I took my 1500 m time in a 50 m pool 12 weeks before, and it was 31'42". Afterwards the 50 m pool I use closed for annual maintenance.
In these 12 weeks, I joined a squad and did 2 sessions per week, swam open water with a group every weekend, and also swam intervals on my own in a 25 m pool, with about 12 - 15 km total per week.
The 50 m pool I use reopened this week, so the first thing I did while returning was to take my time again, but the result was 31'13" - only 29 seconds improvement over 12 weeks! In contrast, I improved for 45 seconds in the preceding 6 weeks, from 32'27" to 31'42", and those 6 weeks were the weeks I newly joined the squad and I normally did only 1 session per week, and no intervals on my own.
I was targeting 30' and attempted to swim at an aerobic intensity which I thought I could sustain for 30 lengths, but I could only sustain my form for around 400 m. Afterwards, I felt my teres major were so tight that I couldn't perform my stroke well, my arms simply failed to execute my desired stroke even I reduced my stroke rate a bit, and the stiffness even persisted in the cool down after completing the set, and for another few hours.
According to my wearable, I was taking 31 - 32 cycles at the beginning, and 34 - 35 cycles at the end per 50 m length, while my stroke rate remained mostly the same. I was swimming at around 59" / 50 m in the 2nd to 4th lengths, then deteriorated to around 62" / 50 m in the middle, and about 65" / 50 m by the end.
The cumulative time as recorded by my wearable was follows:
250 m: 4'52"
500 m: 9'59"
750 m: 15'19"
1000 m: 20'31"
1250 m: 25'56"
1500 m: 31'14"
I'm very disappointed that, even after a few months of intense training, I still haven't reached 30' / 1500 m in long course yet. I'm taking a very expensive 1-1 professional analysis tomorrow, and hope that afterwards I can know all my technique problems and target them in the coming month in my own training, and get a jump in my speed.
I returned to pool to time my 1500 m and I am totally frustrated now as I'm MUCH worse than before!!!!! despite my apparent improvement in shorter distances. The time I've just got is 32'36", more than a minute slower than before I got the analysis on 2019-02-22.
I remember that last month I was feeling great and keeping my target pace (1 minute per length) until around 500 m in my 1500 m T/T, but today I fell out of that target at around 250 m, and I was feeling arms fatigued so early that I couldn't do the proper technique which I should be doing. It then became a vicious cycle. I was struggling in the latter half, fatigued to the extent that the technique was completely lost, arms flailing slowly but without grasping for air, and the pace became a horrible 2'15" - 2'20" / 100 m by then. Under normal circumstances if I feel my stroke is breaking down I stop my workout immediately.
To compare, last October I was swimming at 60" for 50 m interval on 75", but now I am swimming at 55" for 50 m interval on 75" for about 30 x 50 m, but this improvement has not translated into my 1500 m time yet.
I am suspecting if I've paced my T/T wrong because this 1500 m time is unreasonable given the improvement in my 400 m. I am suspecting not too fast at the start, but too slow instead. I have a huge dilemma here - as it seems that my technique is actually better when I try to swim faster, with less muscular fatigue, but there is an aerobic limit as well. From my observation, the following may happen:
If I start off too fast I will be gassed which forces me to slow down to recover my aerobic deficit, and by slowing down my swimming becomes inefficient which causes fatigue, and never returns to my full potential again.
If I start off too slow, my swimming is less efficient when swimming fast, causing the same or even more fatigue when compared to swimming fast, and my speed drops further. Therefore negative splitting a race isn't really an option for me. (e.g. if I started 1'45" in the initial 100 for my 200, I may do 1'55" in the remaining 100; if I started 1'55" in the initial 100, there is no way for me to do anything less than 1'55" in the remaining 100)
I'm trying different pacing tomorrow to see how it goes.
The following is my past times taken, you can see how I didn't improve over the past year.
