500 yard free prep

What do you mean, when you say you outwork the other swimmers in your lane? If you mean that you get more tired than they do, so what? If you mean you swim each distance faster than they do, then lead. If you mean you catch up on the longer swims, then learn to pass, politely. If you mean you are the only one that can complete the set, then shame on your coach. If you mean, you try to reduce the interval and no one else can keep up, then shame on you! Not since I was an age grouper, and some swimmers thought it better to moon the girls in the lane over, rather than do a set, have I thought I worked harder than the other people in my lane. We all make a commitment to come to workout, and I can't imagine any master swimmer not wanting to get the most out of the swim. Our workout performance is limited by physiology and temperment. I'll say it again, interval swimming with no rest is not interval swimming. Lots of research has shown the benefit of interval training, and lots of other people who read this site can explain it better than I can. What you are describing is the type of training they did in the '30s - get in the water or track and swim (or run) some.

Ion, 2x2:25+1:10 = 6:00, not going to happen for a guy that goes 6:01! I'm sure Tom Dolan could have done a similar set in practice and added up to only a few seconds slower than his fast 500, but us mortals need some rest to hit that race pace consistently. Yes, it can be on very low rest, but that is more of a practice set, not for tapering. A friend of mine who did 4:35, went 100s on 1:30 during taper, I think 6 or 8 of them. Swim fast, Greg

Ion, how are you outworking the .50 per 100 and 1.00 per 100 you describe? It sounds like you are not going at those times in workout or in races. I'm confused about what your dilemma is.

Originally posted by effi Ion, how are you outworking the .50 per 100 and 1.00 per 100 you describe? It sounds like you are not going at those times in workout or in races. I'm confused about what your dilemma is. I train in the 1:15 pace per 100 yards lane. The 1:15 pace per 100 yards lane is determined as being able to hold a 1:15 pace per 100 yards when doing a 1,000 yards straight. Swimmers in this lane do in big competitions around :50 in a 100 yards free, and around 1:50 in a 200 yards free, except for me. In smaller competitions like the one on last Sunday, untapered like me, they would go around :55 for 100 and 2:00 for 200. They have this background from age-group swimming which I didn't do, and maintain some of it with light-hearted workouts. In workouts, I would begin the sets last in the lane based on my lack of speed at this level, but past mid-workout I would be the only swimmer left in the lane to complete the workout: the others quit. Yesterday I finished the workout with a 6 x 150 yards free leaving every 1:55, alone in the lane. The day before yesterday there was something else, and so on almost every day. The coach, a 26-year-old ex-NCAA distance swimmer, and others in the workout, recognize that I work harder day after day to train at this level.

Originally posted by effi Ion, how are you outworking the .50 per 100 and 1.00 per 100 you describe? It sounds like you are not going at those times in workout or in races. I'm confused about what your dilemma is. "It sounds like you are not going at those times in workouts or in races" is wrong as far as 1.00 and slightly sub 1:00 per 100 free goes. Misinformation effi.

Ion, thanks for explaining. That is actually quite interesting. Now I understand. It is a little complicated. I wasn't being critical--I just wanted to understand because I am interested in all these 500 training strategies. Thanks, Effi

Ion, I expect that if you can keep up with the 50 and 1:50 freestylers in practice, but not in meets, either: You're really a distance swimmer and maybe can't go fast in the short races. or You need more speed practice. I suspect the latter. Go to as many meets as you can. Also, if you are keeping at it, you will get faster, sometimes in big chunks at a time. Consistency, consistency, consistency. Make sure you are logging your practice times and intervals so you can see the improvement as you go. You might feel no faster, but a year ago you couldn't do the sets you do now, I'll bet. In terms of training speed, when I went 50 and 1:50 in freestyle, I did about 10:30 for a 1000, and could hold 58-59 for 5-10 100s on 1:30. With paddles a few seconds faster, pull-bouy was an effort to hold under 1:00. We did not do intervals faster than 1:30. I was not very strong, but in good aerobic shape. The best I've been able to tell, in the 1930s, before circle swimming, practice consisted of a lot of 25s, or taking turns swimming longer distances. Very high quality. Swim fast all, Greg

Originally posted by GZoltners ... You need more speed practice. ... Right now I trust my preparation on the UCSD Msters program and how rarely VO2Max workouts are done here. Yesterday night there was such a VO2Max workout here. After about 1 hour and 10 minutes of medium intensity, long rest workout, there was this set of 200 yards all out, rest galore, 100 all out, rest galore, 100 all out rest galore and 100 all out. In the 200, from push of the wall and after this 1 hour 10 minutes of exercize, I went 2:18.xx, same as Sunday's race when I dove from the starting block. 100 free was 1:05, 100 backstroke was 1:16 and another 100 backstroke was 1:14. In my lane, one swimmer went 2:02 (and last year in a Santa Clara competition he went 49.xx for 100 and 1:49.xx for 200), another swimmer went 2:01, and another swimmer did 2:07. One lane over to my lane, the faster 1:10 pace lane, had a swimmer do the 200 from push and after this 1 hour and 10 minutes of exercize, in 1:48.xx, and another swimmer did it in 1:55.xx. Last year, in the 2001LongCourseNationals in Federal Way, Wa., as a lead-off of the 4 x 50 mixed free relay, I went :30.84 for 50 meter freestyle in the 50 meter pool. When I started swimming as an adult in Europe, I remember that I quickly came to do :28.xx for 50 meter freestyle (in a 50 meter pool) when someone would repeatedly time me when the feet leave the block, which would compute to a 29.xx in a competition start. Obviously, "swimming tough" since then, like I swim now for more than a decade, took away a chunk of my sprint abilities.