Performance or Pace-time?

"Dr.Splashy" you wrote: "I note a heavy emphasis on "race-pace" training with ample recovery time." ~ ~ ~> yes if you've read Swim Faster Faster Tip 01 is Swim fast in practice Tip 03 should be named: Kick Fast in Practice It works pretty well, but you don't need to do it every day, once or twice a week is enough. It depends on what your goals are. When performing a high intensity set like that, is the emphasis on maintaining the speed, taking as much recovery time as you need to keep up the speed, or should you maintain the selected turn-over time and struggle to maintain the speed in the face of increasing fatigue? ~~~> Do sets different ways on different days, Coaches create "instructions" for sets & make the rules then follow them. A set made up of + Distance, + repetitions, + Stroke/s, + swim, kick, or pull + equipment, + interval & effort, & + instructions: how to do it, times to hold, things to do Each set needs to fit in with the athletes daily plan & season plan like 10 x 100 on 2:00 could have the following instructions: 1) best average which means hold around the same time, which starts out easy then gets difficult 2) descend 1 - 5, meaning get faster on each one, often coaches say 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 100% you'd have wide drops maybe 1:12, 1:08, 1:04, :59, :55 Eddie Reese might say 83%, 88%, 93%, 95%, 98% or 88%, 90% 92% 94% 96% 3) best effort taking 4 dolphin kicks off each turn 4) EVEN SPLIT 5) FROM A PUSH OR FROM A DIVE 6) assign an activity during rest, like 15 sec vertical kick or get out and do 10 push ups or 10 press outs 7) assign a breathing pattern, breathe every 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9 strokes or breathe 1, 2, 3, or 4 times per 25 Coaches have dreamed up tons of ways to torture swimmers, some instructions are easy, some are challenging, some stretch swimmers, & some are impossible An athlete's performance on sets reveal their talent, focus, determination, mental toughness & fitness level. Michael Phelps can do things in practice that are impossible for most swimmers. Like 10 x 100 flutter kick with a board on 1:10 read the fast friday practices on my blog we very rarely do the same thing, but we do occasionally revisit sets. I think it's good to do a few test sets, where you can compare your performance from earlier in that season or previous seasons If you are finding a pace too steep to maintain the speed, do you slip to a slower pace, or should you just take a break and restart the set at the same pace after a bit of recovery? ~~~> When given a set, you need to start around the correct pace, if you start out too hard, you'll settle into a pace that's a little slower than what you could have held if you did it right. I am specifically refering to speed sets done at 90 percent of race-pace or better. The same question should be applied to stroke technique: as I fatigue my stroke tends to break-up a bit (Ok: a lot). ~~~> Attempt to keep it together when you're falling apart, you should maintain "perfect" stroke & go into the "red zone" sometimes your stroke might feel ragged but it isn't actually that bad, though if you're swimming butterfly, you can definitely fall apart I'll go on record and say meets are the best way to train. Enter them and do a few practices like you were in a meet. Get in warm up get out rest 10 or 15 minute step up and race an event swim down rest 10, 15, or 20 minutes step up and race another event. (repeat 2 or 3 more times) Do lactate swims where you go very hard on lots of rest like 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 x 100 on 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10 minutes, best effort on each which means step up and race, let the time be what it is. Don't hold back, but do split the swim right Also keep in mind, each practice has a time budget, coaches have to fit work outs within the allotted time. Hope this helps you, Ande

"Dr.Splashy" you wrote: "I note a heavy emphasis on "race-pace" training with ample recovery time." ~ ~ ~> yes if you've read Swim Faster Faster Tip 01 is Swim fast in practice Tip 03 should be named: Kick Fast in Practice It works pretty well, but you don't need to do it every day, once or twice a week is enough. It depends on what your goals are. When performing a high intensity set like that, is the emphasis on maintaining the speed, taking as much recovery time as you need to keep up the speed, or should you maintain the selected turn-over time and struggle to maintain the speed in the face of increasing fatigue? ~~~> Do sets different ways on different days, Coaches create "instructions" for sets & make the rules then follow them. A set made up of + Distance, + repetitions, + Stroke/s, + swim, kick, or pull + equipment, + interval & effort, & + instructions: how to do it, times to hold, things to do Each set needs to fit in with the athletes daily plan & season plan like 10 x 100 on 2:00 could have the following instructions: 1) best average which means hold around the same time, which starts out easy then gets difficult 2) descend 1 - 5, meaning get faster on each one, often coaches say 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 100% you'd have wide drops maybe 1:12, 1:08, 1:04, :59, :55 Eddie Reese might say 83%, 88%, 93%, 95%, 98% or 88%, 90% 92% 94% 96% 3) best effort taking 4 dolphin kicks off each turn 4) EVEN SPLIT 5) FROM A PUSH OR FROM A DIVE 6) assign an activity during rest, like 15 sec vertical kick or get out and do 10 push ups or 10 press outs 7) assign a breathing pattern, breathe every 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9 strokes or breathe 1, 2, 3, or 4 times per 25 Coaches have dreamed up tons of ways to torture swimmers, some instructions are easy, some are challenging, some stretch swimmers, & some are impossible An athlete's performance on sets reveal their talent, focus, determination, mental toughness & fitness level. Michael Phelps can do things in practice that are impossible for most swimmers. Like 10 x 100 flutter kick with a board on 1:10 read the fast friday practices on my blog we very rarely do the same thing, but we do occasionally revisit sets. I think it's good to do a few test sets, where you can compare your performance from earlier in that season or previous seasons If you are finding a pace too steep to maintain the speed, do you slip to a slower pace, or should you just take a break and restart the set at the same pace after a bit of recovery? ~~~> When given a set, you need to start around the correct pace, if you start out too hard, you'll settle into a pace that's a little slower than what you could have held if you did it right. I am specifically refering to speed sets done at 90 percent of race-pace or better. The same question should be applied to stroke technique: as I fatigue my stroke tends to break-up a bit (Ok: a lot). ~~~> Attempt to keep it together when you're falling apart, you should maintain "perfect" stroke & go into the "red zone" sometimes your stroke might feel ragged but it isn't actually that bad, though if you're swimming butterfly, you can definitely fall apart I'll go on record and say meets are the best way to train. Enter them and do a few practices like you were in a meet. Get in warm up get out rest 10 or 15 minute step up and race an event swim down rest 10, 15, or 20 minutes step up and race another event. (repeat 2 or 3 more times) Do lactate swims where you go very hard on lots of rest like 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 x 100 on 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10 minutes, best effort on each which means step up and race, let the time be what it is. Don't hold back, but do split the swim right Also keep in mind, each practice has a time budget, coaches have to fit work outs within the allotted time. Hope this helps you, Ande