Not that math was ever my subject, lol!
Anyway, here's something odd I'm noticing: during the masters' workouts and on my own, I notice that when I put out max effort, the times aren't too different (sometimes even slower) than when I'm putting out only a moderately hard effort. For instance, one of the elements in today's workout involved swimming a hundred easy, then two hard 50s. In the first of the 50s, I picked up a bit but was conserving energy for the next one. In the next one, I was--I THOUGHT--picking up the effort to the max. BUT... the second fifty was a second or two slower than the first. HELLO?
The coach told me later that he noticed that my stroke got more choppy, that it didn't have the reach that it had when I was swimming easy or even medium hard. When I went all out, my form suffered. I gather that's fairly common. I could in fact feel a difference in myself: I was more tense, I think. Yet I want to improve my speed. The coach said that as I got stronger, I'd find it easier to hold technique while swimming hard, and that sounds reasonable too.
If you've run into this, what were/are your strategies to deal with it? Obviously it takes some practice, and that's something I'm working on. But any/all tips appreciated.
Here's what's curious too: when I run, the opposite happens. If I'm running easy, my form is so-so, improving when I push myself (although even there, it can deteriorate if I'm running a longer race).
Thanks for the tips, guys!
SCY, when i do workouts on my own, I usually try to do them in ascending levels of effort, although sometimes I'll try things in reverse. But in the supervised workout I do on Sat., the coach has set up the easy 100 followed by the hard 50s--but are you saying, then, that it's still better to increase the effort on the "easy" 100 even so?
Matt,
I definitely think I'll need to do that stroke count thing in my unsupervised workouts b/c my math skills are such that I'd have the coach wondering if I was planning to start up again! ;) But seriously, that sounds like a good suggestion. Sometimes I've tried counting strokes just on easy laps and seeing if I can decrease the number, w/out necessarily trying to go fasartter. When I'm trying to go faster, I think I lose a lot of focus on the how while trying to reach Point B ASAP. But obviously, that's been the problem...maybe stay with focusing on the "how" and the speed will work its way in....
I should mention that I'm 55 and while I've won a couple awards at swim races by default (i.e. no one else competing in the same age group), 5-year-old age groupers could beat me. But hey gotta start somewhere! :)
Thanks for the tips, guys!
SCY, when i do workouts on my own, I usually try to do them in ascending levels of effort, although sometimes I'll try things in reverse. But in the supervised workout I do on Sat., the coach has set up the easy 100 followed by the hard 50s--but are you saying, then, that it's still better to increase the effort on the "easy" 100 even so?
Matt,
I definitely think I'll need to do that stroke count thing in my unsupervised workouts b/c my math skills are such that I'd have the coach wondering if I was planning to start up again! ;) But seriously, that sounds like a good suggestion. Sometimes I've tried counting strokes just on easy laps and seeing if I can decrease the number, w/out necessarily trying to go fasartter. When I'm trying to go faster, I think I lose a lot of focus on the how while trying to reach Point B ASAP. But obviously, that's been the problem...maybe stay with focusing on the "how" and the speed will work its way in....
I should mention that I'm 55 and while I've won a couple awards at swim races by default (i.e. no one else competing in the same age group), 5-year-old age groupers could beat me. But hey gotta start somewhere! :)
