Once upon a time--say the better part of three decades ago--I could sprint fairly fast. I went 22.8 and 50 flat in the 50 and 100. I have resumed swimming and begun to compete, and I have noticed that I seem to have a governor blade of some sort on my speed. Just swam my first meet and went 28 and 1:02. I know I will improve, but I sense that I may not be able to improve dramatically. Has anyone seen big jumps of improvements for short races? If so, how?
The good news is that I felt really strong coming home in the 100, and it made me think that maybe I should try the 200 and even the 500. In the former case, how do people approach splitting a 200, and what sort of training do you do? Thinking about this in the context of a zone meet in 3 to 4 weeks.
Look forward to your thoughts.
Parents
Former Member
I thought I would provide an update, as I am now a week away from my zone meet. I have been using some of these recommended sets, and have seen some improvement in practice!
I did the sprint training version of the 200/100s/50s set x2 three weeks ago, and went 2:30, 1:09, and 30/29ish at the lowest, respectively. Since I have brought the 200 in at 2:24, 100s at 1:07, and 50s at low 28 to 28.0. All from pushoffs. I have gotten 25s down to 13.0 and 12.5.
I did the 12 x 100 set on 3:00, and brought them in from 1:07 to 1:04.
At my first meet about a month ago, I went 28.0 in the 50 and 102.3 in the 100, splitting 30.0 and 32.4.
I also did a timed 500 and went 6:26, with the first 200 at 2:27.
So anyway, I think this is working, and I feel faster, especially at shorter distances. I am slated to swim the 50, 100, 200, and 500 free at zones, and also the 50 ***, 50 fly, and 100 IM for fun. The 50 is right before the 500, and the 50 fly is right before the 200, so depending on the heats, I may scratch here and there.
Any thoughts on how to spend my last week of prep in the pool? I do not want to rest much--my last (and first) meet I missed some workouts in the last week and I don't think it helped. Felt a little rusty.
Thanks so much for the guidance so far. This trying to go fast thing is really fun!
Best
Red
I thought I would provide an update, as I am now a week away from my zone meet. I have been using some of these recommended sets, and have seen some improvement in practice!
I did the sprint training version of the 200/100s/50s set x2 three weeks ago, and went 2:30, 1:09, and 30/29ish at the lowest, respectively. Since I have brought the 200 in at 2:24, 100s at 1:07, and 50s at low 28 to 28.0. All from pushoffs. I have gotten 25s down to 13.0 and 12.5.
I did the 12 x 100 set on 3:00, and brought them in from 1:07 to 1:04.
At my first meet about a month ago, I went 28.0 in the 50 and 102.3 in the 100, splitting 30.0 and 32.4.
I also did a timed 500 and went 6:26, with the first 200 at 2:27.
So anyway, I think this is working, and I feel faster, especially at shorter distances. I am slated to swim the 50, 100, 200, and 500 free at zones, and also the 50 ***, 50 fly, and 100 IM for fun. The 50 is right before the 500, and the 50 fly is right before the 200, so depending on the heats, I may scratch here and there.
Any thoughts on how to spend my last week of prep in the pool? I do not want to rest much--my last (and first) meet I missed some workouts in the last week and I don't think it helped. Felt a little rusty.
Thanks so much for the guidance so far. This trying to go fast thing is really fun!
Best
Red
