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.
Former Member
I am experiencing the same issues as Red60. In high school, I was a sprinter and now, 25 years later, I can't seem to sprint at all. I just can't get it going that fast.
Red60, I don't have the answer for you as I am still experimenting to find out where my current niche is. Right now I'm working on building endurance and swimming only 200s and longer. I started realizing that I can't sprint anymore when I noticed that my peers who left me far behind in their wake on the 50s, weren't so far ahead of me on the 100s.
My biggest challenge though is to hold back on the first 50, my mind still wants to sprint so I often find myself in a argument with myself for the first 75 before I settle in and start relaxing. My brain says go, go, go (it's actually more of a panic type scream, sort of like AHHHHHHHHHH) and my body says, hold back, relax and build. :argue:
Quicksilver, I did your suggested set in a multiple of three yesterday, and it felt good. The third time around I felt it, but maintained the pace. I will try the sprint version of the set today or Monday.
Muppet, thanks for your prescription on the 200 pace.
Best
Red
I am experiencing the same issues as Red60. In high school, I was a sprinter and now, 25 years later, I can't seem to sprint at all. I just can't get it going that fast.
Red60, I don't have the answer for you as I am still experimenting to find out where my current niche is. Right now I'm working on building endurance and swimming only 200s and longer. I started realizing that I can't sprint anymore when I noticed that my peers who left me far behind in their wake on the 50s, weren't so far ahead of me on the 100s.
Yippee, an almost another distance swimmer!!!:groovy:
donna
Warren, good is a very relative term when it comes to swimming times. I don't know what your times are but I guarantee you there are faster swimmers out there. Would you want them to tell you that you should give up on certain events since you can't get a "good" time? I apologize for being so direct but I think your comment warranted it.
About the original poster now...I think he should push himself to take on the 200. Not only will he have another event to throw in his bag of tricks but the endurance gathered from this 200 will likely help his 100 as well. It seems to me that some very good advice for workouts was posted above and I look forward to hearing about your results as you progress.
I think you missed my point. What I was trying to say is if the 200 is going to be his best event he needs to improve not only his endurance but speed aswell. And if his speed improves, his 50 and 100 will improve.
Since the 50 and 100 have been his best events through out his life, theres a good chance that thoes are still his best events.
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
