Hi, everyone!
I'm going to be focusing on middle-distance for at least the rest of the year. Splitting is one of the first areas I'm looking at to improve. During my first attempt at writing out some ideal splits for a 500, I realized I don't know exactly how much a time an average dive subtracts. Is it 2 seconds? 3? More? Less?
These are 50 splits from my 500 freestyle PB, a 5:24.50:
29.11
31.33
32.37
32.49
32.95
33.03
33.74
33.50
33.59
32.39
To me, it appears there are three important time additions: 1.) at the 100, adding 1 second per 50, 2.) at the 200, adding half a second per 50, and 3.) at the 300, adding 3/4 of a second per 50. From this, I have two big questions:
1.) should I have gone easier on the first 100?
2.) should those four 33.xx splits in the back half switch places with the 31 and 32.xx splits from the first half, opening the possibility that a completed 500 in this alternate timeline might have more 31.xx splits in the back half, and thus, a faster time?
What does everyone think? I apologize if my second question was needlessly complex. I suppose I meant to ask: should I have gone easier on the first half?
Ok, here's another question. How do you train, so as to hit the ideal splits?
I have been doing 5x100 on 1:20, or 1:25, which gives me 10-15 sec rest per interval. I can swim a set like that at close to race pace. In races, my 250 split differences are in the range 2-6 sec, so it seems to work pretty well for me.
But doing that one set over & over gets tiresome! Any more ideas?
How about 6 x 125 @ 1:40/45?
Also, a very fun mix is to do 4 x 150's on the 2:00 (or close to it) but the middle 50 - you only get to kick it!!
I always try to race 600+ in practices, because I want to have enough gas in the tank for that last 100 - My coach has us do lots and LOTS of 100's on the 1:20 (yards) - like every single Wednesday. When we're swimming LCM, we do 12, when it's SCY we do 15 - and no resting after 6 or anything foolish like that. I think tightening up your interval so you get less rest will approximate your 500 better as well - at least if you're looking to drop time.
Ok, here's another question. How do you train, so as to hit the ideal splits?
I have been doing 5x100 on 1:20, or 1:25, which gives me 10-15 sec rest per interval. I can swim a set like that at close to race pace. In races, my 250 split differences are in the range 2-6 sec, so it seems to work pretty well for me.
But doing that one set over & over gets tiresome! Any more ideas?
How about 6 x 125 @ 1:40/45?
Also, a very fun mix is to do 4 x 150's on the 2:00 (or close to it) but the middle 50 - you only get to kick it!!
I always try to race 600+ in practices, because I want to have enough gas in the tank for that last 100 - My coach has us do lots and LOTS of 100's on the 1:20 (yards) - like every single Wednesday. When we're swimming LCM, we do 12, when it's SCY we do 15 - and no resting after 6 or anything foolish like that. I think tightening up your interval so you get less rest will approximate your 500 better as well - at least if you're looking to drop time.
