2nd meet results, where do I need work?

You swam a much more even 100, so your conditioning is much better. Hopefull I can see that type of improvement within the year too. I noticed most athletes had very even splits in the freestyle events. I also run track, 100m-400m. That is my background. I have lower back issues, so I am experimenting with swimming. It took me three years of hard training to get decent times on the track, so I would assume at least two years to reasonably know what my ability is in the water. Your workouts seem similar to mine. I definately need to lower my times. There were 23's and 53's in my age group, so I am not at all satisfied. Will just keep working at it. There was even a 4:54 500yd, which just blew me away. Simply amazing. How old are you?

Looking at your splits, I think the recommendations about keeping up the swimming is good advice, but to be more specific, I think you need more aerobic conditioning. Frequently, new swimmers, and seasoned swimmers with the intials MR, will pace a race poorly and the effects will be evident in their splits. Your splits don't suggest poor pacing to me, though. As a 28.7 50 freestyler, a 31.63 is a relaxed first 50. With that first 50, I would not have been surprised to see second 50 at 32+. Similarly, your first 50 in your 200 was relaxed enough where sub-36's should have been possible. Since I didn't see you swim, I will guess that the large dropoff from your first 50, is a combination of factors involving technique and conditioning. You mentioned yardage and intervals in your training, but you didn't mention measuring your heartrate while training. I am a firm believer in the importance of monitoring one's heartrate during training. My guidance to you would be to start taking your HR periodically on your sets of 200's and 100's, if you find that your HR is greater than 70% of your max HR, slow down your swimming. This may seem counter intuitive, but slowing down may benefit you more than increasing your yardage or your intensity. Not only will you increase your aerobic abilities, but you will be better able to work on perfecting your technique.

Originally posted by rtodd You swam a much more even 100, so your conditioning is much better. Hopefull I can see that type of improvement within the year too. I noticed most athletes had very even splits in the freestyle events. I also run track, 100m-400m. That is my background. I have lower back issues, so I am experimenting with swimming. It took me three years of hard training to get decent times on the track, so I would assume at least two years to reasonably know what my ability is in the water. Your workouts seem similar to mine. I definately need to lower my times. There were 23's and 53's in my age group, so I am not at all satisfied. Will just keep working at it. There was even a 4:54 500yd, which just blew me away. Simply amazing. How old are you? I am 31 years old and have not had any real exercise before swimming aside from a yearlong attempt at weightlifting...not really my thing as I found it to be rather boring and my physique does not really fit the mold (6-0, 165). Getting down into 23 and 53 times would be great but I don't know how realistic that is for me right now. I do what I can..that is all.

FYI, I'm a 41 yr old male and have been swimming for 3 months. That's what you need to work on the most. I think the best thing you can do right now is to swim for 4 months. After that, swim for 5 months. For someone who has been swimming for only a few months, I think your time, and your splits, are pretty good. You need a little experience under your belt. Think of it you were trying to learn how to play the violin. After three months, you've probably got "twinkle twinkle little star" sounding pretty good. You're not going to be playing any Bethoven symphonies right now. The best thing to do is just keep it up, and keep practicing. So, keep going to practice. Keep working on fundamentals -- drills, technique, etc. Lay a good groundwork for yourself. And just keep swimming. -Rick

Keep swimming is what I'll do, but what specific workouts help the 200yd and under free? Right now I am doing a 400 yd warmup and then an interval workout consisting of maybe six or so repeats. Some days 200, some days 100. Is this the right approach? What should the total volume of a workout be for a beginner, intermediate, advanced? I will search the workout forum.

Maybe you have no strength and endurance. More likely is that you don't have technique, and this is what is causing you to fatigue in the longer races. I'd get someone to look at your stroke and give you advice on how to smooth things out. Then practice for a while, and ask for advice again.

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.

LETSRACE: You are right, my aerobic conditioning is poor, since I don't do any VO2 training. Primarily intervals to this point, especially when I run. I have started incorporating longer swims 15 minutes in duration to build a base. I think this is helping. SCYFREESTYLER: Keep lifting. I think it is important for the sprints where you need power. WAVES101: I will try that workout. It looks like a killer. What is a pull? Is that when you just use your arms? Also, that seems like alot of kicking. Will this help?

Originally posted by rtodd What is a pull? Is that when you just use your arms? Yes, arms only. Typically swimmers use a pull buoy or tube to support the legs when they do a pull set. Some people also use hand paddles. I would suggest buying a buoy if they aren't available at the pool you use. Another way is to put a kickboard between your thighs then cross your legs to keep it in place. This works pretty well while swimming, but turns are difficult. Long swims are not the only way to build up your aerobic base. Shorter swims with short amounts of rest between repeats is another good way. This tends to be a little less boring than long straight swimming. The other benefit, and especially for someone like you having a hard time pacing longer swims, is the interval will help you establish a pace and hold that pace since you'll have to to continue to make the sendoff.

I added weights about a year ago and certainly notice the difference now. Back then, I'd struggle to do a set of 10x100 free (SCY) on 1:25. Last week I did that on 1:15 with still a second or 2 rest. I had really begun to plateau and the weights helped me out of that.