Next year's goal: Sub 5 minute 500 free

Funny thing is, these good races I've been having the last few months are coming at the end of the worst year, swimming-wise, that I've had since I started swimming master's 4 years ago. What's changed is that A) I've started paying more attention to general health/diet; B) every set I do in practice is with a purpose, meaning no junk yards. And C) paying more attention to focused weight training. All of those things make sense and sound very similar to my path these last couple of years. I too change my diet, started trending away from junk yards and paying more attention to weight training. My times, in just a year, saw a significant drop. On the health issues, for as long as I can remember, my blood tests have always showed me to be at the low end of normal for iron. Never thought much about this, until I had a physical after my horrible performance at SC Nats. Turns out that I had full-blown iron deficiency anemia. I've started taking an iron supplement (Proferrin ES) and that seems to have made a big difference in my endurance. The real benefit from the extra endurance is that now you can workout harder for longer. Interesting. I've not had blood tests done in perhaps a decade or more. I should probably get a check up and see how things are with me. I feel great, in general, so I don't know if I have anything such as an iron deficiency, but without a blood test there's no way to know for sure. As for workout quality, a lot of my past workouts where spent swimming hard to make the intervals, but worrying too much about having enough energy to finish a set. My approach now is sort of a "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" on everything, except something that's supposed to be a recovery/drill set. And even then, focus on quality/technique. Also, our coach quit a few months ago, and we've been having some of the lifeguards at the pool fill in. They all have college swim experience, so they have been giving quality workouts, but we all seem to work a lot harder because we have to prove to these 20-somethings that us late-40 types can still kick their butts! One workout that we've been doing, that I got from sunruh, is 12x200's, broken into 4 sets of 3. First set is descend to all out; second is easy, all out, easy; third is all out, easy, all out; and the last is 2 all out, one easy. Do them on a 3 to 3:30 interval, and remember that the all-out ones are really all out. That sounds really painful. I like it! Like you, I pretty much swim "full speed ahead" all workout, trying to get as much quality yardage at race pace as I can, while focusing on technique. That's why I love the USRPT. I'll have to give the 12x200s set a try sometime once I'm more recovered. I don't think I could finish that set right now without pain in my left tricep (evidently the tricep attaches to the shoulder blade and I happened to fracture mine right at the point of attachment of the tricep, so it will bother me right now if I swim too many yards too hard). On the "all out" 200s, do you give yourself more rest? I can comfortably "cruise" a 200 at about 2:20 or so. When I work hard, I can get down in the 2:12-2:14 range. And when I go all out from a wall push, I can probably go somewhere around 2:05 or 2:06. Knowing these times, what interval would you suggest for me? For weights, I do that 3-4 times a week, and remember that "triceps are the Gods of swimming, so worship them". Strong tri's enable you to get the most out of each stroke. Notice that when your tri's get tired, your stroke gets very choppy and you feel like you're slapping the water. I totally know what you're saying about slapping the water. Luckily, I'm genetically gifted with relatively large and strong triceps for my body size. Perhaps that's why I took so well to swimming as an adult. This recent injury has really set me back on my left side, but I'm finally back in the gym now, as of this week, and I'll regain the strength fairly quickly I think. During my lifting, I tend to focus on triceps, deltoids, abs and lats for the most part. I also always do rotator cuff exercises. Those seem to be the primary muscle groups I use when swimming. What other muscle groups do you work on, or what is your weight lifting routine like? Let us know how your 800 free goes. I'm doing a 1650 and 500 free on Nov. 9th. Hoping to break 18 on the 1650. I will! And let us know how your 1650 and 500 go. Good luck breaking that 18 minute barrier. I'm sure you'll do it, given how well you're swimming right now. I just got under 19 minutes for the first time at Spring Nats. I'm trying to figure out what a new goal for the 1650 might be for me this SCY season. I can probably more accurately predict what I'll be capable of after the 800 free in a few weeks. It might be just getting under 19 again, considering the huge setback I had this year. Even that may be a tall order!

