle Jack
If I want to hit the following times next year, what should my workout times be near race time? For example, for the 200 Free, should I be able to swim 10x50 on 0:40 send off time?
race -------- time --- time per 50
100 *** --- 1:16 --- 38
200 *** ----2:48 --- 42
200 Free ------2:24 --- 36
500 Free ------6:40 ----40 (1:20 for 100's)
If you can do 10x50 on :40 you're going to be able to go much faster than 2:24 if you race a 200 free. Think more along the lines of being able to be :36 or better, but on a set of 10x50 on 1:00 or even more. If you want to go 6:40 for your 500 try doing something like 5x100 on 2:00 and hold them all at 1:19 or better. And aim for consistency. If you can do the first one in 1:15, but the fifth one is 1:25 you need to work more on your endurance.
If I want to hit the following times next year, what should my workout times be near race time? For example, for the 200 Free, should I be able to swim 10x50 on 0:40 send off time?
race -------- time --- time per 50
100 *** --- 1:16 --- 38
200 *** ----2:48 --- 42
200 Free ------2:24 --- 36
500 Free ------6:40 ----40 (1:20 for 100's)
If you can do 10x50 on :40 you're going to be able to go much faster than 2:24 if you race a 200 free. Think more along the lines of being able to be :36 or better, but on a set of 10x50 on 1:00 or even more. If you want to go 6:40 for your 500 try doing something like 5x100 on 2:00 and hold them all at 1:19 or better. And aim for consistency. If you can do the first one in 1:15, but the fifth one is 1:25 you need to work more on your endurance.
