Improving my 1000 meter times

For 1000 meters, if you're going 2 minutes per 100 there is probably quite a bit of low-hanging fruit in terms of stroke technique. Can your coach work with you on this? You could also post a you tube video here and get comments.For more help, we'll need more specifics: how much are you swimming now, what's your swimming background, how old are you, etc. The good news: fix your technique issues and sub-20:00 is imminently doable.

Two easy things to cut down on time. 1. Don't swim circles - of course if this is in a workout with several other people in the lane that will be impossible. 2. Be aggressive on each turn that could be worth .25 - .50 per turn.

I've improved my distance free times by doing lots of negative split work, and by doing speed play within a longer swim (I like doing 800s with first and last 200 fast, or every other 200 fast).

It is how you swim the event. Better technique will certainly help, along with faster turns. But doing nothing else to prepare, all you have to do is swim a little differently. Many people like to set a pace and hang on that all the way through. If you have a good sense of pace, by all means go that way. If you are unsure about your pace, try this: divide the swim into three pieces. The beginning piece, swim very relaxed, not much faster than your warmup effort. The second piece, increase effort a little each lap, just enough to know that you have sped up slightly. The third piece, haul buns. You are near the end and you have had a terrific warmup. You will be tired, but find that you can continue at full speed for several hundred meters. The size of the pieces is up to you and how you are feeling during the swim. I usually use 30%, 40%, 30% because I need symmetry. Good luck!

Thank you all. I'm a 40 year old guy, swimming for about 16 months now with my local masters group as training for several olympic and half iron triathlons. So I'm in decent shape, but the real-world got very busy and I was not able to make it into the workouts twice a week this Spring. I think that was a big contributor to my times. With the summer coming, and no formal tri's on my schedule, I wanted to have a goal for myself to stay motivated and focused during my swimming this summer. Interval training was one of the answers I was hoping would come from this thread. I also wanted to work on my turns (I can't do flip turns yet) to see if I could shave off some time that way. Finally, I just think that if I can get back into the water 2-3 times per week, my swim fitness will improve. I appreciate all the responses! Get private lessons or whatever it takes to learn flip turns.Once you have learned the turn,never do any other turn while swimming free.Pretty soon it will be second nature. This will save you at least .5 sec/turn.

RunningBehind - I agree with technique and turns suggestions but a suggestion I have is to try and do the following set in your workouts: Swim a broken 1,000 as follows in your workouts (maybe do this when your coach asks you to swim the 1,000 straight): 10x100 on 2:10 interval and hold 1:59's or better all the way - this is what you should ultimately aim to do if you want to break 20:00. Since your best time now is 20:44 you are effectively going 2:05 pace. I suggest you first try this set as 10x100 on a 2:15 interval and see if you can complete it holding 2:05's. I do this set and for me the first 5 - 100's are "reasonably" comfortable and then it starts to get hard. Focus on finishing the last five and try to keep your stroke together and keep holding the same time. Another benefit to this set is it really teaches you how to pace and get a good feel for the race over all 1,000 meters. Maybe when you do your 1,000 set you can alternate each week by doing the intervals and then the next time swimming it straight to get an even better feel for pacing a straight swim versus a broken swim. Good luck!

Thank you all. I'm a 40 year old guy, swimming for about 16 months now with my local masters group as training for several olympic and half iron triathlons. So I'm in decent shape, but the real-world got very busy and I was not able to make it into the workouts twice a week this Spring. I think that was a big contributor to my times. With the summer coming, and no formal tri's on my schedule, I wanted to have a goal for myself to stay motivated and focused during my swimming this summer. Interval training was one of the answers I was hoping would come from this thread. I also wanted to work on my turns (I can't do flip turns yet) to see if I could shave off some time that way. Finally, I just think that if I can get back into the water 2-3 times per week, my swim fitness will improve. I appreciate all the responses!

During my Friday night masters workouts, once a month the coach times us on our 1000 meter freestyle set of the workout. As my goal for the summer, I'd like to try to improve my PR from 20:44 to 19:59. I think this goal is achievable, but I don't know where to start. Drills? Out of water exercises? Just swim more? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks! -RB There are two aspects to lowering times when swimming distance events. Holding good technique is essential, even when you are tired. As you get tired your body tries to compensate and thats when technique/body position falls apart. The second is improving conditioning which can be done through interval training. To improve conditioning I would stay away from 100's, instead I would swim mid distance main sets (ex. 4 X 300's on a specific interval) focusing on proper technique at first. As your conditioning/technique improves you can work on decending each 300 or decending the second 150 of each 300 swim. Every two weeks I would try and swim a full 1000 and record my time ( helps to keep you motivated). Turns play a critical role in distance swimming events. Everyone always focuses on the actual flip turn, but the turn starts once you hit the flags and ends once you pass the flags. My general rule of thumb is not breathing into and out of turns and hitting the wall hard each time. A good underwater streamline is also essential ( you swim less!). One mistake that many swimmers commit is focusing on multiple things at once. Try focusing on one thing at a time, be patient and most importantly swim fast and have fun!

To augment the excellent advice thus far: Ask for feedback from several different willing swimmers/coaches. Write down all the points mentioned for areas to work on so you have a plan. Some drills can provide flaw specific corrective action when done properly. Also, You can even have someone video your stroke at various angles (under surface even better). You can and post here for additional pointers. Always keep in mind that chronic mechanical mistakes in stroke can lead to joint problems and to treat any resulting pain is a warning indication.

Get private lessons. I agree with this part, anyway, but who cares about the turns if your racing focus is in open water? If you improve your time for 1000m in a pool by improving your turns, you haven't done anything for your open water speed. To get faster by any significant degree, you need major improvements in your swim technique. No doubt you can make those improvements, but just doing more of whatever you are presently doing, or at a higher intensity, is not going to get you there. You need some focused coaching by a skillful observer and teacher. Also, to reinforce and maintain that good technique you also need to swim 3-5x per week, not 1-2x.