Funny thing is, these good races I've been having the last few months are coming at the end of the worst year, swimming-wise, that I've had since I started swimming master's 4 years ago. What's changed is that A) I've started paying more attention to general health/diet; B) every set I do in practice is with a purpose, meaning no junk yards. And C) paying more attention to focused weight training. All of those things make sense and sound very similar to my path these last couple of years. I too change my diet, started trending away from junk yards and paying more attention to weight training. My times, in just a year, saw a significant drop. On the health issues, for as long as I can remember, my blood tests have always showed me to be at the low end of normal for iron. Never thought much about this, until I had a physical after my horrible performance at SC Nats. Turns out that I had full-blown iron deficiency anemia. I've started taking an iron supplement (Proferrin ES) and that seems to have made a big difference in my endurance. The real benefit from the extra endurance is that now you can workout harder for longer. Interesting. I've not had blood tests done in perhaps a decade or more. I should probably get a check up and see how things are with me. I feel great, in general, so I don't know if I have anything such as an iron deficiency, but without a blood test there's no way to know for sure. As for workout quality, a lot of my past workouts where spent swimming hard to make the intervals, but worrying too much about having enough energy to finish a set. My approach now is sort of a "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" on everything, except something that's supposed to be a recovery/drill set. And even then, focus on quality/technique. Also, our coach quit a few months ago, and we've been having some of the lifeguards at the pool fill in. They all have college swim experience, so they have been giving quality workouts, but we all seem to work a lot harder because we have to prove to these 20-somethings that us late-40 types can still kick their butts! One workout that we've been doing, that I got from sunruh, is 12x200's, broken into 4 sets of 3. First set is descend to all out; second is easy, all out, easy; third is all out, easy, all out; and the last is 2 all out, one easy. Do them on a 3 to 3:30 interval, and remember that the all-out ones are really all out. That sounds really painful. I like it! Like you, I pretty much swim "full speed ahead" all workout, trying to get as much quality yardage at race pace as I can, while focusing on technique. That's why I love the USRPT. I'll have to give the 12x200s set a try sometime once I'm more recovered. I don't think I could finish that set right now without pain in my left tricep (evidently the tricep attaches to the shoulder blade and I happened to fracture mine right at the point of attachment of the tricep, so it will bother me right now if I swim too many yards too hard). On the "all out" 200s, do you give yourself more rest? I can comfortably "cruise" a 200 at about 2:20 or so. When I work hard, I can get down in the 2:12-2:14 range. And when I go all out from a wall push, I can probably go somewhere around 2:05 or 2:06. Knowing these times, what interval would you suggest for me? For weights, I do that 3-4 times a week, and remember that "triceps are the Gods of swimming, so worship them". Strong tri's enable you to get the most out of each stroke. Notice that when your tri's get tired, your stroke gets very choppy and you feel like you're slapping the water. I totally know what you're saying about slapping the water. Luckily, I'm genetically gifted with relatively large and strong triceps for my body size. Perhaps that's why I took so well to swimming as an adult. This recent injury has really set me back on my left side, but I'm finally back in the gym now, as of this week, and I'll regain the strength fairly quickly I think. During my lifting, I tend to focus on triceps, deltoids, abs and lats for the most part. I also always do rotator cuff exercises. Those seem to be the primary muscle groups I use when swimming. What other muscle groups do you work on, or what is your weight lifting routine like? Let us know how your 800 free goes. I'm doing a 1650 and 500 free on Nov. 9th. Hoping to break 18 on the 1650. I will! And let us know how your 1650 and 500 go. Good luck breaking that 18 minute barrier. I'm sure you'll do it, given how well you're swimming right now. I just got under 19 minutes for the first time at Spring Nats. I'm trying to figure out what a new goal for the 1650 might be for me this SCY season. I can probably more accurately predict what I'll be capable of after the 800 free in a few weeks. It might be just getting under 19 again, considering the huge setback I had this year. Even that may be a tall order!