Looking for feedback on some time trials so far this week. Since I am fairly new at swimming I have been training for and competing at 200yd and below. But now I am trying to do longer swims and experimenting.
Yesterday I did a good warmup and then a 500yd free near maximum intensity. My time was 8:40. Then I did a cooldown 500 after several minutes recovery and swam a 9:30. This was very relaxed and I was only 50 seconds slower. That to me does not make sense as I would expect the cooldown to be considerably slower. Then today I did a 1000 and I went out very relaxed and swam an 18:10.
My question is shouldn't my high intensity be more like 20-25% faster than low intensity? I would expect to at least be under 8:00 for high intensity....no?
Is techinque rewarded that much over power in distance events?
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Former Member
I agree technique (which produces efficiency) is more important than power for distance events. But I think you should also think about what most swimmers mean when they say "power." They usually mean muscular strength, not aerobic fitness.
So I think your question is not really about power but aerobic fitness instead. My guess is that your technique was not much different in your two 500s or your 1000. Your fitness level didn't change over that period either. What you experienced was the progressively higher effort required to go faster.
Most swimmers can swim all day at 80% of best speed. It costs a lot of energy to reach 100%.
I don't swim distance events but I can swim repeat 100s at 1:30 for a long time. But change that interval to 1:20 and I probably can do only 10 before I absolutely croak. My heart rate on 100s at 1:30 might be 150+, but at 1:20 it would quickly reach my maximum of 175-ish.
If you try to go 8:00 instead of 8:40 you would need to go 8 secs faster per 100. You might be able to do that today but it will hurt so much more.
I agree technique (which produces efficiency) is more important than power for distance events. But I think you should also think about what most swimmers mean when they say "power." They usually mean muscular strength, not aerobic fitness.
So I think your question is not really about power but aerobic fitness instead. My guess is that your technique was not much different in your two 500s or your 1000. Your fitness level didn't change over that period either. What you experienced was the progressively higher effort required to go faster.
Most swimmers can swim all day at 80% of best speed. It costs a lot of energy to reach 100%.
I don't swim distance events but I can swim repeat 100s at 1:30 for a long time. But change that interval to 1:20 and I probably can do only 10 before I absolutely croak. My heart rate on 100s at 1:30 might be 150+, but at 1:20 it would quickly reach my maximum of 175-ish.
If you try to go 8:00 instead of 8:40 you would need to go 8 secs faster per 100. You might be able to do that today but it will hurt so much more.
