I always thought it would be cool to be able to break 5:00 in the 500. While it would be a bit of a stretch I feel like it's potentially within reach and given enough of the right kind of training I could do it. That said I also feel like every second between me and the 5 minute mark is going to get harder and harder to knock off.
I've always been, and continue to be, more of a breaststroker than a freestyler. I have no ankle flexibility so I pretty much always need to deal with dragging two brakes through the water. I've never really trained seriously for free events even though I do try hard and consider the longer frees to be my secondary events.
To give you an idea I swim about 3000-4000 a day, probably realistically average 4-5 times a week. I can and will increase that over the winter as we head into the meets starting in January. Intervals average in the 1:15-1:20 range, sometimes dipping to 1:10. I can pretty comfortably hold 1:10-1:15 pace depending on the set. Doing a 1:00 100 from a push is hard but not impossible.
So far my fastest masters times in the 200 are 1:55 and the 500 a 5:18. I know I can go much faster in both, in that 200 I took water instead of air on the turn at the 100 and was choking and coughing for the last 100 and still somehow managed a best time. The 500 was the last event of a long weekend of swimming and I was exhausted. I bet I could have done a 1:53 and a 5:14 given better circumstances.
Anyway, any training tips or things to work on? Ideal way to split it? Is the 5:00 500 going to be ridiculously difficult or given enough training reachable?
Thanks guys. That and the :50 100 (I'll save that one for later) are two swimming marks I always wanted to check off my list.
The 'moment of truth,' though where you need to learn to swim through the pain is from 300 to 450 yards.
Yikes! A 150 yard "moment" of truth is a darn long moment. I prefer the 200s where the "moment" of truth is just the third 50...
I have to agree with what people are saying. Looking at some guys going around 4:57 in the 500 free, I noticed that many of them swim the 200 free in 1:46/1:47. So that will be a challenge for you to overcome. Conditioning will be the key, and being able to pull off 10x100 on 1:10 and, especially 5x100 on 1:05 will be very important.
Can't wait to see what people say about how to break :50 in the 100 free. That's a goal you and I share.
The 'moment of truth,' though where you need to learn to swim through the pain is from 300 to 450 yards.
Yikes! A 150 yard "moment" of truth is a darn long moment. I prefer the 200s where the "moment" of truth is just the third 50...
I have to agree with what people are saying. Looking at some guys going around 4:57 in the 500 free, I noticed that many of them swim the 200 free in 1:46/1:47. So that will be a challenge for you to overcome. Conditioning will be the key, and being able to pull off 10x100 on 1:10 and, especially 5x100 on 1:05 will be very important.
Can't wait to see what people say about how to break :50 in the 100 free. That's a goal you and I share.