It seems as though there are a few methods out there to attempt to determine what your anaerobic/aerobic divider zone is for targeting training for distance events. I'm having a bit of trouble determining on my own if I am actually swimming at this "sweet spot". I've tried different methods of calculating...a 30minute swim, the 400/200 test, and the 3x300 on 1:00 rest. Ultimately, they all produce a different threshold pace and the difference of 4 seconds per hundred definitely produces a different feel on a set such as 16x100 hold T-pace on 10s rest. I'm aiming for goal events between 1000y (Pool) and 2.5 miles (open water), so it makes a difference to go hard enough that I can improve but not so hard I'm dragging every day out of the pool. What is threshold or CSS pace really supposed to feel like? Is there one method better than another for estimating your threshold pace? Does it seem reasonable that your threshold pace may actually vary based on the day, so there's a particular feel you need to be going for rather than a time?
> What should threshold/CSS pace *feel* like?
Maybe like you have a piano on your back at the end?
That's the feeling I had been getting by doing the 3x300 on 1:00 rest test. I used that method for several months this winter, retesting every 4 weeks, and was positively dead at the end of a Threshold set and it was impossible to hold T-pace on repeats of 200 yards or more. Couldn't do it. Quite honestly, when I had done a set of say 17x100 on 15 seconds rest, that pace was extremely difficult. A big fat piano at the end.
Right now I'm using the 400/200 test results and what the CSS calculator spit out (much slower than how I swam the 400 & 200). A set of 20x100 on 15seconds rest feels easy at the beginning but do-able at the end. Like I tried but if a coach wanted to throw me on the blocks for some sprints after a short recovery swim I'd be able to put up one or two good numbers. Definitely not a piano feeling. If I do longer intervals, like 200's or 300's, I can actually hold this pace unless the set passes 30 to 35ish minutes and then I start to tank.
I like the idea of not quite working so hard to get faster. Certainly, my recovery between swims has been much better. I've actually bumped up the pace in tiny bits a couple times since the beginning of August and am swimming slightly faster at the same level of effort. I did the same exact workout with an 18x100 set today that I had done 20 days ago on similar rest and it was 1.5 seconds per 100 faster on average. I could have gone faster both times but not without completely wasting myself. I'm willing to see how far I can get with this new, easier feeling before my improvement gets stale.
I did an open water 1.2 mile swim at a race this past weekend and I went very close to my new T-pace, which makes me feel like I just might be on the right track.
> What should threshold/CSS pace *feel* like?
Maybe like you have a piano on your back at the end?
That's the feeling I had been getting by doing the 3x300 on 1:00 rest test. I used that method for several months this winter, retesting every 4 weeks, and was positively dead at the end of a Threshold set and it was impossible to hold T-pace on repeats of 200 yards or more. Couldn't do it. Quite honestly, when I had done a set of say 17x100 on 15 seconds rest, that pace was extremely difficult. A big fat piano at the end.
Right now I'm using the 400/200 test results and what the CSS calculator spit out (much slower than how I swam the 400 & 200). A set of 20x100 on 15seconds rest feels easy at the beginning but do-able at the end. Like I tried but if a coach wanted to throw me on the blocks for some sprints after a short recovery swim I'd be able to put up one or two good numbers. Definitely not a piano feeling. If I do longer intervals, like 200's or 300's, I can actually hold this pace unless the set passes 30 to 35ish minutes and then I start to tank.
I like the idea of not quite working so hard to get faster. Certainly, my recovery between swims has been much better. I've actually bumped up the pace in tiny bits a couple times since the beginning of August and am swimming slightly faster at the same level of effort. I did the same exact workout with an 18x100 set today that I had done 20 days ago on similar rest and it was 1.5 seconds per 100 faster on average. I could have gone faster both times but not without completely wasting myself. I'm willing to see how far I can get with this new, easier feeling before my improvement gets stale.
I did an open water 1.2 mile swim at a race this past weekend and I went very close to my new T-pace, which makes me feel like I just might be on the right track.
