The Distance Lane

RE: The Distance Lane

ourswimmer — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 09:25:05 GMT

Did I get out too fast? Any suggestions for improvement or better splitting? Much obliged. Agree with jaadams1: You did not get out too fast, but you may have swum the middle too slow. Ideal splitting for a 1500/1650 has the first 50 a little faster (maybe 1-3s) than the rest, due chiefly to the dive, and then every single 50 after that the same until the last 150-200. Then you build to what feels like all out on the last 50 even though it is really only maybe 1-2s faster than the ones in the middle. Beginning somewhere around the 500-800 mark you should feel as if you would vomit if you went any harder. It's unpleasant in a completely different way from the burning legs and numb feet of a 100/200, or from the dull pain that sets in about 7K into a 10K. You need some practice racing the 1500/1650 to know just where that line is but I think many inexperienced distance swimmers don't come close enough to it to have their best possible races.

RE: The Distance Lane

jaadams1 — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 01:11:35 GMT

I swam the mile for the first time in the pool this past weekend. Here are the results. 1500 Free: 19:41.94 scm 33.63 36.79 38.35 38.29 39.61 39.65 40.20 40.14 (400 = 5:06.66) 40.67 40.73 39.71 38.62 41.56 40.57 39.59 40.51 (800 = 10:28.62) 37.46 39.64 41.38 41.45 39.75 39.82 40.51 40.59 41.06 39.29 40.08 38.85 40.09 33.35 On the highlighted 50's (#11, 12, 17, 18) I attempted to swim 25 hard then settle back into DPS focus, but the 50's afterwards indicate that it probably was not the best move. My stroke counts per lap were fairly consistent throughout, although I feel that I need to perhaps increase turnover a bit (perhaps an extra SPL or two) in order to drop time. What say you distance folks - is there a miler in those splits somewhere? Did I get out too fast? Any suggestions for improvement or better splitting? Much obliged. I can tell that you really had a LOT left over for a "sammy save up" on the final 50. To drop 7 seconds off your 50s pace in the final lap is a lot. I'm sure you can hold a stronger pace throughout, though it will hurt too. I know you don't swim a ton of yardage to really condition greatly for distance swimming, but that may be what you need to do. Or possibly aim for the 1000 distance (which I prefer over the 1650). The only time I've ever done a "sprint" (or whatever you were doing) in the middle of a 1650 race was at NAIA college nationals my freshman year. I was neck and neck with the winner from the year prior, and decided that I didn't want to wait till the final 100/200 to come down to a "showdown" for the win. I decided to try a "surprise sprint" around the 900 point of the race, and threw down a :54ish 100 when I was holding :57mids already. The other guy wasn't ready for my speed burst, and tried too late, but then blew himself out trying to catch up again. It hurt, but I won. :D

RE: The Distance Lane

rxleakem — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 09:55:39 GMT

RE: The Distance Lane

Former Member — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 09:01:40 GMT

I have a question about heart rate monitors. I have only been back in the water for four months after a 20 year layoff. My background was mid-distance but now I want to do 1500/1650 in the pool and plan to do an open water 5k in about six months. Do any of you train with heart rate monitors? What sort of numbers do you look for when you are trying to build up your endurance and distance? I measured my max heart rate in water and it was 18 beats lower than on land. So accordingly, I am averaging 70-75% MHR during my long aerobic swims of continuous 4000-5000 scy (open turns). If I mix in some random speedplay, I will see peak rates of 80-85%. What are some typical numbers so I can gauge how I am doing? Thank you for any feedback.

RE: The Distance Lane

Former Member — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 14:55:51 GMT

I almost had a major screw up today at my meet in Olympia. We arrived plenty early, about 8:15am at the pool, warmups were at 8:30, checkin by 8:45, meet starts at 9:00. 400 IM was the first race, 1 heat. I was in heat 2 of the 1650. While heat 1 of the 1650 was swimming, I suddenly realized that I had forgotten the step I was supposed to do by 8:45am (see above). CHECK IN!!! I completely missed this step, as I had entered the pool through an open side door, rather than the front door where I would have seen the check in table. OOPS!! I immediately went to the meet referee to see what was going to happen. He said that since there were only 12 participants in the race, they just left it seeded as it was with the 2 heats of 6 people. I got soooooo lucky. :bliss: Either I'm blind or someone signed in for you. I had a late entry who wanted to swim the 1650 but I didn't want to create another heat when I had sent out approximate start times based on two heats. She was hanging around hoping that someone wouldn't check-in. The Swim Gods must have been smiling on you yesterday!

