Performance or Pace-time?

Great topic! I'll be very interested in the seasoned veteran/coach replies. I've only been back to swimming for a little over a year, and have confronted this same question. I came up with an answer that seems to work for me, and have moved my times down a lot, but I really would like to see what people with more experience have to say. I'm looking forward to this thread!

Fatigue is the most overrated element of training. Suffering is not the thing that makes you faster. I'm with those who prefer to call it "practice" rather than "workout" to emphasize the primary goal of training. Take more rest.

Since I am one of the big "race pace" proponents, I am going to add my 2 German cents - I think it's pretty shocking how few yards many swimmers spend at race pace or faster. All the other yardage is simply done to get ready for these sets. A 100 sprinter needs a base (small base), so he can do more race pace stuff and recover faster. Just swimming "fast" is not swimming at race pace. Race Pace is just that - you have to maintain the same pace as your goal in your "target race" - same number of strokes per length- same turnover. You can not do that, if you swim a set in the same distance as your target race. So if you are a 200 swimmer - you can either do broken 200s or swim 100s with tons of rest. 100 swimmers can do broken 100s or just 50s. Example - 200 swimmer wants to break 2:00. Let's say you swim a set of 100s from a dive, you have to hit your target going pace on every one (add maybe a second for suit / shaving) or at least 59s to the foot ! Or the same swimmer does a set of broken 200s from a push -- all the 50s need to 30.5 or faster with as little rest as possible. Chris has more of a distance swimmer focus / plan: I could not hold my 200 race pace on 4x100 every 4 minutes -- he seems to be able to do so, each person is different. I am not really sure I am sold on this concept You do some base in the beginning of the season, depending on your main event - if you don't do race pace stuff at least 6-8 weeks out from your meet, you are in trouble.

For some reason I can't convince myself to do multiple reps at race pace. If I am going all out I want to do it just once and see what my time is. Once a week starting a month out from the meet I might do 1x200, 1x100, 1x50 free and 1x50 fly (the events I do). But I suppose I've got to start doing sets like 5x100 on 5:00 or 10x25, if the evidence backs it up. I know I suck compared to most everyone else here so that should be evidence enough. At the same time, I do wonder if for someone like myself that has just recently come back if I get more out of continuing to build up my aerobic base more and more because that is what I feel like I need.

This is what every master reflexively seems to think ... I'm not sure why ... 80s hangover? ...70s hangover. In all the years and countless yards of age group swimming (the last time I swam competitively), I don't know if I ever did any true sprint sets.

My opinion is that you take as much rest as you need for speed work, and swim distances that allow you to maintain your race quality stoke. If you want to do 10 repeats, and on #10 you can only hold it together for 25 yards, then do 10x25, not 10x100. There are several people here who like Xx25 on 2:00, several people did 3x100 on ~6:00 last week and I do a main set that is 1x200 AFAP about once a week. If your splashy stroke is faster than you perfect stroke, you need to figure that out. When you stroke falls apart, it should be slower, not faster, otherwise you would want to fall apart. But a great problem to have. Sprint training is a completely different philosophy than "normal" training to me. When I get in the water for a sprint workout, it is much more a meet mentality. Just get ready for the main set, hammer out the main set, everything else is pretty easy recovery/drill type work.

You definately want to mix up your sets: Aerobic sets ie - 10 x 100's with 20 - 30 sec rest intervals (holding or descending your times) If you can hold a 100 Free in workouts on 1:10 then swim these on the 1:30 Anaerobic sets ie - 6 x 100's with 10 second rest intervals. If you can hold a 100 Free in workouts on 1:10 then swim these on the 1:20 Race sets ie - 4 x 100's with 2 - 3 minute rest intervals (trying to achieve your race time) If you can hold a 100 Free in workouts on 1:10 then swim these on the 3:00 and try to go under 1:00 for each swim. My take...

I don't think wolf was comparing one person to another, but one person to him/herself. Absolutely.

"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

Thanks Geek, but it is still crap. Well, crap is a bit strong. I happen to agree with Paul. I have seen numerous examples where he is right. I think our own Jazzbone might be living proof with a pretty impressive 500. I happen to think if you train hard for a 50 or 100 you will see improvement in the 500, but maybe less so in the 1000 or 1650. I did my first 1.2 OW race having never done more than a 200 and having trained only for 100s and 200s. But, that was probably me just keeping it real with my abilities.