I see many people saying that one should swim at or close to race pace in training. My question is how much rest should be allowed for the interval such as doing 100's on the 1:25 and coming in on 1:15 = 10 sec rest. I don't know about everyone else but I have a hard time maintaining race pace without significant rest or for prolonged periods. Thanks in advance.
I think if the goal is pacing for a longer race then a work to rest ratio of 2:1 is about right. So let's say you're trying to pace a 500 free and your goal is 6:00. A set of 10x50 on :55 where you hold :36 would probably be good.
The ratio I mentioned is work to rest, so I'm guessing you really meant 1:4 for 200s. If your 200 pace is :30 seconds 1:4 would mean 50s on the 2:30. 2:00 would be 1:3. Even 1:3 seems like way to much rest to call anything a "pace set." Pacing to me implies something that can be realistically viewed as a broken swim. If you swim 4x50 on 2:00 that seems more like 4 distinct swims.
Most important do you really know what your race pace is??? If you cannot swim a 1:15 with a 10 second rest you are not swimming your race pace, you are swimming faster then your race pace.
The ratio I mentioned is work to rest, so I'm guessing you really meant 1:4 for 200s. If your 200 pace is :30 seconds 1:4 would mean 200s on the 2:30. 2:00 would be 1:3. Even 1:3 seems like way to much rest to call anything a "pace set." Pacing to me implies something that can be realistically viewed as a broken swim. If you swim 4x50 on 2:00 that seems more like 4 distinct swims.
Assuming that my goal was to swim a 200 in 2:00, then a 1:4 work to rest ratio means 200's on an 10:00 interval, assuming of course that I would swim the 200 in 2:00.
When speaking of work to rest, remember it's a ratio and should be given in terms of the overall time of work to the time of rest. An example would be a 10x50 free on 2:00 set. For me this presents about a 1:3 work:rest ratio as I would be swimming each 50 in about 30 and resting for about 1:30. Your example above isn't a work:rest ratio that includes ALL the work (i.e the whole 200) but instead describes the ratio based upon a set distances (i.e per 50) pace with regards to the rest between each entire swim.
And you're right about pacing swims, 4x50 on 2:00 would pretty much not be considered a pacing set for anything less than a 200 and even for a 200 would not be that effective. But for 98%+ effort (sprint or near sprint) swims, it's a good starting point.
I think race pace is pretty specific. First you need a race that actually has a pace component, 200 or longer. There is no pace in the sprints, they are sprints.
So now you pick your target race, for me a 200. What is my pace? My goal for the 200 is 1:49.9, and I want to split 25.high, 27.high, 27.high, 27.high, so my race pace is 27.high. Now if I was in condition to actually go 1:49.9, I should be able to do 10x50 on 2:00 and break 28 every time.
If you are a sprinter and never do anything over 100, anything that is marked race pace can just be treated AFAP (as fast as possible).
If you are given a set of 10x100 on short rest, race pace, I don't know what race that would be the pace for. Maybe the 10k :)
Shadow, in my opinion and what I have seen success in is, the amount of rest is decided on what you are focusing on for that set. In other words, if you are concentrating on an aerobic/anaerobic mix (Max VO2)set at "race pace" you would be at :30 - :60 rest. For the anaerobic 1 sets (lactate tolerance) you are in a 2:1 ratio for rest which means if you are on :30 for the swim you are on :15 for the rest. The anaerobic 2 sets (lactate peak) you are on a 1:2 rest which means that if you are on a :30 for the swim you are at 1:00 for the rest. For straight out short sprints (25's, 12.5's, etc) - alactate sets - you are on a 1:3 or 1:4 ratio.
Hope this helps! All the best!
I think if the goal is pacing for a longer race then a work to rest ratio of 2:1 is about right. So let's say you're trying to pace a 500 free and your goal is 6:00. A set of 10x50 on :55 where you hold :36 would probably be good.
Along this line of thought, I think the longer the race, the more endurance plays a part and the less rest you want on your repeats. So 10x50s at your mile pace would have less rest than 10x50s at your 200 pace.
2:1 wouldn't be enough for me to maintain my 200 race pace, it might be enough for my 500 pace and would be fine for my mile pace.
Maybe I am a wuss (the maybe is for my ego), but I would like 4:1 at 200 pace, 3:1 at 500 pace and 2:1 at mile pace.
