Strategies for the 100 free?

I know this runs against the conventional wisdom, but a swimming friend who was a 23 time All American at Oakland U in Michigan (Div 2) gave me the following strategy that works well if you aren't in the absolute best shape: first two lengths of the 25 yard pool: go as fast as you can while staying smooth--operative term: Easy Speed. Do not thrash. It should be controlled, fast, but not drop dead, all out sprinting of the sort you use for a 50 yard race third length (and here is where his advice runs counter to the conventional wisdom): concentrate on stretching and keeping your stroke long. It's not exactly a case of easing up, but really concentrate on staying long and smooth. When you pass under the flags, charge towards the wall and do the final turn as fast and tight as possible and blast off the wall last length--go for broke giving it every single iota of effort you have left. As painful as it feels, it won't last long. Anyone can suffer one lap of excruciating misery! Don't breathe the second half of the final 25. The air you take in at this point is not going to reach your system anyway until the race is long over. Every breath is a tiny bit of time squandered. If you are in great shape, and you trained your lactate system to cope with whatever it is that makes muscles feel like they are dying, swim as fast as possible on the third length and hope you don't tie up prematurely on the final length. Good luck! PS there are many ways to swim a 100. Next year, try to swim in a bunch of meets so you can figure out what strategy works best for you. Actually turns out to be great advice. Well it worked for me anyway. I was doing a set of 100's (SCM) this afternoon. I was almost near the end when I remembered reading this thread at lunch time. I thought I would try out the strategy on the final two. Went 1:01:26 and 1:00:93, respectively. Both were from a push. I did a slow recovery 100 in between them. What surprised me was not the times but rather my level of tiredness (specifically lack thereof) after completion of the distance. Normally I would be hanging on the side for at least 30 seconds after that level of exertion (or more exactly, the amount of exertion that I would have to expend to do a time like that in practice). But I had a few deep breaths and recovered amazingly quickly. I was only really going hell for leather on the final 25. I don't know if I would adopt this strategy in a race, though. I really only know one strategy: (for LCM) go out as fast as I can on the first 50 and hold on for dear life on the second. I always seem to do my fastest times when I go out as fast as possible. I die in the final 15m and I feel like I am going to have a heart attack when I finish but my times are always better than if I tried to pace myself. I think I will be experimenting with this strategy (certainly in practice) in the future.

I know this runs against the conventional wisdom, but a swimming friend who was a 23 time All American at Oakland U in Michigan (Div 2) gave me the following strategy that works well if you aren't in the absolute best shape: first two lengths of the 25 yard pool: go as fast as you can while staying smooth--operative term: Easy Speed. Do not thrash. It should be controlled, fast, but not drop dead, all out sprinting of the sort you use for a 50 yard race third length (and here is where his advice runs counter to the conventional wisdom): concentrate on stretching and keeping your stroke long. It's not exactly a case of easing up, but really concentrate on staying long and smooth. When you pass under the flags, charge towards the wall and do the final turn as fast and tight as possible and blast off the wall last length--go for broke giving it every single iota of effort you have left. As painful as it feels, it won't last long. Anyone can suffer one lap of excruciating misery! Don't breathe the second half of the final 25. The air you take in at this point is not going to reach your system anyway until the race is long over. Every breath is a tiny bit of time squandered. If you are in great shape, and you trained your lactate system to cope with whatever it is that makes muscles feel like they are dying, swim as fast as possible on the third length and hope you don't tie up prematurely on the final length. Good luck! PS there are many ways to swim a 100. Next year, try to swim in a bunch of meets so you can figure out what strategy works best for you. Actually turns out to be great advice. Well it worked for me anyway. I was doing a set of 100's (SCM) this afternoon. I was almost near the end when I remembered reading this thread at lunch time. I thought I would try out the strategy on the final two. Went 1:01:26 and 1:00:93, respectively. Both were from a push. I did a slow recovery 100 in between them. What surprised me was not the times but rather my level of tiredness (specifically lack thereof) after completion of the distance. Normally I would be hanging on the side for at least 30 seconds after that level of exertion (or more exactly, the amount of exertion that I would have to expend to do a time like that in practice). But I had a few deep breaths and recovered amazingly quickly. I was only really going hell for leather on the final 25. I don't know if I would adopt this strategy in a race, though. I really only know one strategy: (for LCM) go out as fast as I can on the first 50 and hold on for dear life on the second. I always seem to do my fastest times when I go out as fast as possible. I die in the final 15m and I feel like I am going to have a heart attack when I finish but my times are always better than if I tried to pace myself. I think I will be experimenting with this strategy (certainly in practice) in the future.