Hey, I'm a 16 year old junior in high school, and well, I'd appreciate it if I could get some help with my swimming. I started swimming last year and can do every single stroke legally (minus breaststroke...oddly enough...) but my favorite stroke is freestyle. I have swam a 100 free starting off the wall in 1:00 and I'm also wondering what the most efficient way to swim it is, because when I made that time (my personal best, sadly) I sprinted the whole time. In addition, because this start was off the wall, I did not get to start off the block, I am 5'8" and weigh 122 and I'd just like any tips you can throw my way! Thanks in advance, and I also swim the 500 free on occasion so I would also appreciate any help on this. (Last year I swam the 200 and 500 free, this year I am hoping to swim the 100 free and 500 free)
Thanks, ViveBene. I was totally winging it from half-remembered lore in an increasingly Swiss-cheese-like brain. Glad to see my oversimplification was not totally outside the ballpark of reality. I think the bottom line point here is that Newport Geek's suggestion to drop-dead sprint the whole thing, otherwise you are a coward and a slacker, ignores the reality that we only have 8-10 seconds worth of phosphogene in us, and the lactic acid system, by its very nature, creates byproducts that eventually interfere with optimal muscle contractions.
I continue to maintain that it's a fine line that separates wimpery from stupidity. You want to swim the 100 in a way that minimizes the former but without dumbly launching yourself on a certain rendezvous with ruin!
Thanks, ViveBene. I was totally winging it from half-remembered lore in an increasingly Swiss-cheese-like brain. Glad to see my oversimplification was not totally outside the ballpark of reality. I think the bottom line point here is that Newport Geek's suggestion to drop-dead sprint the whole thing, otherwise you are a coward and a slacker, ignores the reality that we only have 8-10 seconds worth of phosphogene in us, and the lactic acid system, by its very nature, creates byproducts that eventually interfere with optimal muscle contractions.
I continue to maintain that it's a fine line that separates wimpery from stupidity. You want to swim the 100 in a way that minimizes the former but without dumbly launching yourself on a certain rendezvous with ruin!
