So I have decided to focus on the 1500/1650, partly because I seem to have misplaced the three fast twitch fibers I once owned, and partly because guys named Smith are now swimming the 500 and even the 1000. Geek suggested that I build my endurance with dryland work, but unlike him I have a job and limited time to train, and I don't really want to give up pool time. Any suggestions?
Like you, I started training for distance last year after years of avoiding it. It turned out I had a very successful year in the 1000, 1650, 800 and 1500. I'm 68 and do not swim as many yards as you might, but I found my training was right on. I did lots of sets of 1500-1800. I was amazed that my race pace duplicated my training pace. My favorite sets:
(1) 400, 2 x 200, 4 x 100, 8 x 50
(2) 5 x 100, 4 x 100, 3 x 100, 2 x 100, 1 x 100. Sometimes I descended within each set. Sometimes I descended the interval.
(3) 100, 200, 300, 400, 300, 200, 100. Sometime this was all swim, sometimes I mixed in some pull. I always concentrated on holding the pace.
As I got closer to the meet, I was amazed at how my pace improved. I swam a 500 in Feb at 7:50+. When I swam 1000 at zones, my splits were 7:30 and 7:33!
(4) A week before one of my mile swims, I did 18 x 100 on 2:00. It was a lot of rest, but I was not worried about cardio; I was worried about muscle fatigue. It was amazinig. I swam all 18 at 1:35. I thought I was exhausted, but I was able to swim the same pace for each 100. It was a neat feeling that I had gone into automatic pilot. It gave me a lot of confidence for the meet.
Like you, I started training for distance last year after years of avoiding it. It turned out I had a very successful year in the 1000, 1650, 800 and 1500. I'm 68 and do not swim as many yards as you might, but I found my training was right on. I did lots of sets of 1500-1800. I was amazed that my race pace duplicated my training pace. My favorite sets:
(1) 400, 2 x 200, 4 x 100, 8 x 50
(2) 5 x 100, 4 x 100, 3 x 100, 2 x 100, 1 x 100. Sometimes I descended within each set. Sometimes I descended the interval.
(3) 100, 200, 300, 400, 300, 200, 100. Sometime this was all swim, sometimes I mixed in some pull. I always concentrated on holding the pace.
As I got closer to the meet, I was amazed at how my pace improved. I swam a 500 in Feb at 7:50+. When I swam 1000 at zones, my splits were 7:30 and 7:33!
(4) A week before one of my mile swims, I did 18 x 100 on 2:00. It was a lot of rest, but I was not worried about cardio; I was worried about muscle fatigue. It was amazinig. I swam all 18 at 1:35. I thought I was exhausted, but I was able to swim the same pace for each 100. It was a neat feeling that I had gone into automatic pilot. It gave me a lot of confidence for the meet.
