This past weekend we had our LCM zone championships and I really wanted to work on my 100 and 200 splitting. For my 100 I went out strong and relaxed and saved my legs for the last 50. The funny thing is that the first 50 I felt really fatigued (swam the 400 and the 50 fly less than 2 hours prior). Still, I came up with a time I was happy about. A masters best to date.
59.31
splits 28.77, 30.54 diff. 1.77.
For the 200, it seems like most good 200 swimmers take the first 100 about 4 seconds slower than their fastest 100 and nearly split the same coming back. So I tried that with the following results.
2:15.02
1:04.62, 1:10.4 diff. 5.78
My swimming experience is limited prior to becoming a masters swimmer and my long course experience is nil. So My guess is that my 100 splitting was as good as I can expect. Take the dive out and I split it fairly even. But my 200 split sucked eggs (nearly a 6 sec. difference). How can I improve this? I want to try and go a sub 2:10. Is that a realistic goal? And how do I get there?
Kevin
Hi Kevin,
I think those splits are better than you think, but it's always good to try to improve. I have a friend who is so phenomenal at pacing that she sometimes negative splits her races. How does she do it? Well, one thing she does it that she practices negative splitting everything in workout. She checks her time while breathing and works to beat it in the back half of every repeat. She is also more keenly aware of pace than anyone I know. When we finish a set, she can tell you what everyone else was splitting, too. I think the point is that during a race, it's hard to use perceived effort to know how fast you are going. But if you train yourself to speed up rather than slow down during every swim, there's a better chance that you will be able to do it during a race instinctively. I hope this helps!
Hi Kevin,
I think those splits are better than you think, but it's always good to try to improve. I have a friend who is so phenomenal at pacing that she sometimes negative splits her races. How does she do it? Well, one thing she does it that she practices negative splitting everything in workout. She checks her time while breathing and works to beat it in the back half of every repeat. She is also more keenly aware of pace than anyone I know. When we finish a set, she can tell you what everyone else was splitting, too. I think the point is that during a race, it's hard to use perceived effort to know how fast you are going. But if you train yourself to speed up rather than slow down during every swim, there's a better chance that you will be able to do it during a race instinctively. I hope this helps!
