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 have read that a good piece of data to have is your aerobic/anaerobic threshold pace, i.e. the pace that you can swim continuously (aerobically). This can be determined with a T20 or T30 swim. To be accurate you should avoid factoring in any end of swim sprints. Your distance swims will basically be at your threshold pace with some time taken off for a faster pace at the start and end. To improve your distance time you want to work on improving your aerobic capacity and, through technique improvements, the pace that you can swim at a given aerobic capacity. Trying to swim above your threshold pace, by definition will eventually result in deterioration of either technique or speed.
I have read that a good piece of data to have is your aerobic/anaerobic threshold pace, i.e. the pace that you can swim continuously (aerobically). This can be determined with a T20 or T30 swim. To be accurate you should avoid factoring in any end of swim sprints. Your distance swims will basically be at your threshold pace with some time taken off for a faster pace at the start and end. To improve your distance time you want to work on improving your aerobic capacity and, through technique improvements, the pace that you can swim at a given aerobic capacity. Trying to swim above your threshold pace, by definition will eventually result in deterioration of either technique or speed.
