I've been doing sprints. I'm not a point were I can do lets' say a 50 free with 30 sec rest. between each 50. Instead I do 4 x 50's trying to keep each 50 at 30 sec's or better
( 30 sec is my best time -so far ) resting maybe 2-3 mins between each set.
Which is better, trying to keep a set time with longer rest periods, or doing sets that may take longer to do each one, and repeating every 30 secs.
You probably need to do both some,but my philosophy is you need to do the meat of your sets at race pace once you are in reasonable shape. If you want to be a 50 sprinter I think at least once a week you need to do 25s with enough rest that you can do them all out. However if you are going to be a sprinter you need to do some lactate tolerance sets where you swim 25s or 50s all out but don't give yourself enough recovery time and push through your stroke getting a little ragged(but stop before it gets a lot ragged.)
You probably need to do both some,but my philosophy is you need to do the meat of your sets at race pace once you are in reasonable shape. If you want to be a 50 sprinter I think at least once a week you need to do 25s with enough rest that you can do them all out. However if you are going to be a sprinter you need to do some lactate tolerance sets where you swim 25s or 50s all out but don't give yourself enough recovery time and push through your stroke getting a little ragged(but stop before it gets a lot ragged.)
In addition to what Allen said (which I think is great advice BTW!) you might also want to consider either some descending 50's or alternate between recovery 50 and fast 50 for a set....One thing I like about descending (and I think Paul Smith and others have pointed this out too on other threads) is that when you start out at a fairly moderate pace you can focus more on technique...then as you start opening up the carburetor more and more during the descending reps you can get closer to race pace gradually (each 50) and try and keep your focus on technique, SPL and DPS throughout at these various speeds that lead up to race pace.....Good Luck Concho!
Newmastersswimmer
