2nd meet results, where do I need work?

Originally posted by rtodd OK, I worked on my turns and I did better at my second SCY meet. At my first meet I did the 50yd free in 30.3 and the 100yd free in 1:10.24. At the last meet I did the 50 yd free in 28.7 and the 100yd free in 1:08.76 with a 31.63 split. I also did the 200 yd free and did a 2:56.98 with the following splits: 34.49, 42.87, 50.91, 48.71. I think that I don't have any strength endurance, because of my splits. Of course it would also be nice to be faster and get my 50 free lower. Will strength endurance work help my speed at all in the 50? What workouts do I need to bring down these times if I can only swim 3 to 4 times a week? Please be specific. FYI, I'm a 41 yr old male and have been swimming for 3 months. Thanks! Those are good times for a beginner. Were you in good physical shape before you started? Cyclcing, running, etc.? Anyhow, my first meet after roughly a year of swimming (Had a few long breaks due to shoulder injuries) found me in a short course meters pool swimming the lead leg on a 200 Free Relay and an individual 100 Free. They did not give splits for the Relay but I did touch out before any other lane so I was content. My 100 Free I swam a 1:10 although the timers told me I had a 1:08 as I was climbing out of the pool. Either way...you get the idea. A few months later I had a SCY meet and swam a 28.77 50 Free and a 1:04 100 Free. As you can see, you are right on my tail and I have been at it for over a year now. I have the desire to swim a 200 but my workouts simply don't provide me the stamina to do such a thing. I swim 4-5 times a week but my workouts consist of about 300-400 warmup and then usually some sort of paced set. Last night I did 8 x 50 on 1:00. After that I did some easy swim for about 200 and then another 200 of kicking. To really prepare oneself for a 200 you need twice that yardage I would guess. Actually, increasing the yardage would probably help my 50 and 100 times as well but I just don't have the time right now. Bottom line is that you need more time in the pool...more yardage done right to be specific. In addition, pay attention to the little things as well. Streamlines, dive starts, and turns can pay big dividends in a meet. In my 28.77 50 Free I failed to lock my hands together in my dive which allowed my bad shoulder/arm to veer to the side causing pain and slowing me to a standstill. I had a great reaction time but my streamline was horrible. I was first off the blocks but after the dive I was in last place. Bad experience. I swam with everything I had and at the turn I was ahead of a few and behind a few others. My turn helped me a great deal because as I pushed off I could see some of the swimmers I was even with still planting their legs on the wall. Anyhow, I wound up winning the heat much to my surprise but the moral of the story is that a good dive/streamline would have made it an easy swim and I would have taken an easy second off of my time as well.

Originally posted by rtodd OK, I worked on my turns and I did better at my second SCY meet. At my first meet I did the 50yd free in 30.3 and the 100yd free in 1:10.24. At the last meet I did the 50 yd free in 28.7 and the 100yd free in 1:08.76 with a 31.63 split. I also did the 200 yd free and did a 2:56.98 with the following splits: 34.49, 42.87, 50.91, 48.71. I think that I don't have any strength endurance, because of my splits. Of course it would also be nice to be faster and get my 50 free lower. Will strength endurance work help my speed at all in the 50? What workouts do I need to bring down these times if I can only swim 3 to 4 times a week? Please be specific. FYI, I'm a 41 yr old male and have been swimming for 3 months. Thanks! Those are good times for a beginner. Were you in good physical shape before you started? Cyclcing, running, etc.? Anyhow, my first meet after roughly a year of swimming (Had a few long breaks due to shoulder injuries) found me in a short course meters pool swimming the lead leg on a 200 Free Relay and an individual 100 Free. They did not give splits for the Relay but I did touch out before any other lane so I was content. My 100 Free I swam a 1:10 although the timers told me I had a 1:08 as I was climbing out of the pool. Either way...you get the idea. A few months later I had a SCY meet and swam a 28.77 50 Free and a 1:04 100 Free. As you can see, you are right on my tail and I have been at it for over a year now. I have the desire to swim a 200 but my workouts simply don't provide me the stamina to do such a thing. I swim 4-5 times a week but my workouts consist of about 300-400 warmup and then usually some sort of paced set. Last night I did 8 x 50 on 1:00. After that I did some easy swim for about 200 and then another 200 of kicking. To really prepare oneself for a 200 you need twice that yardage I would guess. Actually, increasing the yardage would probably help my 50 and 100 times as well but I just don't have the time right now. Bottom line is that you need more time in the pool...more yardage done right to be specific. In addition, pay attention to the little things as well. Streamlines, dive starts, and turns can pay big dividends in a meet. In my 28.77 50 Free I failed to lock my hands together in my dive which allowed my bad shoulder/arm to veer to the side causing pain and slowing me to a standstill. I had a great reaction time but my streamline was horrible. I was first off the blocks but after the dive I was in last place. Bad experience. I swam with everything I had and at the turn I was ahead of a few and behind a few others. My turn helped me a great deal because as I pushed off I could see some of the swimmers I was even with still planting their legs on the wall. Anyhow, I wound up winning the heat much to my surprise but the moral of the story is that a good dive/streamline would have made it an easy swim and I would have taken an easy second off of my time as well.