RE: The Distance Lane

jaadams1 — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 12:52:20 GMT

Another way of breaking up a 1650 in practice rather than the traditional 11, 10, 9, ......2, 1, is doing like this: 2 x 300 @ 4:15 2 x 225 @ 2:45 2 x 150 @ 2:00 2 x 75 @ 1:00 2 x 50 @ :40 2 x 25 @ :20 ------------------ 1650 @ 22:00 These are just the intervals I used in doing the set. I just hate counting lengths and taking xx seconds of rest. I'd rather have a set distance and interval time to keep me honest from just swimming slower as I got tired. This really make you get moving at the end of the 1650. :cheerleader:

RE: The Distance Lane

jaadams1 — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 12:20:44 GMT

I almost had a major screw up today at my meet in Olympia. We arrived plenty early, about 8:15am at the pool, warmups were at 8:30, checkin by 8:45, meet starts at 9:00. 400 IM was the first race, 1 heat. I was in heat 2 of the 1650. While heat 1 of the 1650 was swimming, I suddenly realized that I had forgotten the step I was supposed to do by 8:45am (see above). CHECK IN!!! I completely missed this step, as I had entered the pool through an open side door, rather than the front door where I would have seen the check in table. OOPS!! I immediately went to the meet referee to see what was going to happen. He said that since there were only 12 participants in the race, they just left it seeded as it was with the 2 heats of 6 people. I got soooooo lucky. :bliss: I ended up with the 1650 of a masters lifetime...breaking my age group LMSC record by 6 seconds, and going an 18:07.57! Let this be a lesson to all of you in the distance races...remember to check in for your events. I was very lucky this time, but it could have been worse! Also, a big thanks to That Guy for counting my 66 lengths and not getting stuck on lap 43 as had been planned :applaud: :cheerleader: :chug:

RE: The Distance Lane

That Guy — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 11:41:17 GMT

I ended up with the 1650 of a masters lifetime...breaking my age group LMSC record by 6 seconds, and going an 18:07.57! Also, a big thanks to That Guy for counting my 66 lengths and not getting stuck on lap 43 as had been planned :applaud: :cheerleader: :chug: Great job James! Prior to warmups, James asked me if I was going to stop counting at 43 as previously discussed. I said something like "I'm not sure if there are any numbers higher than 43... I'm trying to remember?" :dunno: So then prior to James' heat, I picked up the lap counter, turned it to 43, and just stood there holding it so that it was facing the start end. Eventually James noticed, laughed, and pointed at me. But once the race started, I gave him an honest count. :D

RE: The Distance Lane

jaadams1 — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 11:38:51 GMT

Either I'm blind or someone signed in for you. I had a late entry who wanted to swim the 1650 but I didn't want to create another heat when I had sent out approximate start times based on two heats. She was hanging around hoping that someone wouldn't check-in. The Swim Gods must have been smiling on you yesterday! It is very possible that my father who was walking around the aquatic center stumbled across the checkin table and signed me in. If that's the case...whew...or maybe one of my teammates... :angel:

RE: The Distance Lane

smontanaro — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 11:13:02 GMT

Another way of breaking up a 1650 in practice rather than the traditional 11, 10, 9, ......2, 1, is doing like this: ... I just hate counting lengths and taking xx seconds of rest. I'd rather have a set distance and interval time to keep me honest... There was another way one of my previous coaches used to do these longer sets. I'm not sure I'm remembering it correctly, but it was a way to descend when the individual elements of the set weren't the same length. If your set was something like 400, 300, 200, 100, then you'd make an open turn after the first 100 of the 400, note the time for the last 300, then your 300 had to be faster then that. Note the time for the last 200 of the 300, then swim your 200 faster than that, etc. Skip

RE: The Distance Lane

Elaine Krugman — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 09:23:41 GMT

I ended up with the 1650 of a masters lifetime...breaking my age group LMSC record by 6 seconds, and going an 18:07.57! CONGRATULATIONS!!! :applaud: :cheerleader: :chug:

RE: The Distance Lane

Former Member — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 15:58:44 GMT

I think it was Kirk who suggested that you best average of 15 x 100's on 20-30 rest is a decent predictor of a timed 1500. I did the set twice and held right around 1:13 (just over), so that puts me around 18:20 I am doing the 1500 this weekend, so I'll report my results to indicate if this is a decent predictor (for myself at least). My goal is 18:20.

RE: The Distance Lane

Chris Stevenson — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 12:29:24 GMT

I think it was Kirk who suggested that you best average of 15 x 100's on 20-30 rest is a decent predictor of a timed 1500. One of the coaches of the age-groupers (who share a pool with us masters) does the following as a test set. The interval gives 25-30 sec rest for most of the swimmers in the group. Three sets of 10 x 100 on 1:30, des 1-3, hold 4-10 for best average. He would tell them to take their HR at the end of each set, and would give them about 2 min recovery between sets. He records people's averages for each set. The coach (Brent St. Pierre) thinks this set is a good indicator of aerobic swimming conditioning. He observed that many other coaches use some variation of a timed 3000 as a test but found that many non-D types have trouble with pacing: they either take it out too hard (and stop trying when the "fail" halfway thru the swim) or not hard enough (so that the performance is not a good predictor). He thinks his variation is good for a much wider range of swimmers. And he gets to yell at swimmers to maintain or improve their average during that painful third set, to get every last drop of effort from them. I agree with the value of the set. I find myself averaging right around my 1000 pace.

