How much rest for sprint intervals?

The 1:2 to 1:6 range makes a lot of sense. And within that range, you get different kinds of workouts, each of which is a form of sprint workout. The points on the range also can vary depending on physiological differences. For example, in college, we could do sets of: 5 x 100 @ 2:00 5 x 100 @ 4:00 5 x 100 @ 6:00 Those are three different sets, and introduce three different kinds of pain. In a masters context, even if you're someone who would do a 100 free sprint in around a minute... older (masters) bodies in my experience and observation require longer recovery than younger (high school/college) bodies, generally. So doing spring 100's on 2:00 becomes very challenging very quickly. However, something like that can still be useful in training the body to deal with high lactic conditions. I.e., even though your body will break down and crash, there can still be some benefit of swimming through those conditions. -Rick Great example with the 100's - I tell swimmers that unless they can reduce their 25 time the only other hope to swimming faster is splitting better but that can only go so far. Sprinting is all about strength, technique and quality 25 time drops. It's easier said than done but always a great goal and worth pursuing all season.

The 1:2 to 1:6 range makes a lot of sense. And within that range, you get different kinds of workouts, each of which is a form of sprint workout. The points on the range also can vary depending on physiological differences. For example, in college, we could do sets of: 5 x 100 @ 2:00 5 x 100 @ 4:00 5 x 100 @ 6:00 Those are three different sets, and introduce three different kinds of pain. In a masters context, even if you're someone who would do a 100 free sprint in around a minute... older (masters) bodies in my experience and observation require longer recovery than younger (high school/college) bodies, generally. So doing spring 100's on 2:00 becomes very challenging very quickly. However, something like that can still be useful in training the body to deal with high lactic conditions. I.e., even though your body will break down and crash, there can still be some benefit of swimming through those conditions. -Rick Great example with the 100's - I tell swimmers that unless they can reduce their 25 time the only other hope to swimming faster is splitting better but that can only go so far. Sprinting is all about strength, technique and quality 25 time drops. It's easier said than done but always a great goal and worth pursuing all season.