I have been following a few training logs here and I note a heavy emphasis on "race-pace" training with ample recovery time. I have to assume this works well since the people posting are swimming far faster than I. so here is the question: 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? 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? 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). In training should I select paces that allow me to always maintain a "perfect" stroke, or should I push into the "red zone" where I am fatigued enough that my stroke is getting ragged? BTW: my "ragged" stroke is quite a bit faster than my technical stroke, but it really is quite "splashy". My daughter actually calls me "Dr.Splashy" when she teases me.
I really liked this thread. It was quite useful to see the different replies/approaches. I am about as strong at freestyle sprints as I am at distances (I compare with the ratings calculator at www.egswim.com/ne ), with my 200 just a wee bit better than the other distances. Therefore, my workouts are a hybrid of sorts, with the centroid probably a middle distance workout. Ive had some big improvements in my 200, 500 and 1000 times during the past year, but was concerned about the slowing rate of improvement in the 50 and 100. Further, I seemed to be approaching an asymptotic limit to my 200 times, and the only room for improvement was to swim the shorter distances faster too.
After checking with my coach about how to swim the shorter distances faster, I created a workout mix that included occasional (once or twice a week) race pace workouts for the shorter distances -- following the advice that swimming faster in practice leads to swimming faster in races. It was only after I started doing this that my 200 time plummeted, and both my 50 and 100 times once again saw real improvements. No races recently for the longer distances, but my workout times for the sets between 200 - 500 have also been falling. At the start of the summer I had a target of workout distances in the 3000-4000 yard range -- thinking that more yards was what I needed. After switching to include race pace work, most workouts are around 2500 yards (but take about the same time because of expanded recovery time).
It helped to see all the different thoughts out there, and some of them will inform my future workout plans. I'm a convert, though, for the idea that without a faster 50, that 200 and 500 won't improve as much, or as quickly. Race pace work for the shorter distances, as one component of a workout plan, has definitely helped me get faster across the board.
I really liked this thread. It was quite useful to see the different replies/approaches. I am about as strong at freestyle sprints as I am at distances (I compare with the ratings calculator at www.egswim.com/ne ), with my 200 just a wee bit better than the other distances. Therefore, my workouts are a hybrid of sorts, with the centroid probably a middle distance workout. Ive had some big improvements in my 200, 500 and 1000 times during the past year, but was concerned about the slowing rate of improvement in the 50 and 100. Further, I seemed to be approaching an asymptotic limit to my 200 times, and the only room for improvement was to swim the shorter distances faster too.
After checking with my coach about how to swim the shorter distances faster, I created a workout mix that included occasional (once or twice a week) race pace workouts for the shorter distances -- following the advice that swimming faster in practice leads to swimming faster in races. It was only after I started doing this that my 200 time plummeted, and both my 50 and 100 times once again saw real improvements. No races recently for the longer distances, but my workout times for the sets between 200 - 500 have also been falling. At the start of the summer I had a target of workout distances in the 3000-4000 yard range -- thinking that more yards was what I needed. After switching to include race pace work, most workouts are around 2500 yards (but take about the same time because of expanded recovery time).
It helped to see all the different thoughts out there, and some of them will inform my future workout plans. I'm a convert, though, for the idea that without a faster 50, that 200 and 500 won't improve as much, or as quickly. Race pace work for the shorter distances, as one component of a workout plan, has definitely helped me get faster across the board.
