500 free improvement needed

Paul, Nice to see a post from the state where I spent alot of time. A number of comments: - Give yourself some time. Your 20 yr old times are good times - you have the innate ability to be faster than you are right now. - The HR rule of 220-age does not necessarily apply. When I was your age, mine would be that high. As you continue to improve fitness, it should come down. What is your resting hr? Obviously though, if you are worried, see your physician. - The fact that you pull faster than you swim suggests your legs are low in the water which increases drag (alot) or you need to figure out how to use your back, glutes, and hamstring to keep your legs higher. The good thing is that Barb Scouler and Carrie Stolar (both on Minnetonka Masters) have very sweet freestyles and can help you. When you see them, tell them I said "Hi." - As orca1946 mentioned, regardless of distance, our age means we don't have the strength anymore to overpower anything. That means streamlining off starts and turns are huge to preserving energy. Between better fitness and better technique, your splits will come down quickly. - At some point, drop the intervals on the 100s to something that gives you 20 -25 seconds rest. So, instead of doing them on 2:00, drop to 1:50. And, 1650 is alot of warm-up. Drop that distance to 1000 (and include your kicking early on) - add more higher effort swims. Your daily volume is good - just need to do more of it at a higher intensity level. Good Luck Paul Windrath

I'm guessing shorter rest on the 100's. Definitely. And are you taking any rest between your sets of 5x100? If you are then my other suggestion is not to. Several days a week you should be doing an aerobic set to build your aerobic capacity. For starters try something like 15x100 on whatever sendoff you can make the entire set on with about 5-10 seconds rests between swims. I think you'll find that you'll struggle at first and your 100 times will get slower throughout the set, but keep at it and you'll be able to keep a consistent pace for the entire set. That's when you know you're making progress and I think you'll find your 500 race time will improve massively.

Don't know why, but for pace I always found doing 50s was more beneficial for the 500. That being said, I know when my goal was to break 5:00 years ago, a coach told me I better be able to do any FAST repeats under my goal pace (1:00), and when I coached the distance group for a DI college team, I told my girls the same thing. Anything fast we ever did up to 175 yards, be it push or from block, better be under your goal pace (for a lot of them that was trying to break 5:00). Love the 500 though. It is the TRUE "controlled sprint."

Welcome to our forums! You seem to be very into improving yourself! Great I think the Masters coach can help you to those goals. It might not be the effort but, more in distance technique that will help you. Remember "turns are you friend" as they give you a launch pad at each end. 180 BPM seem at the top of where you should be -ask a Doc related to sports about that.

What are you hitting heart rate wise on your average 5x100 on 2 holding 1:13s? My first thought is that to average under 1:20 for a 500 you definitely need to be able to hold that pace for repeat 100s on a shorter rest interval (like, 1:35 or 1:40). But with heart rate numbers like that... 180 is almost anaerobic range. Probably is at 52 y/o. Need to get that sorted out first, might be an efficiency thing if it isn't medical.

thank you for the input. my resting pulse is nice and low now, usually 55BPM. Maybe for older distance swimmers that are in shape thats still up there. I've monitored my pulse / BP every day at work for the last year since starting again. top number down from 120-125 to about 105-110. bottom number from 85 to 55. triathlon guy at work says that's good. I did start swimming for Barb. Great coach. Beats me in everything:) . I will say hi for you. I just get the beatdown every Saturday AM though with her group since I can only make it once a week. She has lots of great swimmers. I do take extra rest between my 2x5x100 sets. Due to comments maybe I back w-up down to 1000, and do 3x5x100s on shorter intervals, few times a week do 10x100s or 15x100s instead. I liked the 1650 since I figured if I'm tired a little from the w-up, when I go harder I'd be less prone to injury. As Im reading more that may be backwards. I have wondered about position in the water. I put in my height but forgot the strokes per length. Right now it's about 17/25 yards. I get out past the flags on my turns. I do some catch-up drills to try to lengthen stroke, but has not changed anything yet. I do no dry land training yet. Ive watched the Dara Torres abs workout on youtube, tried them twice, and had a sore stomach for a week after. Maybe ab work to strengthen them would help position in water. (do you get to count walking the dog as dry land training when your over 50?) My heart rate at the end of each 100 is usually 160-165, and about 120 when I leave for the next one when I go on 2:00. The times I shorten the rest, like 1:45 or 1:30, it really goes up quickly at the end of the 100s. 5x100s on 1:45, split goes to 1:15-17, pulse 170 at end of each 100 5x100s on 1:30, split goes to 1:20-22, pulse 180 at end of each 100 I will shorten rest, length n x 100 sets this week. Thank you.

I never thought of that. Ill see if I can get my sons GoPro. I have watched other people this way and recommendations they get. thanks. The GoPro works great. I have an off-brand version with a waterproof case, I stuck one of the bike helmet mounts on a spare bathroom tile and it sinks and stays on the bottom for some really pretty crisp underwater video.

You could also consider posting a video here to get some opinions on your stroke and what you might be able to do to increase your efficiency, in addition to strength and speed work. I never thought of that. Ill see if I can get my sons GoPro. I have watched other people this way and recommendations they get. thanks.

Good Morning Paul, I agree with Calvin about doing 50s when training for the 500. When I coached in Red Wing, the distance guys would do 12 x 50 on :45 - trying to hit their target pace (usually 30). A few times they did 5 x 100 with 10 sec rest - only to get "mental" feel for the race. If you are surfacing past the flags and still taking 17 strokes, that seems about 3-4 too high to me. BUT, if you are not kicking, stroke length can shorten. More importantly though is stroke rate. Going back to Calvin's comment, doing 50s makes it easier to work on tempo as well. I hate catch-up stroke drill because it completely messes up body rotation and timing and places a huge emphasis on kicking. There are better drills for working on stroke length and body position. As for abs, I never do them. They are not going to help your body position. Planks, supermans, and other exercises that strengthen glutes and hamstrings are better. Most important though is head alignment (tucking the chin and looking down) coupled with staying tight through your hips (keeping the glutes a little contracted). Find a good yoga or pilates video or class for dry land. HR info looks really good. The drop off in your race splits suggests more conditioning. The 50s on :50 - 1:00 at race pace will help you raise your anaerobic threshhold. I suspect there might be more going on with body position and pulling pattern as well. As mentioned in my earlier post, HS or college men can just do it on guts and effort (to go 49 and 4:59. At 52, not gonna happen. :) Finally, the warm-up my teams do something like this: 400 swim, 8 x 50 kick (increasing effort), 12 x 25 tech set, and 8 x 50 swim (desc 1-4, 5-8). Then, we get into it. :) Working harder during warm-up is not likely to lead to injury if you have good technique. Poor technique, doing the wrong lifts in the gym (too much weight, bad technique, etc.), and aging injuries are more likely to get you. You are on the right track to getting faster!

Catch up stroke drill is only beaten out by “finger tip drag” for worst freestyle drill. And my hatred for FTD is mostly because it’s the lazy swimmer’s “I’m drilling so I don’t have to actually be drilling” drill. The rest of my hatred for it is because it doesn’t do anything. There are better drills for working on a high elbow catch!