500 yard free prep

I am analyzing Phil's post, here above. Originally posted by Philip Arcuni ... With your meet speed I suspect that you are not getting much rest during your interval training - in that case, what you are doing is little different from swimming the total distance straight. ... Yes. Originally posted by Philip Arcuni ... You may think you are working hard, but what your body is doing is lowering the intensity so you can last the distance - but that is not what you want to do while you are racing a 50, 100, or 200! ... There are two approaches for events longer than the 200: 1. interval training with quality swims and lots of rest: I reluctantly tried this when in 2000 I went along with how someone was training in Tennessee, rather than training there just by myself; the interval per 100 yards was 1:30, and by doing it I got my most disastrous results in 2000LongCourseNationals, for example a 12:10 in 800 meter freestyle. 2. anaerobic threshold which is so emphasised at UCSD Masters where I train now, mostly under the distance coach of the college team; tonight there were 10 x 75 leaving in :55 among other things, and I was doing touch-and-go; by this method in the 2001LongCourseNationals I swam a 11:20 in 800 meter freestyle, a 50 seconds improvement from 2000; I have other similar examples from past; that's why I think 2 x 200 leaving in 2:25 and 1 x 100 in 1:10 is a good preparation for the 500: it can start as touch-and-go, but with practice one can perfect coming in the 200s at 2:15 and getting 10 seconds rest. Regarding the 50, 100 and 200, they are a mystery to me. Originally posted by Philip Arcuni ... Instead, you should train at a speed that you can not maintain for long. Then you recover, and then you try again. If you are training for a 100 I think you should have at least :30 rest between swims, during the early taper phase, more later in the season. But don't try it and decide you are not working hard enough, and reduce your rest! Instead, sprint harder. And remember, the development of your 'fast twitch' muscles may take some time. It sound like yours are somewhat atrophied. ... This is called at UCSD Masters, a VO2Max workout; there are few of these at UCSD Masters; if I want to train with UCSD Masters, that's how it is; outside UCSD Masters, in San Diego there isn't another comparable competitive program; programs at JCC, Sports Medicine, Coronado, Solana Beach and Carlsbad are not as competitive; when a VO2Max workout happens at UCSD Masters, there is joy in the lanes, and relief that there isn't another gruesome medium-intensity but long set; I found myself defending recently such a VO2Max workout from swimmers in my lane who wanted to hijack the workout into another medium-intensity, long set. Originally posted by Philip Arcuni ... The workout you quote is pace training during the taper, not what one would do during the period that you develop your aerobic system. I know you are in excellent shape; you need to work on your speed, and you need to take that brave leap of faith into more rest during your workouts. You've been told this on this forum before. Perhaps you should find a good coach you trust and do what s/he says, no matter what your mind tells you you should be doing. ... Again, I flow with the UCSD program, I don't get to choose the frequency of the VO2Max workouts here; my mind tells me to do more VO2Max workouts, but I don't get to choose; among hundreds of swimmers here, some who don't compete, some who do open water, triathlons, few who compete, I am a face in the crowd; outside the UCSD program there isn't anything as strong. Originally posted by Philip Arcuni ... And don't be proud - swim in the lane with other swimmers that do a hundred yards in a minute, rather than those that do it in :50. Those intervals are designed for them, not for you (yet). True; the dilemma raises that in a workout I outwork now the :50 per 100 free swimmers, and even more so the 1:00 per 100 free swimmers; their :50 per 100 free comes from another lifetime, the age-group swimming which I didn't do; in a today workout I try to get the most work now available, and tonight I was outworking swimmers of sub 1:50 per 200 yards freesetyle, in my lane. Anyway, not everything is black. The night coach of the UCSD Masters, who is also the distance coach of the UCSD college team, promised today to taper me, and this should include VO2Max workouts.

I am analyzing Phil's post, here above. Originally posted by Philip Arcuni ... With your meet speed I suspect that you are not getting much rest during your interval training - in that case, what you are doing is little different from swimming the total distance straight. ... Yes. Originally posted by Philip Arcuni ... You may think you are working hard, but what your body is doing is lowering the intensity so you can last the distance - but that is not what you want to do while you are racing a 50, 100, or 200! ... There are two approaches for events longer than the 200: 1. interval training with quality swims and lots of rest: I reluctantly tried this when in 2000 I went along with how someone was training in Tennessee, rather than training there just by myself; the interval per 100 yards was 1:30, and by doing it I got my most disastrous results in 2000LongCourseNationals, for example a 12:10 in 800 meter freestyle. 2. anaerobic threshold which is so emphasised at UCSD Masters where I train now, mostly under the distance coach of the college team; tonight there were 10 x 75 leaving in :55 among other things, and I was doing touch-and-go; by this method in the 2001LongCourseNationals I swam a 11:20 in 800 meter freestyle, a 50 seconds improvement from 2000; I have other similar examples from past; that's why I think 2 x 200 leaving in 2:25 and 1 x 100 in 1:10 is a good preparation for the 500: it can start as touch-and-go, but with practice one can perfect coming in the 200s at 2:15 and getting 10 seconds rest. Regarding the 50, 100 and 200, they are a mystery to me. Originally posted by Philip Arcuni ... Instead, you should train at a speed that you can not maintain for long. Then you recover, and then you try again. If you are training for a 100 I think you should have at least :30 rest between swims, during the early taper phase, more later in the season. But don't try it and decide you are not working hard enough, and reduce your rest! Instead, sprint harder. And remember, the development of your 'fast twitch' muscles may take some time. It sound like yours are somewhat atrophied. ... This is called at UCSD Masters, a VO2Max workout; there are few of these at UCSD Masters; if I want to train with UCSD Masters, that's how it is; outside UCSD Masters, in San Diego there isn't another comparable competitive program; programs at JCC, Sports Medicine, Coronado, Solana Beach and Carlsbad are not as competitive; when a VO2Max workout happens at UCSD Masters, there is joy in the lanes, and relief that there isn't another gruesome medium-intensity but long set; I found myself defending recently such a VO2Max workout from swimmers in my lane who wanted to hijack the workout into another medium-intensity, long set. Originally posted by Philip Arcuni ... The workout you quote is pace training during the taper, not what one would do during the period that you develop your aerobic system. I know you are in excellent shape; you need to work on your speed, and you need to take that brave leap of faith into more rest during your workouts. You've been told this on this forum before. Perhaps you should find a good coach you trust and do what s/he says, no matter what your mind tells you you should be doing. ... Again, I flow with the UCSD program, I don't get to choose the frequency of the VO2Max workouts here; my mind tells me to do more VO2Max workouts, but I don't get to choose; among hundreds of swimmers here, some who don't compete, some who do open water, triathlons, few who compete, I am a face in the crowd; outside the UCSD program there isn't anything as strong. Originally posted by Philip Arcuni ... And don't be proud - swim in the lane with other swimmers that do a hundred yards in a minute, rather than those that do it in :50. Those intervals are designed for them, not for you (yet). True; the dilemma raises that in a workout I outwork now the :50 per 100 free swimmers, and even more so the 1:00 per 100 free swimmers; their :50 per 100 free comes from another lifetime, the age-group swimming which I didn't do; in a today workout I try to get the most work now available, and tonight I was outworking swimmers of sub 1:50 per 200 yards freesetyle, in my lane. Anyway, not everything is black. The night coach of the UCSD Masters, who is also the distance coach of the UCSD college team, promised today to taper me, and this should include VO2Max workouts.