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
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?
assuming these questions are for me
1. i take 7 or 7.5 stroke cycles per 25 yds. i am 5'6. i always come up after the flags even if i'm just warming up. i do a legit streamline on all turns every set every day and keep my head down through the break out.
2. for the 500 i will do 1 or maybe 2 udk off each wall. i don't think everyone should do this... i have a pretty good aerobic engine (no speed, just endurance over here), so i can handle a little less o2 off the wall. my udk's are immediate, not after a glide. time yourself doing both ways to determine what is right for you.
3. i do not watch my heart rate other than spot checks... my resting pulse is 45-50 and it just doesn't seem to get up that high in practice unless doing AO 50's in close proximity
4. i agree you should be mixing your workouts up so that you can build different skills and different parts of your engine
5. best average, to me, means the fastest pace I can hold across the set. so for example 10x 25s fr on :30 my best average will probably be 14h or 15L, but if i did them 'all out' the first couple would be faster and then i would deteriorate. steady pacing is an important skill-- for example a couple days ago i was doing descend 50s and can tell you before i touch the wall what each one is and descend just by 1 second like 36-35-34-33-32-31-30-29. It passes the time...
good luck this weekend! don't be afraid of the second half- that is where the fun of racing lies in the 500!
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?
assuming these questions are for me
1. i take 7 or 7.5 stroke cycles per 25 yds. i am 5'6. i always come up after the flags even if i'm just warming up. i do a legit streamline on all turns every set every day and keep my head down through the break out.
2. for the 500 i will do 1 or maybe 2 udk off each wall. i don't think everyone should do this... i have a pretty good aerobic engine (no speed, just endurance over here), so i can handle a little less o2 off the wall. my udk's are immediate, not after a glide. time yourself doing both ways to determine what is right for you.
3. i do not watch my heart rate other than spot checks... my resting pulse is 45-50 and it just doesn't seem to get up that high in practice unless doing AO 50's in close proximity
4. i agree you should be mixing your workouts up so that you can build different skills and different parts of your engine
5. best average, to me, means the fastest pace I can hold across the set. so for example 10x 25s fr on :30 my best average will probably be 14h or 15L, but if i did them 'all out' the first couple would be faster and then i would deteriorate. steady pacing is an important skill-- for example a couple days ago i was doing descend 50s and can tell you before i touch the wall what each one is and descend just by 1 second like 36-35-34-33-32-31-30-29. It passes the time...
good luck this weekend! don't be afraid of the second half- that is where the fun of racing lies in the 500!
