Freestyle sprinting

100% is not semantics. You (or anybody else for that matter) can't expend 100% for longer than a few or more seconds, much less than 26. Elite runners save some in the 100. The goal is to maintain speed at the finish, not drop off. To accomplish this they must hold back just a bit. That is why the 100 is an interesting race. It is just a bit longer than a human can hold a 100% effort. To tell someont to go ALL OUT for a 26 second race isn't good advice. Hence the 13 second first lap coupled with the agonizing 20 second, second lap. That is a pretty tough way to swim a race. Pace yourself. You'll have a faster time, and it won't be so miserable.

As long as you are in CP dominated metabolism you can go at maximum effort.This lasts 9-15 sec.After that the most efficient metabolism is ATP/anaerobic.This is depleted in 30-40 sec depending on many factors.There is no subjective difference between all out in CP vs ATP metabolism.In ATP metabolism lactic acid builds up,but if you have been doing the sprint work to develop the buffer systems the effect will be trivial in a race of less than 30 sec.so you should go all out.Also remember in a SCY 25 you are not expending much energy from the time you leave the block until you slow down to swimming speed and the again after you push off on the turn until you again slow to swimming speed which in a 26 sec race it is really sprinting about 11 sec and then sprinting about 13 sec with the rest gliding.

I haven't being keeping up on the latest in training theory WRT this issue, but last I heard there was some thought that lactic acid wasn't an inhibiting factor. What is the latest thinking along these lines? By your response I take it that it's back to lactic acid as inhibitor, but perhaps there are some new wrinkles as well. Maybe there is something newer out there, but LA is not a direct inhibitor according to this: www.drmirkin.com/.../lactic_acid.html My understanding of this is: the old-old thinking was that LA was inherently bad news. The new-old thinking was that LA wasn't bad, but the associated drop in pH was bad, and that "lactate tolerance" was (among other things probably) your body becoming better at buffering the pH drop. The above link seems to suggest that it is potassium ion accumulation that is the problem. Anyway, back to the original question... I certainly sprint a 50 "all-out," or pretty darn close to it. Sometimes it takes a 25 before I feel I get my technique under control and I'm not flailing, but I am not consciously saving up and I don't die at the end. It is a little different in LCM, where the last 5-10m do hurt a little but still there is no conscious pacing involved. Again, maybe the first 1-2 strokes I concentrate a little on getting my technique under control so I'm not just spinning my wheels. Regardless of whether you think you should hold back a smidge on the first 25 or whatever, I hope everyone can agree on one thing: if you can do a 13 for a 25, then you ought to be able to go faster than 33 for a 50. That's too much of a drop-off. It is hard to tell from the OP whether this disparity is due to poor start/turn technique or lack of sprint/strength training.

If you like or know about physiology, the first 10-15sec of an effort is done on ATP/CP (very very rapid muscle fuel) whereas the remaining is done on sugar, which produces lactic acid as a by product which indirectly causes your body to slow down. Sprint training will improve your ability to maintain speed in presence of lactic acid. Solar - I haven't being keeping up on the latest in training theory WRT this issue, but last I heard there was some thought that lactic acid wasn't an inhibiting factor. What is the latest thinking along these lines? By your response I take it that it's back to lactic acid as inhibitor, but perhaps there are some new wrinkles as well. Thanks, LBJ

The new-old thinking was that LA wasn't bad, but the associated drop in pH was bad, and that "lactate tolerance" was (among other things probably) your body becoming better at buffering the pH drop. Is NaHCO3 still used by sprinters? I remember cycling sprinters used sodium bicarb before an event long time ago.