RE: The Distance Lane

ande — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 05:28:56 GMT

thought I'd bump all the lanes to the front page to encourage folks to comment in their lanes

RE: The Distance Lane

ourswimmer — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 01:08:10 GMT

A teammate and I did a set one day last spring that seems also to have been a good reflection of our paces for a 1650 race. The set was 21 x 100: 6 on 1:30, 5 on 1:25, 4 on 1:20, 3 on 1:15, 2 on 1:10, 1 AFAP. We chose the starting interval for the 6 x 100 so that the 2 x 100 would be on an interval that was no more than 5 seconds over the pace we wanted to hold for a 1650, and the goal for the set was to swim each 100 at or faster than the 1650 pace. His target race pace was a few seconds per 100 faster than mine, but on the other hand I was going second so I got some assist from drafting.

RE: The Distance Lane

Former Member — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:50:47 GMT

A Davis mile 1650 yards, is it 110 yards short of a mile???

RE: The Distance Lane

Former Member — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 06:17:18 GMT

Well it looks like I'm on my own here.... I did the Davis Mile this morning and its harder than it sounds. I finished in a collapsing heap in 24.24 so thats 22.44 total swim :cane:. Any of you know if theis set should be used for regular training purposes, or is it best to do it every couple of months to see how you're progressing (or not)?

RE: The Distance Lane

ande — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 10:43:04 GMT

Since we're at the beginning of a new season I thought I'd bump all the lanes to see which one is winning

RE: The Distance Lane

Calvin S — Tue, 11 May 2010 10:23:23 GMT

yesterday 5/10 was as follows: 10x100 @1:10 300 FAST 100 smooth 8x100 @1:10 400 FAST 100 smooth 6x100 @1:10 500 FAST 100 smooth 4x100 @1:10 600 FAST 100 smooth the 100s were hold a pace minimum of 5 seconds faster than the interval, while the 300, 400, 500, and 600 were fast holding a pace faster than that held on the previous 100s.

RE: The Distance Lane

Former Member — Sat, 08 May 2010 16:30:40 GMT

couple of fun workouts this week: wed: 90 min 6500yds 3000 on 40 min (hold 2/3/2 breathing pattern) 10x 150 pull on 2:00 (buoy only) 10x 200 on 2:50 (100 fr / 50 bk / 50 fr) fri: 60 min 4000yds 1000 wu on 13:30 10x 150 on 2:00 (keep under 1:50) 10x 100 on 1:15 (keep under 1:10) 10x 50 on :35 (just make 'em)

RE: The Distance Lane

knelson — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 03:51:31 GMT

I did the Davis Mile last night. I screwed up somewhere because I thought I finished in 19:30. That would make my swimming time 17:50 and I don't think I was going that fast. It's possible I miscounted a 50 in there somewhere. Doing the entire thing fly would be challenging, for sure.

RE: The Distance Lane

Former Member — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 13:08:19 GMT

I have done that set, too, but hadn't heard it named the Davis mile. We just call it a broken mile. One way to do that set is with the odd reps done pull and the even ones swim. Not only does it conveniently add up to 1650, but the pull buoy is magically where you need it every time.

RE: The Distance Lane

Former Member — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 09:37:35 GMT

I've never heard of it either. Cool stuff. I might repurpose it for the Butterfly Lane as a see-how-far-through-this-I-can-get type of set... I'd need far more rest, of course... QUOTE] We do this set quite a bit, I usally it it where i'm doing at least the last 25 of each distance fly. I am working toward a lot more fly, but it is hard to work in, I are trying not to affect lanemates too much and/or I just get lazy sometimes.

RE: The Distance Lane

Former Member — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 15:16:41 GMT

Any good set recommendations for training for the 1500/1650? I have a couple races coming up and would like to get my time down to a sub 19min Did a Davis Mile (total 1650 short course yards) the other day. 1x275 (11 lengths) :10 Rest 1x250 (10 lengths) :10 Rest 1x225 (9 lengths) :10 Rest 1x200 (8 lengths) :10 Rest 1x175 (7 lengths) :10 Rest 1x150 (6 lengths) :10 Rest 1x125 (5 lengths) :10 Rest 1x100 (4 lengths) :10 Rest 1x75 (3 lengths) :10 Rest 1x50 (2 lengths) :10 Rest 1x25 (1 length) 1. Keep pace smooth/steady through out. 2. Make a mental note of your start time* 3. Always rest :10 seconds between, not :08 or :13 but :10 4. *At the end subtract a 1:40 or a 100 seconds from your over all time for your base 1650 time.

RE: The Distance Lane

Calvin S — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 10:58:52 GMT

this was home back in my age group days. We would warmup and then, I would have to head over to the distance lane. :( But, I do like training distance stuff nowadays. Swimming distance definitely grew on me. In high school I hated it. When I got to college and the coach talked with us about where he saw us training, I wished fervently that I would be put int he sprint group (which did next to nothing). Turns out, the sprint group couldn't hold it together for more than 75 yards, and since I love the 200s, I found my niche in the upper mid distance/distance group and realized putting int he long yards wasn't all that bad, as it paid big dividends at Conferences.