I stumbled upon (invented?) a new-to-me idea for descending this morning. I went to the pool, not really knowing what I was going to do (I rarely do). There was a workout posted on the board which included a set of 5x100 easy-to-fast. I decided to do the workout (less thinking was involved). When I got to the 100s, no interval was given so I decided to use 1:50. I thought I'd swim my first 100 at around 1:40 and descend to about 1:25. Well, it didn't work out quite that way. It went like this:
1:32 - hmmm... starting off a little fast, oh well...
1:28 - uh oh - better give myself some more rest (2:00)
1:24 - I need even more rest now (2:10)
1:22
1:19
Then it occurred to me. Every time I descended through a five-second boundary (1:30, 1:25) I gave myself another ten seconds rest. Had I gone another (I'm sure my right shoulder would have fallen off in about the third 25), I would have (had to) increase the interval to 2:20.
Does that idea of increasing the interval (adapting) as you descend ring a bell with anyone? I don't believe I've ever had a coach give a set like that.
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I enjoy the following sprint-like workout. Not sure if it is effective (feedback would be nice), but I like it, and it's fun.
50M each effort, breathing every 5, goal is not to under/overshoot target time
5 each on 1:15 ~ 59, 58, 57, 56, 55 (warmup)
5 each on 1:30 ~ 54, 53, 52, 51, 50 (moderate warmup)
5 each on 1:45 ~ 49, 48, 47, 46, 45 (garbage zone)
5 each on 2:00 ~ 44, 43, 42, 41, 40 (uncomfortable zone)
5 each on 2:30 ~ 39, 38, 37, 36 and then go under 35 (La zona della sofferenza)
Usually come a few seconds each side
Sometimes I go back up the latter the same way. Interesting to note it is tougher scaling back effort accordingly to hit the target time (undershoot and get stuck at 38 seconds for awhile even though perceived exertion is less, but as the interval tightens it goes the other way naturally till high 40's). Nonetheless it is tougher to gauge a consistent decreasing effort.
I enjoy the following sprint-like workout. Not sure if it is effective (feedback would be nice), but I like it, and it's fun.
50M each effort, breathing every 5, goal is not to under/overshoot target time
5 each on 1:15 ~ 59, 58, 57, 56, 55 (warmup)
5 each on 1:30 ~ 54, 53, 52, 51, 50 (moderate warmup)
5 each on 1:45 ~ 49, 48, 47, 46, 45 (garbage zone)
5 each on 2:00 ~ 44, 43, 42, 41, 40 (uncomfortable zone)
5 each on 2:30 ~ 39, 38, 37, 36 and then go under 35 (La zona della sofferenza)
Usually come a few seconds each side
Sometimes I go back up the latter the same way. Interesting to note it is tougher scaling back effort accordingly to hit the target time (undershoot and get stuck at 38 seconds for awhile even though perceived exertion is less, but as the interval tightens it goes the other way naturally till high 40's). Nonetheless it is tougher to gauge a consistent decreasing effort.