How long can a human perform at 100%? 100% RPE (Rate of perceived effort)? or 100% Peak Velocity? or 100% of peak anaerobic capacity? Here. I think I have an answer for you. The rate of ATP recycling by the process of anaerobic glycolysis is about half the rate of the ATP-CP system. (...) Estimates are that a person's power output will decrease by approximately 35% after the first 5 sec of exercise when anaerobic glycolysis becomes the principal source of energy for ATP recycling (Hultman and Sjoholm 1986). If you fail to deliver max power for reaching peak speed very early in the event, you loose those 5-6 seconds. You just spoiled 'em. Because your ATP-CP system will empty itself anyway, and you won't be able to generate this level of torque later into your race. Your ability to sustain effort anaerobically is called your anaerobic capacity. It is also often called Lactate Tolerance. Human body, when carefully trained can operate at peak anaerobic capacity power for at least 30-40sec. For any event lasting around this duration, the goal isn't to try to delay fatigue by pacing yourself, but rather to try to delay fatigue by training to increase your anaerobic capacity, or lactate tolerance, whatever. Finally (once again) the rate at which the various metabolisms need to operate during a 50m makes it impossible for aerobic metabolism to contribute. Its only contribution in my opinion will be to help reducing the O2 Deficit. And that will occur after the event was swam. That is why some swimmers can book a full 50 LCM no breathing. Aerobic metabolism still contributes, but after the event is finished. About an event lasting between 20 and 30sec: "Training should focus on improving stroking power and the rate of anaerobic metabolism. Improving buffering capacity or the rate of aerobic metabolism is not important". (E.W. Maglischo, 2003). I haven't being keeping up on the latest in training theory WRT this issue, but last I heard there was some thought that lactic acid wasn't an inhibiting factor. What is the latest thinking along these lines? By your response I take it that it's back to lactic acid as inhibitor, but perhaps there are some new wrinkles as well. Thanks, LBJ I think it is wrong to assume that muscle lactic acid is the cause of muscle fatigue. First, lactic acid which is produced within the muscle cell rapidly gets converted to lactate when it enters the blood stream. Your body actually loves lactate. It finds a lot of useful things to do with it. One major thing is to turn it back to pyruvate where it could (at threshold speed) be metabolized in presence of O2 by entering inside mitochondria. That process takes place at threshold speed though, certainly not at anaerobic capacity speed. The problem is that parallel to the increase in blood lactate concentration is the increase of hydrogen ions (H+). Since you make it explicit in your question that you'd like to know what is the latest thinking... I'd say that the highest profile and most competent physiology experts do insist on the parallel changes that occur along with blood lactate accumulation. That still makes lactate monitoring somehow important. Fatigue do occur whilst lactate level is increasing. Very few actually venture in qualifying the role of blood lactate in regard to muscle fatigue. The whole issue is still under investigation. New theories are being tested. That probably explains the discrepancy that exists between some of these theories.

I have been thinking about stillwater's comment about pacing. The windmill stroke takes more energy than regular freestyle. If you can race at 100% for an entire race, then you can do windmill the entire race. To date, I have only seen the windmill reserved for the final 10-15 yards of a race, which would imply reserving the hardest effort until the end. YouTube- Women's 400 Free-1988 Olympic Games

I have been thinking about stillwater's comment about pacing. The windmill stroke takes more energy than regular freestyle. If you can race at 100% for an entire race, then you can do windmill the entire race. To date, I have only seen the windmill reserved for the final 10-15 yards of a race, which would imply reserving the hardest effort until the end.

Phelp's at Ultraswim windmill, not Janet Evans windmill.

Very well conditioned swimmers go pretty close to all out yet they manage to keep their 25 splits pretty close to each other like the winner had a 0.39 diff, 0.25 to 0.50 is ideal 0.50 to 0.75 is pretty good 0.75 to 1.00 is not so hot you might also need to multiply the splits proportionate to your speed 0.39/18.93 = X/30 Much of the 50 is about hitting your: start to breakout: dive, streamline, SDK, breakout & turn to break out: turn, push off, streamline, SDK & breakout. look how the final heats of the 2010 mens NCAA's split their 50's Event 4 Men 50 Yard Freestyle A - Final === 1 Schneider, Josh CINC 18.93P r:+0.70 9.27 9.66 0.39 diff 2 Adrian, Nathan CAL 19.02 r:+0.73 9.20 9.82 0.62 diff 3 Brown, Adam AUB 19.03 r:+0.75 9.33 9.70 0.37 diff 4 Feigen, Jimmy TEX 19.08 r:+0.71 9.27 9.81 0.54 diff 5 Louw, Gideon AUB 19.14 r:+0.75 9.39 9.75 0.36 diff 6 Daniels, Joshua CAL 19.41 r:+0.75 9.44 9.97 0.53 diff 7 Dunford, David STAN 19.47 r:+0.78 9.57 9.90 0.33 diff 8 Coville, Alex STAN 19.51 r:+0.70 9.39 10.12 0.73 diff === B - Final === 09 Moore, Graeme CAL 19.29 r:+0.72 9.24 10.05 10 Richards, Micha MINN 19.47 r:+0.66 9.40 10.07 11 Walters, Dave TEX 19.63 r:+0.74 9.55 10.08 12 Krug, Karl AUB 19.64 r:+0.73 9.58 10.06 13 Smith, Jordan ARIZ 19.67 r:+0.69 9.62 10.05 14 Forbes, Alexand UKY 19.76 r:+0.71 9.59 10.17 15 Grobbelaar, War UKY 19.78 r:+0.69 9.67 10.11 16 McGinnis, Eric UKY 19.85 r:+0.63 9.52 10.33 Do most of the in-swimming-shape and experienced swimmers among you go all out for a whole 50 yards or is there some pacing? In other words are you going top speed the whole time? The reason I'm asking is that right now I can do 25 yards from a standstill in 13 seconds, but my best 50 yard time from a standstill is 33 seconds. (I'm a horrible diver at this point, but once I get my stroke in order I'll start working on that). Anyhow, is it reasonable for me to shoot for a 26 second 50 by just improving my endurance and flip turns, or is it like comparing 50's and 100's where a 50 time will always be less than half a hundred. Thanks for your thoughts. I don't do a lot of sprinting, but once in a while give it a few shots just to see where I am. Unfortunately I'm unable to do a master's class because I work in shifts and would miss half of them, so I'm pretty much on my own trying to get better. :badday: