I've been scouring as much information as possible trying to find tips on training for the 1000 Free. I've searched these boards looking for tips on everything from the 500 to 1650. Anything beyond the 500 is where my knowledge base starts to tap out a bit. I'm comfortable with what to do to train for a 500. I've raced plenty of 500's - It's kinda like two 200's "slices of bread" with a hold on and don't die between the 200 & 300 "filling".
But looking at some of my old sprint tri race results, I decided I really needed to give the 1000 a shot. I can't recall for the life of me how I trained for the 800 meter swim then. I'm pretty sure I swam open water for an hour once a week, and did two 75-90 minute pool sessions with a mix of things ranging from sprinty-HIIT type stuff to things like 12 x 100 holding a hard pace on anywhere from 10 to 30 seconds rest.
Anyways, while looking for info on the 1000, I came across this set of 10 x 300 on this board and on a few other places. I couldn't find anywhere what the pace design of the set was, so I assumed it was supposed to be somewhere just over threshold pace (more like an aerobic or EN1) and decided to set the rest at 15 seconds. So given my 3x300 on 1:00 test set gives me a 1:24.27 pace currently (and steadily dropping), I figured attempting to hold around 4:20-4:25 on 4:45 would be reasonable.
Maybe I was just having an off day, but these were mostly all 4:29-4:31. By the last three, I had to do them on 5:00 and despite focusing on technique was pretty disappointed finishing up with a 4:35 and two 4:40's. My average pace over them all was 1:31.60 per 100. But they FELT like 1:26-1:27s.
Actually, the more I think about it I was most certainly having an off day because my 1 hour swim pace was exactly 1:31.6 and that day I had woken overnight with a horrible cold and (stupidly) swam it anyways and still finished the first 2000 in 29 minutes (~1:27 pace).
So, perhaps, I'll just do better the next time I swim it by default. But I'm left wondering whether this set is really for the 1000 or if it's better for my 1.2 mile open water this summer.
For anyone who has done this set, what were the set goals? What percent of your 1000 race or practice threshold pace were you aiming to hold and what was the rest?
I'm also curious how your practice pace tends to compare with your race pace for the 1000. I realize that is a totally separate question but it's something I've been wondering since the 1000 is such a pacing game that without having a solid idea of your true 1000 race pace, you could be awfully off-target with your practice pacing easily. I entered a seed time of 13:59 for my March race and I'm really not sure how that will hold up. I hope it's a LOT faster - a 13:30 would make me super happy...I have a set coming up where I'm going to try to hold this pace but on whatever rest interval will allow me to hold it. But I'm starting to wonder if my best 1000 practice time (14:20) is closer to accurate.
Thanks so much for any advice or info you could give.
I agree that this is a good aerobic set and we use it quite a bit as a gauge as to where we are aerobically. We also do a fair amount of work at 1000 pace to get the feel fore desired splits. The 1000 requires both endurance and a great feel for pace. We have done 20x50s to the feet on :45/:50 at your desired pace, 16x100 at 1000 pace and 10x200s at 1000 pace. The goal is really pace so the distance does not matter as much as the splits. Good luck.
I agree that this is a good aerobic set and we use it quite a bit as a gauge as to where we are aerobically. We also do a fair amount of work at 1000 pace to get the feel fore desired splits. The 1000 requires both endurance and a great feel for pace. We have done 20x50s to the feet on :45/:50 at your desired pace, 16x100 at 1000 pace and 10x200s at 1000 pace. The goal is really pace so the distance does not matter as much as the splits. Good luck.
