500 free improvement needed

Former Member
Former Member
Need suggestions for improving my 500 free. A little background: 52 year old male. been swimming again for about a year. up to 3500-4000 6 times a week. 5'10", 172 lbs (down from 195 when starting:)). Went to first masters meet last weekend. happy with times except 500. wanted to go 1:15,1:20,1:20,1:20,1:15. Went a 6:52 instead. 1:13, 1:26, 1:26, 1:27, 1:20. so about 43's per 50. swam the 1650 and went 44.5's per 50. (24:14). 50 free was 28secs. Even after swimming a year, pulls are faster than swims. Usual workout is 1650 warmup, 5x100s on 2 pull (~1:11s), 5x100s on 2 swim (~1:13s), 1x500 kick, 12x50's IM on 1:15, 10x25's no breathers free/fly. breath every 2 in the 500. breath 2/3 on the 1650 (no legs hardly). high exertion difference for only 1.5 second difference per 50. personal bests were 49 100 free, 4:59 500 free at age 20. worried a bit about heart rate max. even though 52 no problem hitting 180 on tough sets (if I shorten rest on 100s). Is that too high for 52? I thought 220-age should be about max. started swimming with a masters group 2 weeks ago but can only go on Saturdays. I'm guessing shorter rest on the 100's. (all distances are SCY) Thanks
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  • Former Member
    Former Member over 4 years ago
    Thanks for the info. A couple questions if you don't mind. 1. how many strokes per length do you take, and how far off the wall to you get on the turns? to the flags or more? 2. do you use any UDK's on the turn? 3. do you watch heart rate at all on the hard sets? I get to 190 pretty quick on the short intervals. It does recover better than a year ago in 10-15 seconds. 4. I used to do a lot of 100s on 2:00, sub goal 500 pace. Maybe I should mix that in once a week again. 5. I see "best average" used a lot, but I don't know what that means, could you explain?
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  • Former Member
    Former Member over 4 years ago
    Thanks for the info. A couple questions if you don't mind. 1. how many strokes per length do you take, and how far off the wall to you get on the turns? to the flags or more? 2. do you use any UDK's on the turn? 3. do you watch heart rate at all on the hard sets? I get to 190 pretty quick on the short intervals. It does recover better than a year ago in 10-15 seconds. 4. I used to do a lot of 100s on 2:00, sub goal 500 pace. Maybe I should mix that in once a week again. 5. I see "best average" used a lot, but I don't know what that means, could you explain?
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