I'm curious what my fellow slow twitchers do to train for the longest pool events. Of particular interest is input from those of you who also swam as a youth. With way less yardage that you used to do, what can be done to be able to survive a decent mile?
In my case, workouts are limited to an hour and there are usually 3+ per lane, so sets can't be dedicated just to my interests. However, the coaches are quite willing to do what they can for me.
I had a really unpleasant weekend where I raced a 1500 on Friday. I faded a bit and the struggle trying to maintain pace really drained me. In fact, I was really stiff and sore the next day (mainly my lats). I had to kill myself in the 800 on Sat. just to match my 800 split from the previous day. I was still stiff on Sunday.
Monday night, I finally felt recovered from that 1500. Coach had us do a 500 right after warmup. Since I was feeling pretty good, I pushed it, hard. My time in that practice 500 converts to a 400 SCM 5 seconds faster than what I did in the meet on Sunday. I don't know if that's encouraging or depressing. :lmao:
I only do freestyle main sets once a week, but when I'm training for a 1500/1650, I make sure all my aerobic main sets (e.g. IM, backstroke, butterfly) are at least that distance. 17 x 100, 11 x 150, 8 x 200, etc.
... I was really stiff and sore the next day (mainly my lats) ...
Maybe try a longer swimdown? In my limited experience, I need a good, thorough swimdown after a hard 1500/1650, else I'm sore for days.
... 1500/1650 ... when I do race them, they wipe me for the rest of the meet. I had almost the same experience as you this summer at Nationals when I raced the 800 on Thursday of the meet and then was wasted the rest of the weekend.
I don't do distance day at nats for exactly that reason. I like swimming longer freestyle events when they're last on the program. When they're first, they kinda ruin the rest of the meet.
I think what works best for training distance is 1. pace sets with a decent amount of rest (like the 15x100 on 1:30 I mentioned before) and 2. long sets with hardly any rest. Obviously this second type of set can't be done anywhere near race pace. This is a threshold pace type set. For me that's at least five seconds slower per hundred than my pace. I think 1500 yards/meters is a bare minimum for this kind of set.
I think what works best for training distance is 1. pace sets with a decent amount of rest (like the 15x100 on 1:30 I mentioned before) and 2. long sets with hardly any rest. Obviously this second type of set can't be done anywhere near race pace. This is a threshold pace type set. For me that's at least five seconds slower per hundred than my pace. I think 1500 yards/meters is a bare minimum for this kind of set.
I swam with the age-groupers today, we did a set that I think is good for distance training.
10:00 "cruiser" where you swim for 10 minutes and hold your best pace, stopping very briefly (a couple sec) to get your time at each 100. This is your base pace, and the coach took great pains to explain that this should be a hard effort, right at your anaerobic threshold.
1:00 rest (though I think we took closer to 2:00 as the coach paused the clock to get everyone pumped)
8 x 100 free on 1:30, hold 2 sec faster than your "cruiser" pace
1:00 rest
6 x 100 free on 1:30, hold 3 sec under pace
1:00 rest
4 x 100 free on 1:30, hold 4 sec under pace
1:00 rest
2 x 100 free on 1:30, hold 5 sec under pace
0:30 rest
1 x 100 free fast, at least 6 sec better than pace
What I like about this set is that you work at different effort levels and you also get a good feeling of pace. The first set of 100s felt fairly easy to me (after all, you aren't going a lot faster than the cruiser pace but you are getting a lot more rest), but I had to increase the tempo starting with the 2nd set of 100s and was breathing harder. By the 3rd set (4x100) I was going very close to max effort, given the fatigue that was settling in by then.
Moreover, when I do race them, they wipe me for the rest of the meet. I had almost the same experience as you this summer at Nationals when I raced the 800 on Thursday of the meet and then was wasted the rest of the weekend.
Exactly the same with me. A 1500 on the Friday always ruins the weekend for me. When I was younger I could cope with it, but not now.
I think what works best for training distance is 1. pace sets with a decent amount of rest (like the 15x100 on 1:30 I mentioned before) and 2. long sets with hardly any rest. Obviously this second type of set can't be done anywhere near race pace. This is a threshold pace type set. For me that's at least five seconds slower per hundred than my pace. I think 1500 yards/meters is a bare minimum for this kind of set.
I'm getting some interesting ideas from this thread. I'm in the super-slow twitch category, but would like to swim a 1500 SCM at our state meet in December. If my mile pace is 1:36/100 (I think that's what it was this summer), using your model above should I be doing 1. 15 x 100 on 1:50-2:00 and 2. 15 x 100 on 1:40?
My short answer -- I can't train enough these days to really race an 800/1000 or 1500/1650 (e.g., my weekly average yardage thus far this year is slightly under 20K, usually done through 4-5 workouts a week of about 45-75 minutes). Moreover, when I do race them, they wipe me for the rest of the meet. I had almost the same experience as you this summer at Nationals when I raced the 800 on Thursday of the meet and then was wasted the rest of the weekend.
Unless you can increase your training, my main advice would be to pick a meet where you ONLY focus on the 800 and 1500 ... and preferably get to swim the 800 one or two days before the 1500. If you must get other events in to get your money's worth for the weekend, pick some shorter events just for fun. Then, find another meet later in the season where you can focus on the 200 to 500 distances. I admit that it is practically impossible to do this in the LCM or SCM season, but the SCY season -- assuming you're going to Nationals -- should allow you to focus on the 1000/1650 for a Feb/March 'taper' meet and then aim for fast 200 to 500s at Nationals.
That's my plan, at least, because I don't see my time available to train increasing until I retire!
Sounds like you need to adjust your race strategy just a little bit. Of course you run the risk of taking it out too slow, but I would back off a tad early in the race. Try and negative split your next distance event.
How much swimming are you doing at your 1500 or 1650 pace? I think with your limited training time the more pace swimming you do the better. You may even consider dropping to a slower lane and leading. A lane whose goal is to "make it" could be a 1500 pace lane for you. For example 15 X 100 on 1:30 at your mile pace.
