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.
you want to train for the 1000 Free.
You're comfortable with training for the 500. you've raced plenty of 500's
Your best 1000 practice time (14:20)
How many times a week do you train?
How far do you go in each practice?
Do you train alone or with a coach and a group?
what is your age?
What is your height?
What is your weight?
How determined are you to improve your 1,000 time?
Do you have a tech suit?
you can find a ton of info in Swim Faster Faster
Racing the 1000 is just a slightly easier pace than a 500 your goal is to swim smooth and steady.
Ande
I've already gone through your blog-post quite a bit. It's very helpful!
I don't think I'm really looking for recommendations specific to me, though, since I'm still at that fun point in a masters "comeback" that I'm dropping time just by getting in the pool. Add yards for three weeks, drop back a week, add yards for three weeks, drop back week. I haven't even slowed down in dropping monthly time since I got back in and don't expect to anytime soon.
My last master's stint was from 26-29. I had no pool access from 22-26 at all and didn't work out much. I started at very similar times to where I am right now - actually I used my DEC 2006 SCM results as seed times for my DEC 2015 SCM meet and did very well using those times as a benchmark. By the time I did the last season of sprint tris at 29 I was averaging my 800m swim in 9:15-9:30 depending on conditions (no wetsuit). That might be around 10:21 - 10:40 for 1000scy. Probably a little slower than I could have gone if I had swam it in college but those numbers made me pretty happy.
Now I'm 35 and have been swimming again since April. I'll spare you from the women's tech suit thread, where I've discussed the difficulty of fitting a 6', 175lb mom-shape (we might have a solution). This week I did 17500 yards in 5 practices .
This 10x300, which I had seen recommended several times to help with the 1000, was very different from the training style than I am used to. I coach one of only 2 master's teams in over an hour drive: the group I coach has 3 days a week 60 minute practices, so what I can do with them is often limited by time. My background comes from HIIT-style training with most of the aerobic work done as warm-up, cool down, drill, or swim between hard sets. I never had two-a-days in the pool (though I did have dryland/swim combos). We didn't have anyone that swam the 800/1000 or 1500/1650. I did the 500 as one of my typical events but that was considered "woah" distance.
I swim separate from coaching - I really wish I could swim with the team but the coaching funds my pool membership & other swim stuff. So, I get some of the other coaches at the pool to look at me here and there, try to get videos of myself, and take full advantage when one of my swimmers is in the pool with me for some reason.
Basically, I sort-of had an idea of what this 10x300 was supposed to be like but I wasn't sure since people mentioned it without rest or pacing. If I'm not swimming the set "right" it won't do the things it's designed to do, so I wanted to make sure I was swimming it at the right pace and intervals.
It sounds like from people's responses, I had the right idea but my body wasn't cooperating. It's good to know that several fantastic swimmers on here find value in this set for the 1000. I had a few sets with great results this week but this was not one of them.
It occurred to me yesterday, that if the 10x300 is truly designed to be a 30 minute set, then I might also try 10x200 or 10x250. Either would be a 30-35 minute set with the same number of rest intervals and roughly the right time swimming. But I'm intrigued by the idea of the 300's and I will be trying it again.
you want to train for the 1000 Free.
You're comfortable with training for the 500. you've raced plenty of 500's
Your best 1000 practice time (14:20)
How many times a week do you train?
How far do you go in each practice?
Do you train alone or with a coach and a group?
what is your age?
What is your height?
What is your weight?
How determined are you to improve your 1,000 time?
Do you have a tech suit?
you can find a ton of info in Swim Faster Faster
Racing the 1000 is just a slightly easier pace than a 500 your goal is to swim smooth and steady.
Ande
I've already gone through your blog-post quite a bit. It's very helpful!
I don't think I'm really looking for recommendations specific to me, though, since I'm still at that fun point in a masters "comeback" that I'm dropping time just by getting in the pool. Add yards for three weeks, drop back a week, add yards for three weeks, drop back week. I haven't even slowed down in dropping monthly time since I got back in and don't expect to anytime soon.
My last master's stint was from 26-29. I had no pool access from 22-26 at all and didn't work out much. I started at very similar times to where I am right now - actually I used my DEC 2006 SCM results as seed times for my DEC 2015 SCM meet and did very well using those times as a benchmark. By the time I did the last season of sprint tris at 29 I was averaging my 800m swim in 9:15-9:30 depending on conditions (no wetsuit). That might be around 10:21 - 10:40 for 1000scy. Probably a little slower than I could have gone if I had swam it in college but those numbers made me pretty happy.
Now I'm 35 and have been swimming again since April. I'll spare you from the women's tech suit thread, where I've discussed the difficulty of fitting a 6', 175lb mom-shape (we might have a solution). This week I did 17500 yards in 5 practices .
This 10x300, which I had seen recommended several times to help with the 1000, was very different from the training style than I am used to. I coach one of only 2 master's teams in over an hour drive: the group I coach has 3 days a week 60 minute practices, so what I can do with them is often limited by time. My background comes from HIIT-style training with most of the aerobic work done as warm-up, cool down, drill, or swim between hard sets. I never had two-a-days in the pool (though I did have dryland/swim combos). We didn't have anyone that swam the 800/1000 or 1500/1650. I did the 500 as one of my typical events but that was considered "woah" distance.
I swim separate from coaching - I really wish I could swim with the team but the coaching funds my pool membership & other swim stuff. So, I get some of the other coaches at the pool to look at me here and there, try to get videos of myself, and take full advantage when one of my swimmers is in the pool with me for some reason.
Basically, I sort-of had an idea of what this 10x300 was supposed to be like but I wasn't sure since people mentioned it without rest or pacing. If I'm not swimming the set "right" it won't do the things it's designed to do, so I wanted to make sure I was swimming it at the right pace and intervals.
It sounds like from people's responses, I had the right idea but my body wasn't cooperating. It's good to know that several fantastic swimmers on here find value in this set for the 1000. I had a few sets with great results this week but this was not one of them.
It occurred to me yesterday, that if the 10x300 is truly designed to be a 30 minute set, then I might also try 10x200 or 10x250. Either would be a 30-35 minute set with the same number of rest intervals and roughly the right time swimming. But I'm intrigued by the idea of the 300's and I will be trying it again.