date
pool length
air temperature
Water temperature
200
400
1500
2018-05-08
50
00:35:09
2018-05-17
50
00:36:41
2018-05-29
50
00:04:06
2018-05-31
50
00:34:02
2018-06-05
50
00:04:14
00:08:52
2018-06-08
50
00:04:04
00:08:34
2018-06-14
50
00:03:57
2018-07-20
50
00:03:54
00:33:42
2018-07-22
50
00:32:41
2018-08-28
50
00:33:21
2018-09-12
50
00:04:12
00:08:39
2018-09-19
50
00:04:11
00:08:37
2018-09-20
50
00:03:54
00:08:01
2018-09-21
50
00:03:48
2018-09-24
50
00:03:45
2018-09-26
50
00:03:41
2018-09-28
50
00:03:42
2018-10-03
50
00:03:39
2018-10-04
50
00:07:49
2018-10-19
50
00:32:27
2018-10-26
50
00:03:42
2018-10-31
50
00:32:06
2018-11-07
50
00:08:14
2018-11-08
50
00:08:08
2018-11-23
50
00:04:10
00:08:30
2018-11-24
50
00:04:00
00:08:01
2018-11-30
50
21
22
00:31:42
2018-12-14
50
16
17
00:34:20
2019-02-21
50
22
24
00:31:13
2019-02-26
50
18
21
00:03:47
2019-02-28
50
21
22
00:03:40
2019-03-02
50
23
23
00:07:45
2019-03-07
50
20
23
00:03:48
00:07:41
2019-03-14
50
21
21
00:03:42
2019-03-21
50
22
24
00:32:36
I returned to pool to time my 1500 m and I am totally frustrated now as I'm MUCH worse than before!!!!! despite my apparent improvement in shorter distances. The time I've just got is 32'36", more than a minute slower than before I got the analysis on 2019-02-22.
I remember that last month I was feeling great and keeping my target pace (1 minute per length) until around 500 m in my 1500 m T/T, but today I fell out of that target at around 250 m, and I was feeling arms fatigued so early that I couldn't do the proper technique which I should be doing. It then became a vicious cycle. I was struggling in the latter half, fatigued to the extent that the technique was completely lost, arms flailing slowly but without grasping for air, and the pace became a horrible 2'15" - 2'20" / 100 m by then. Under normal circumstances if I feel my stroke is breaking down I stop my workout immediately.
To compare, last October I was swimming at 60" for 50 m interval on 75", but now I am swimming at 55" for 50 m interval on 75" for about 30 x 50 m, but this improvement has not translated into my 1500 m time yet.
I am suspecting if I've paced my T/T wrong because this 1500 m time is unreasonable given the improvement in my 400 m. I am suspecting not too fast at the start, but too slow instead. I have a huge dilemma here - as it seems that my technique is actually better when I try to swim faster, with less muscular fatigue, but there is an aerobic limit as well. From my observation, the following may happen:
If I start off too fast I will be gassed which forces me to slow down to recover my aerobic deficit, and by slowing down my swimming becomes inefficient which causes fatigue, and never returns to my full potential again.
If I start off too slow, my swimming is less efficient when swimming fast, causing the same or even more fatigue when compared to swimming fast, and my speed drops further. Therefore negative splitting a race isn't really an option for me. (e.g. if I started 1'45" in the initial 100 for my 200, I may do 1'55" in the remaining 100; if I started 1'55" in the initial 100, there is no way for me to do anything less than 1'55" in the remaining 100)
I'm trying different pacing tomorrow to see how it goes.
The following is my past times taken, you can see how I didn't improve over the past year.
date
pool length
air temperature
Water temperature
200
400
1500
2018-05-08
50
00:35:09
2018-05-17
50
00:36:41
2018-05-29
50
00:04:06
2018-05-31
50
00:34:02
2018-06-05
50
00:04:14
00:08:52
2018-06-08
50
00:04:04
00:08:34
2018-06-14
50
00:03:57
2018-07-20
50
00:03:54
00:33:42
2018-07-22
50
00:32:41
2018-08-28
50
00:33:21
2018-09-12
50
00:04:12
00:08:39
2018-09-19
50
00:04:11
00:08:37
2018-09-20
50
00:03:54
00:08:01
2018-09-21
50
00:03:48
2018-09-24
50
00:03:45
2018-09-26
50
00:03:41
2018-09-28
50
00:03:42
2018-10-03
50
00:03:39
2018-10-04
50
00:07:49
2018-10-19
50
00:32:27
2018-10-26
50
00:03:42
2018-10-31
50
00:32:06
2018-11-07
50
00:08:14
2018-11-08
50
00:08:08
2018-11-23
50
00:04:10
00:08:30
2018-11-24
50
00:04:00
00:08:01
2018-11-30
50
21
22
00:31:42
2018-12-14
50
16
17
00:34:20
2019-02-21
50
22
24
00:31:13
2019-02-26
50
18
21
00:03:47
2019-02-28
50
21
22
00:03:40
2019-03-02
50
23
23
00:07:45
2019-03-07
50
20
23
00:03:48
00:07:41
2019-03-14
50
21
21
00:03:42
2019-03-21
50
22
24
00:32:36
