100 Freestyle Endurance

Like I said above .8 on race day rested and tapered. Well, actually you said: It's a build race. You have to know your best 50 time and go out somewhere around .5-.6 tenths slower than your best time

Like I said above .8 on race day rested and tapered. To me, as a drop dead sprinter, this seems crazy. I'm nowhere near that, though my training is geared more to 50s than 100s. I think it depends in part on the answer to Ande's questions, especially the age one. It's the rare master who's well conditioned enough to go out 1 second over their 50 PR. And I don't think comparing a true master to an ultra elite athlete is a fair comparison.

Well conditioned? Or maybe just crappy at sprinting:wave: A real sprinter likely would have to be young and well conditioned to go out so close to their PR. You are probably just crappy at sprinting and well conditioned for your races. :) I am both not very well conditioned and crappy at distance, even worse.

I tried to resist commenting on this, but I just couldn't. Now, as far as training for the 100 free, I'd personally recommend against it: there are always way too many heats, way too many gargantuan guys and gals going these unreal times that will leave your mouth agape like Wiley Coyote as the Roadrunner screams by, and you get very little value on a meters swum per monetary unit of your entry fee. Come to the dark side, Luke. Come to the animal lane. LOVE it! I can't figure out these guys who appear to be sprinting the entire 1500, however. . . .

Mracing, I think the ability range you stated here is slightly too narrow. More like, sucks to superman - Umm, superstar = good... superman, as in arms out, no streamline with the head up like superman flys = bad... or "sucks" as you put it ;)

It's the rare master who's well conditioned enough to go out 1 second over their 50 PR. And I don't think comparing a true master to an ultra elite athlete is a fair comparison. Let's also not forget one second is a lot more if you can do a 50 in 20 seconds versus if you can do a 50 in 30 seconds.

Is this advanced physics reasoning where the space time continuum is bent? As a swimmer approaches the speed of light a second A) Becomes longer B) Is a static unit of that is the same no matter what universe the swimmer is in C) Becomes smaller (the water is cold, al'right?) Can I choose D? All of the above.

In your mind you are only backing off about 10% of effort. Perhaps more like .8 if you want to be exact. But yes, if you watch the 100 free videos that's how those boys are doing it. It's 90% down 100% coming home. I'm building to 100 before the turn at 50m. Like I said above .8 on race day rested and tapered. Some n of 2 stats to think about from the most perfect 100 free I personally ever swam -- when I got to be in the lane next to Rowdy Gaines at the 2009 Rowdy Gaines meet -- provide some interesting comparisons, I think: 50 free times at that meet (SCM) Me 25.00 Rowdy 23.38 100 free splits Me 25.86 - 27.26 for 53.12 Rowdy 25.38 - 26.23 for 51.61 So, I was out 3.4% slower than my 50 time Rowdy was out 8.6% slower than his 50 time I split the race 48.7% - 51.3% by 50s Rowdy split the race 49.2% - 50.8% by 50s Earlier in that year, in SCY, I had done a 48.12 and split it more like Rowdy (23.69 - 24.43 which is 49.2 - 50.8% by 50 and was out 6.9% slower than my best 50), but the SCM result converts to something like 47.60 So, for me, I'll swim a faster 100 if I go out closer to max effort and try NOT to pace it. However, unless I've got someone faster than me to push me out faster, my tendency is to hold back. I find the same strategy worked well for me in the 100 fly this spring where I went out 0.3 over my best 50 time. Again, I was in an fun heat full of faster guys who pushed me to get out fast. YMMV

It's a build race. You have to know your best 50 time and go out somewhere around .5-.6 tenths slower than your best time, kill the turn, keep your head down and your stroke long and kick like hell to match that opening 50m. If you can think like this during the race you have a great chance of doing the best 100 you've ever done. But you must have the endurance coupled with sprint muscle fiber to make this event yours. Either way, the 100 is one of my favorite races and having only raced once in it in 12 years I'd say the technique to go fast is still the same. I just know that when I make that last flip turn that I need to stay under as long as possible without losing momentum because the pool is so choppy. Staying tight in your core and keeping your arms streamlined and your head looking straight down kicking like hell to bring you to the surface but timing it all perfectly to take that first stroke and get back in the groove for the path home. Enjoy.

And also...sprinting is like dunking a basketball...height matters! As someone who routinely gets trounced in 50s by both shorter and taller people, I'm inclined to believe that, at least among mortals, height doesn't matter as much as technique. Or strength. Or, probably, twitchiness. And I'm pretty sure everyone can improve those three things. The 100 free is a really tough event (and not just because of the competition). Unless you can do it in the low 40s (and even then?) fatigue and oxygen are going to play a factor, so you can't go all out for the whole thing. It seems to me like a different kind of "endurance" than in a longer race like a 500 or a 1650 - you're not trying to hold a pace or speed up at the end, you just need to not slow down - so I think training to "hold on" and "bring it home" is probably a good idea. My personal best 100 time was done just like the OP said - I went all out and held on at the end. I think I got lucky, though, because I've had some very sad third turns (SCY) and death every time I've tried that since then. My times are much more consistent if I pace myself that tiny bit up front. To the OP, do 100s all-out in practice. Do some shorter distances all-out too so you can focus on the little things, but doing the 100s at max speed is where you're going to get better at that second half. I suggest trying a few where you hold back just a tiny bit on the first 50... you might be surprised. Maybe just try breathing more. And keep track so you can find out what works best.