Hi all, I am a relative beginner just started regular training. My aim is to get to 30' on 1500 m in a 50 m pool.
I have tried a straight 1500 m in a pool last evening, and got 35'9" with not much effort with average 52 spl without flip turns, which was about 49 - 50 near the beginning but 52 - 54 towards the end.
Last week I also tried a straight 2000 m in the same pool, and got 46'52", i.e. the exact same pace (2'21" / 100 m) as last evening, but with 50 - 52 spl at the beginning and 57 - 58 towards the end.
More swim statistics includes:
10 x 100m on 2'30" - average 2'5"
10 x 100m on 3' - average 2'0"
4 x 500m on 12'30" - 11'22", 11'25", 11'49", 11'56"
50m all out - 47" with about 53 strokes (race time is much faster because races start with a dive)
For comparison, my running race speed is 48'36" for 10 km on completely flat course, but any slope will tire me and slow me down immediately significantly.
Should I work to reduce stroke per length, or increase the effort (i.e. stroke rate) to see if I can reduce my time further?
I'd focus more on getting my technique right before times. But overall, I would definitely focus on distance per stroke. When I started about a year ago, I was taking 19 strokes to go 25yards, now I'm down to 13-14 (fresh, tired) for more distance focused swims. Your goal does seem to be quite achievable, at least benchmarking myself wth the improvements I made to my technique. To increase DPS, make sure you are extending fully, and you'll feel your shoulders hit your cheeks (if you are a male and swim before you shave, you might even get a bit of redness from your whiskers on your shoulders if you are doing it right). Be sure you get a lot of body rotation. I actually will glide a little wth every stroke to keep my overall tempo at the proper pace.
After reading your reply I managed to squeeze 4 strokes out of 50 m - I completed the length in 45 strokes in warm up in my training session just now.
However, that was not sustainable because I exaggerated stretching in my core and my arms, and become tired so fast, in my main set consisting of mainly 200 m intervals the spl fell back to about 53 (time for 200 m about 4'9" to 4'15"), and couldn't bring it back below 50 afterwards no matter how I tried.
I'd focus more on getting my technique right before times. But overall, I would definitely focus on distance per stroke. When I started about a year ago, I was taking 19 strokes to go 25yards, now I'm down to 13-14 (fresh, tired) for more distance focused swims. Your goal does seem to be quite achievable, at least benchmarking myself wth the improvements I made to my technique. To increase DPS, make sure you are extending fully, and you'll feel your shoulders hit your cheeks (if you are a male and swim before you shave, you might even get a bit of redness from your whiskers on your shoulders if you are doing it right). Be sure you get a lot of body rotation. I actually will glide a little wth every stroke to keep my overall tempo at the proper pace.
After reading your reply I managed to squeeze 4 strokes out of 50 m - I completed the length in 45 strokes in warm up in my training session just now.
However, that was not sustainable because I exaggerated stretching in my core and my arms, and become tired so fast, in my main set consisting of mainly 200 m intervals the spl fell back to about 53 (time for 200 m about 4'9" to 4'15"), and couldn't bring it back below 50 afterwards no matter how I tried.
