How fast should your first 50 be in the 100 free?

YES to the chap above who stated "breath a lot". I learned to swim with age-groupers and always restricted my breathing as instructed UNTIL I reviewed all my 100free videos (long course meters) and noticed that most of the elite swimmers breathed every stroke! Why? Because if you do not do so on the first 50, you will not get the lactate removal on the second 50 and the burn sets in much sooner. As for the loss of speed when breathing every stroke, two focus points will diminish that. 1. Slightly press the flat side of the head (face) into the water when breathing just to make sure the head does not raise up even the slightest bit when breathing. 2. When breathing to any side, the stroking arm on the other side can have a "tendancy" to drop elbow and so just try to "pin" that non-breathing side elbow up at just below the water surface fighting any desire to drop elbow. Kurt

I know I posted before describing what I do with regard to a 50, but (again) I am hypocritical of what I coach. I coach my swimmers to swim the first 25 at a slower pace and kick it in for the last 75. Different physiological reasons for that, but that's how we train the age-groupers and the masters swimmers.

I think one needs to take into consideration your stroke. do you swim freestyle the same when you swim the 50 vs 100? I think that I have a different arm speed and grip of the water when I "try" to swim the 50. I stress myself so that I don't move fwd as much as I should with each arm. when I swim the 100 I have a more correct stroke and therefore can swim faster. I currently swim the 50scm 27.68. (approx 24.8-24.9 scy) but really haven't had a race that everything worked. either slow start, foot sliding on wall, started turn too early and only had toe contact...I've never in my life swam a 50scm under 27.0. My 50 goal is to get under 27.00 my current 100scm time is 1:00.94. my splits were 28.92 / 32.02. My goal is to get under 1:00. but I also know that I can't get my splits to 1-2 seconds because my body doesn't work that way. for me to get to 59.99 i will have to open 28.0 and come home in 31.99 nearly 4 seconds. but what I am hoping is that I can come back in something faster than 31.99 and maybe get my time down to 59.3 it's the same thing in breaststroke. I have to open fast, because I die the same amount the second 50. my last race 34.78 / 39.83 = 1:14.61 Nearly 5 seconds difference. My 50 time is 33.37 so I don't see myself swimming the first 50 anything under 34.5. so if I am ever going to get to 1:12 scm I need to be able to swim the second 50 in 37.5

My best to-date masters 100 free SCY was first 50 +1.22 over my best 50 free time, and second 50 +1.53 slower than the first 50. This was in a very fast pool (federal way) with a taper that I think worked out just perfectly. Compare that to my 100 LCM at nationals. First 50 +2.33 over best LCM 50, and second 50 +2.58 over first. That hot weather in Portland took its toll on me.

I'm going to try this breathing advice. And I think I've noticed that I'm doing what you describe on 2. Why? Because if you do not do so on the first 50, you will not get the lactate removal on the second 50 and the burn sets in much sooner. 2. When breathing to any side, the stroking arm on the other side can have a "tendancy" to drop elbow and so just try to "pin" that non-breathing side elbow up at just below the water surface fighting any desire to drop elbow. Kurt

I'm going to try this breathing advice. And I think I've noticed that I'm doing what you describe on 2. Hi Dave, If you try swimming with a snorkle, or just swim 3-4 stroke cycles without breathing, you can see how easy it is to maintain a high elbow during the each arm stroke. But add in body roll during a breath cycle and it is so easy for that opposite side elbow to drop and with me at least, it translates in to a noticeably slower swim time. It's funny, we always hear that it is the head raising-up during a breath that slows us down, but my head is 100% flat and so I think it is not the breath itself, but the dropping of the opposite-side elbow when breathing. Kurt:D

I want to emphasize the "time at your feet" comment above. Yes, 1-1.5 seconds off fastest 50 is common, but remember that you lose about 0.5 seconds (some lose more) with a "foot touch" compared to a hand touch. So one second off your fastest 50 is taking it out pretty darn fast. Similar situation for backstroke. In the fly, you can theoretically be closer since it is a hand touch...but many people have worse fly endurance than freestyle endurance, so a 1-1.5 second rule is still not a bad idea. (You may notice I omitted any mention of breaststroke. That wasn't an oversight, since I have no business commenting on it.)

I know I posted before describing what I do with regard to a 50, but (again) I am hypocritical of what I coach. I coach my swimmers to swim the first 25 at a slower pace and kick it in for the last 75. Different physiological reasons for that, but that's how we train the age-groupers and the masters swimmers. If I don't go all out from the get go I will have a terrible swim - time wise and feeling wise. I am not able to back off the legs at all in the first 25. I've tried this out and it always ends up much slower and still as painful as if I just go all out from the start. As an aside, when I started swimming this way I also started working on kicking a lot more in practice - set aside days to just kick, and tried to 6 beat kick constantly in practice even if it was an easy 6 beat kick.

(You may notice I omitted any mention of breaststroke. That wasn't an oversight, since I have no business commenting on it.) You do not have to be good at a stroke to know how to swim it well or how it should be raced. I coach breaststroke and if you look at the Indy results you'd see why I should never be allowed to mention that word in practice. :shakeshead:

I think the drop-off in *** is similar to fly. Most people are at least three seconds slower on the second 50.