Hey guys, it's my first time posting here. I should start of by saying I am not a master's swimmer and am a 14 year old guy. I just started swimming for my high school jv team a couple months ago and I've swam the 500 free twice. My recent time I got at my last meet was 7:20. I know I could do much better, but I need you guys to help me. Is there a certain strategy that can help me for the 500 free? What should I do in practice and on my own to become better at this event? Are there any good books out there on stroke technique? All your help is appreciated, thanks.:D
First, believe it or not, about half of us Masters Swimmers were once 14 year old guys, the other half were once 14 year old girls! What brings us all together, regardless of age, is our love for swimming.
Now back to your question. There are so many things that go into swimming a faster 500. I’ll just touch on a couple of them here.
The first and most important thing is practice. The coach is there to give you the workout. It is the swimmer who must commit to do the work to the best of our abilities. This is particularly true for us distance swimmers who need to develop the technique and aerobic capacity to compete in the longer races.
The best way to cut time in a 500 or any other distance for that matter is to improve technique. In practice; 1) work your turns (cutting a second on each turn is 19 seconds in a 500), 2) pay attention to your body position a good streamlined, level body position reduces resistance, 3) concentrate on stroke technique during all parts of practice warm-up, main sets, drills, warm-down, especially concentrate when you are getting tired.
As for quick race strategy, the first 100 is critical. Too fast or too slow will cause problems later on. Many 500 swimmers try to swim a real solid first 200 and then try to build into the final 300. For example a 7:00 500 may end up being 1:22, 1:27, 1:26, 1:24, 1:21, by 100’s. Individual results may vary.
I have two recommendations:
1. Use the pace clock. This is the key to distance swimming. First, you should use it for interval training, with your first major goal a set of 100's on 1:30. Longer distances will be multiples of this (200's on 3:00, etc.). At first it will be a struggle to make the interval. Later you'll be able to descend the set (swimming each 100 faster) and still later shorten the interval (1:20, 1:10, and beyond). Second, on longer swims, you should set a pace (say for example 1:20/100), glancing at the clock before or after your turns. The goal is maintaining this pace throughout the swim. As you improve, your pace will get faster.
2. Strength training (i.e. lift weights). This is a good age to begin (with supervision).
With hard work you could lower your time by 2:00 (or more)before you graduate. I did.
I agree with the last comment. Swim year around, find a Usa swimming program that has b to aaa swimmers on it or at least go out for a sport like water polo in high school-which also helps the non-year round swimmer if you are in a state with high school water polo. I would have end up on Jr Varsity too, if I didn't swim year round during my teen years.. In high school, my best time was 5:58 in the 500 yard, and freestyle was my third stroke, I was a better breastroker and butterflyer then. Today, If I swim the 500, you could beat me. Conditiong makes a different in the 500 yard freestyle. In Community College, I placed 16th placed at a region meet at 6:02 and a lot of those other young women could out swimme in a 50 yard or a 100 yard.
