I love reading all the stories about how much people have improved and how much they have cut down their times. It's very inspiring and encouraging. But as I look at my own times, they don't seem to be coming down. They have dropped about 5 seconds since I started swimming again three months ago, but they have kind of stopped dropping. This is frusturating considering that I feel my form has improved dramatically. So basically I was looking for everyones secrets to making times come down. I work hard, I swim everyday, and it seems no matter what I do they just won't move. Any ideas would be helpful!! And keep up the good work everybody!!!
~Kyra
p.s. my 50 SCY free is about 40 some odd seconds..sometimes in the upper 30's (horrible I know)... and I want to be able to do it in at least 30 (lower) something, but upper 20's would be awesome.....most the rest of my strokes are the same time except for breaststroke which is slower.
I am in the same boat as you are. My strokes feel awesome, but very little time difference. I have really good endurance, but I would love to see time difference. I do sprint intervals at least once a week and I just generally mix it up. I do about 5000 yrds a practice plus run and lift. I would love some suggestions also.
Originally posted by dorothyrde
Kyra, do you do sprint intervals? I find interval training invaluable for improving the sprints.
I don't really. I have this workout that I swim and for some of the yards I try to sprint (like take the last 100 yds of the set and try to sprint), but I don't really have a set plan for them. Do you have any good sprint workouts?
~Kyra
I think that many swimmers get hung up on yardage at the expense of speed. As I have heard many coaches say "the only way to swim fast is to swim fast." Sprint training must be done when fresh to be effective,otherwise you are training to swim slow! My favorite sprint set is 100s on the 3 min sprinting the first 25 and using the next 75 as cool down. You must blast the sprint 25 to make it worthwhile,but a set of 8-12 of these once or twice a week will really help your speed. I just read of increasing speed by doing 12.5 yd. on the 30 sec. The theory is that by doing ultra-short swims you don't generate lactic acid and can do more,like 30-60.(At least that's the theory, I haven't had a chance to try it as I am tapering for my end of season SCM meet.)
From what you said above, it sounds like you are swimming the same workout every day, a recipe for quick burnout. Also, there is only one word for improving times - intervals. Descending interval sets are even better.
Re: feeling loggy when sprinting; I can think of several causes. You may be turning over too fast. You are right to try to stretch,but also count your strokes to make sure your stroke count doesn't rise too much.
You may be training too much too soon and not letting your body recover. That may affect your sprinting first and will slow down your progress. Does it take more than an hour for your heart rate to get to normal or do you get sorer every day? If so you need to ease off.
Ok so it looks like I need to do some sprint training in my workouts, and I need to do this right after my warm-up correct? So, any good sprint work out, aside from the one Allan mentioned that I will have to try? Thanx for all your input!!
~Kyra
Seagurl, have you checked the workouts section of this forum? You should be able to get some good ideas for sprinting there.
For starters think about doing a set of 50s or 100s where you are swimming as fast as you can and get about as much rest as your swim. For example, if you can swim a 50 in 40 seconds, try a set of 10x50 on 1:20 or 1:30 and try to maintain that 40 second pace throughout the set. You will see that it gets tough quick even with a fair amount of rest.
I went to a meet in October without doing a lot of sprint training and it really, really showed. Even doing all out 25's on a set interval helps. You don't have to always do them at the beginning either. If you have a sprint at the end of a meet, you are going to be tired and you are going to have to muster sprint speed when tired, so it is good to sometimes sprint at the end too. Just be sure you put a good cool down in afterwards.
