what is the optimal differential between the first and second 50 on a 100 yard short course freestyle? The first 50 benefits from the dive and the relative freshness of the swimmer; the second 50 requires two turns and contending with lactate and fatigue.
Is it better to go all out and try to hold on, or save a little for the end?
Say you can swim an all-out 50 by itself at 25 seconds. How would you ideally swim the 100?
Example: 25.5 then 28.5 for 3 second differential and a 54.0
or 26.0 and 28 for a 2 second differential and a 54.
Which method do you think is best?
I was stuck at a 1:03high 100 free for 10 years until I decided to just take the race out hard, maximize my pain as much as possible and let the time take care of itself. Wouldn't you know, I went a 1:02.
Last year, I went a lifetime best 1:00.6 splitting it 28.3, 32.3. At the same meet, I went a lifetime best 50 free of 27.6. I tried to take out the 100 as if it were just a 50. I had a rotten turn #2, so I think I'd have been pretty close to my 50 time if it had been a hand-touch and I'd not breathed from the flags in.
If I say to myself, "I'll take this 100 out just a hair under my 50 speed," it doesn't seem to work. I go out 1.5-2.5 seconds slower and the second 50 hurts only fractionally less. Yes, there was a 4 sec differential on my 100 free splits, but that 32.3 is the fastest I've ever come back in the 100, even if I go out in a 30. This was with a training base last year of 3 days/week for
I was stuck at a 1:03high 100 free for 10 years until I decided to just take the race out hard, maximize my pain as much as possible and let the time take care of itself. Wouldn't you know, I went a 1:02.
Last year, I went a lifetime best 1:00.6 splitting it 28.3, 32.3. At the same meet, I went a lifetime best 50 free of 27.6. I tried to take out the 100 as if it were just a 50. I had a rotten turn #2, so I think I'd have been pretty close to my 50 time if it had been a hand-touch and I'd not breathed from the flags in.
If I say to myself, "I'll take this 100 out just a hair under my 50 speed," it doesn't seem to work. I go out 1.5-2.5 seconds slower and the second 50 hurts only fractionally less. Yes, there was a 4 sec differential on my 100 free splits, but that 32.3 is the fastest I've ever come back in the 100, even if I go out in a 30. This was with a training base last year of 3 days/week for
