I am planiing to swim this in a few weeks. I will be 50 in a few months and want to at least try for the National qualifying time of 5:50. Just curious from those who can swim this race in this time range. I will need to average 35 seconds for my 50s obviously but worry that it might be too fast for me.
I can probably swim a 1:02-1:05 for my SCY hundred free but I have a feeling that I will need to be able to swim a 55:00 for my 100 free to be able to maintain that 35 per 50 pace.
If you have done this, what is your hundred free time? What is your race strategy?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Rob
I strongly disagree with the recommendation to breathe every stroke (ie every two hand touches). I've seen countless people swimming 4/500s - and longer - breathing every stroke from the time they dive in, and time and time again, they look like they die very early on in their race. Whether they are or aren't, it looks bad from above the pool, and when I look at the splits, they have practically no ability to build at the end of their race. Some of these people have decent times, but I think they could be a lot better with a bit more control.
I'd recommend a breathing pattern that the swimmer is comfortable with - something done in practice frequently, something that helps you get in your groove. For the record, I do multiple combinations of 4, 3 and 2 breaths, mostly 3/2, and will only break down and do every stroke if I am flat out beat. Personally, I find that bilateral breathing helps me not only balance out my stroke, but also establish my groove off each wall through those many many turns.
I strongly disagree with the recommendation to breathe every stroke (ie every two hand touches). I've seen countless people swimming 4/500s - and longer - breathing every stroke from the time they dive in, and time and time again, they look like they die very early on in their race. Whether they are or aren't, it looks bad from above the pool, and when I look at the splits, they have practically no ability to build at the end of their race. Some of these people have decent times, but I think they could be a lot better with a bit more control.
I'd recommend a breathing pattern that the swimmer is comfortable with - something done in practice frequently, something that helps you get in your groove. For the record, I do multiple combinations of 4, 3 and 2 breaths, mostly 3/2, and will only break down and do every stroke if I am flat out beat. Personally, I find that bilateral breathing helps me not only balance out my stroke, but also establish my groove off each wall through those many many turns.
