Help with training for effective splits in 100 free

Hey Paul, I just took a look at your blog past post 41, and I think I know why Paul's Death March marches in during the back half of your 100s. You are hardly doing anything over 100 in practice. And when you do, there's a lot of monkeying around and a short sprint. This works well for your 50s - I know first hand of your speed:whiteflag:. But if you're not actually swimming those whole 125's/150's/200s, its not going to help. I think the only way for you to eliminate the death march is to start training and racing 200s in practice. Without experiencing the death march in practice, your body doesn't know what to do and is freaking out. By doing that "over"swimming in practice, you're familiarizing yourself with that feeling and also learning how to swim through it, maintain your composure and keep your technique together. This translates to 100s mostly through fitness. When you get to a meet, that last half of your 100 still hurts, but different. Now you're swimming half - it becomes a bit easier. Training-wise, think of something like 4x200m on 3:15. Swim the first at about 80%, even, strong pace throughout. Note the time. Swim the rest of it with the same even, strong pace throughout, focus on starting out smooth and building through. Try to knock 1-1.5 seconds off each 200. Also, make mental notes of how you pace each one and which ones feel best. Experiment! Now, your 100 times are certainly nothing to be disappointed about, but yes, we can all shed a few tenths!

you want to mix it up and do lots of different stuff if you go 24.0 you should target at least 25.0 27.0 52.0 or an optimist would go for 23.9 24.9 26.9 51.9 it's all about conditioning, correct splitting, technique, strength, and mental toughness

Thanks, Jeff So it sounds like I need to suck it up and start doing the distance side of the board at least once a week. The good thing is that when the 200s hit the board, I no longer want to run and hide so that's an improvement. But I guess I need to go over to the Dark Side of the workout :drown: Thanks for pointing that out, the sad part is that I never even considered that result. So it sounds like that an appropriate way to train for an event is swimming intervals of twice that distance. I know that is an over simplification, yes. But from what I understand is to swim an effective 100 you have to train yourself by swimming more 200s in practice. That means that I have GOT to get to the 5am practices as that seems to be when the most distance work is done. Paul

Some things i like to do to help simulate being tired like you would be in a 100. A set of like 10 100's Hard to all out with pushups in between or tricep dips. I usually go based on a heart rate... once my heart rate drops below X start the next 100. Or another is time based. Goal of 2 minutes of hard work. 100 Hard then vertical kick hard until you hit 2 min.

Paul, There are very few swimmers who are as big/muscular as you are...I would venture to say you have far more strength that you need to excel at this sport. My guess would be a combination of easy longer swims, some harder middle distance workouts a few times a month, continue wit the speed work...and this might not be an option but lift less and get into a yoga or flexibility class 2-3x a week. Paul, I hear you on the flexibility. Adding Yoga is on the game plan but my daughter's summer swim league is crushing my free time. When August rolls around, I will be starting Bikram. I had started Bikram 6 years ago but I was in such a bad place mentally about my physical condition that I could not sustain it. I know I'm in a better place now and actually look forward to it.

hi paul, do all the above, mix it up + lose weight + do speed work + do speed endurance work + do lactate sets + work on correct splitting, even split everything in practice + race + get a speedy suit you don't need someone to time every fast swim just get them to time one, it's much less imposing take out your 100 even harder, take it out with in 1 sec of your 50 time All, I'm now starting to feel more powerful on my free and am able hold shorter intervals so I decided to take a look at what an effective split would be and figure out how to start training for it. So far my best times are in SC 50y - 24.98 100y - 56.89, 26.96,29.93 50m - 27.25 100m - 1:01.37, 28.67,32.70 Now looking at the percentages it is clear that my conditioning (or lack thereof) played a huge part in the drop offs. SCY (based upon 50y event time) 1st 50 - 92.07%, 2nd 50 80.18% SCM 1st 50 - 94.79%, 2nd 50 - 80.00% So in each of my best swims, I took the front 50 out a little differently but had about the same Death March on the back half. Taking a look at other splits it appears that the most effective split is about 95%/88%. I'm pretty sure that I'm in the low 24s for SCY now so let's use 24.00 as a 50y time. That means I should split 100 25.26/27.27/52.54. Now the question is, what would be the best way to train for this? Would it be to throw in some 5x100 Sprints on 8:00 and try to find someone to time? Do less than that? Do more than that? What should I expect the times to be without access to blocks? Paul

It's back again. What can I do to get my split differences down? 4 Wolf, Paul 42 GERMANTOWN MARYLAND M 59.94 59.17 5 27.73 59.17 (31.44) My best SCM swim so far but I am still consistently having about a 3-3.75 sec difference front to back. My best ever split so far was my swim at SCY Nats and over all that race was a train wreck as my breathing pattern was totally shot. 36 Wolf, Paul R 41 GERM 53.80 52.85 25.29 52.85 (27.56) My understanding is that the goal is to be about 1 sec off your best 50 on the front and about 2-2.5 difference front to back. So using those rules, I should be going 27.45/29.95/57.40 SCM and 24.63/27.13/51.76 SCY in the 100. I realize that those are general guidelines. So I need to ratchet up the 125s and longer? I have been doing more of the 150+ sets in practice so I guess I need to keep at it. I took this past week off to give my body a break as I was starting to show signs of stress in my shoulders. So back to the program next week. Paul

My best ever split so far was my swim at SCY Nats and over all that race was a train wreck as my breathing pattern was totally shot Who cares about the breathing pattern? The only thing that matters is when you touch the wall. If you need to breathe every stroke cycle over the entire race then do it.

What I meant by that is in the last 2 100s that I have swam in a meet, my goal has been breathe every 4 on the first 75, then every 2 on the last 25. BUT what has happened is that I take my first breath at the flags on the first length and then I'm in such a world of hurt that I end up breathing every 2 for the entire back 50. Also, when I refer to breathing, I'm speaking of 2 or 4 strokes not 2 or 4 stroke cycles.

Paul, There are very few swimmers who are as big/muscular as you are...I would venture to say you have far more strength that you need to excel at this sport. What I don't see you having is great flexibility which when combined with limited aerobic (notice I did not say distance) training is a recipe for seizing up and dying hard in anything beyond a 50...and I would guess even a 50 long course you'll struggle at the end. My guess would be a combination of easy longer swims, some harder middle distance workouts a few times a month, continue wit the speed work...and this might not be an option but lift less and get into a yoga or flexibility class 2-3x a week.