Hi, I just joined USMS last month. I swim for fitness, and I have been doing this for a long time. I am working on lowering my time in the 500 free because I would like to swim in meets someday. I train on my own almost exclusively, except for an occasional workout with a masters team. I have 2-3 hours a week to practice except during the summer months when I have a lot more time to train due to having summers off from my job as a teacher. My current time in the 500 free is 8:40. My goals are to bring this time down to under 8 minutes by the end of the year and to under 7 minutes by the end of next year. I am 6'1" and weigh 193 lbs. Any suggestions that will help me reach my goals are appreciated!
My flip turns are good. I do 4 or 5 sdk after each turn.
I have started following the weight-lifting routine recommended by Bo Hickey in the article "How to Build Your Power and Prolong Your Peak Performance," at www.usms.org/.../how-to-build-your-power-and-prolong-your-peak-performance, so I can swim my best as I age. The article was published on the USMS website in April 2019. I'll be doing this 2 or 3 times per week.
I don't run.
Lately I've been swimming long distances, hiit sets, and speed sets. My last set was 5200 LCM meters, all freestyle, in 2 hrs without stopping. The hiit sets are 2 min all out, 1 min easy, repeat 8 times. My last speed set was 10x50 SCY on 51.5. On the speed sets I use a Finis Tempo Trainer Pro timer, and I've been trying to gradually lower my 500 free time by decreasing the time for each length by a quarter of a second, or 5 seconds per 500 yards.
I'm 51 years old.
A few things, stream-of-consciousness style.
As much as I advocate for underwater work and thrive on it in my own swimming (I'm more of a sprinter), I think 4 or 5 dolphin kicks probably hurts in the 500 more than helps. You don't want to go into oxygen debt too early.
I think, if you are truly focusing on 500 time scale, 5200 straight isn't really a helpful practice. If you enjoy doing that, then by all means continue, but it isn't going to help for the 500.
I've never really trained swimming HIIT style like that, but it seems like it would be pretty comparable to pace work if you are working on going the around the same distance each repeat.
When you say you did 10x50 on 51.5, I assume that was the pace you were holding? If so, what was the sendoff interval you were going on? That pace is not significantly faster than your current 500 time, so I'm not sure I would quite classify it as "speed" work.
My flip turns are good. I do 4 or 5 sdk after each turn.
I have started following the weight-lifting routine recommended by Bo Hickey in the article "How to Build Your Power and Prolong Your Peak Performance," at www.usms.org/.../how-to-build-your-power-and-prolong-your-peak-performance, so I can swim my best as I age. The article was published on the USMS website in April 2019. I'll be doing this 2 or 3 times per week.
I don't run.
Lately I've been swimming long distances, hiit sets, and speed sets. My last set was 5200 LCM meters, all freestyle, in 2 hrs without stopping. The hiit sets are 2 min all out, 1 min easy, repeat 8 times. My last speed set was 10x50 SCY on 51.5. On the speed sets I use a Finis Tempo Trainer Pro timer, and I've been trying to gradually lower my 500 free time by decreasing the time for each length by a quarter of a second, or 5 seconds per 500 yards.
I'm 51 years old.
A few things, stream-of-consciousness style.
As much as I advocate for underwater work and thrive on it in my own swimming (I'm more of a sprinter), I think 4 or 5 dolphin kicks probably hurts in the 500 more than helps. You don't want to go into oxygen debt too early.
I think, if you are truly focusing on 500 time scale, 5200 straight isn't really a helpful practice. If you enjoy doing that, then by all means continue, but it isn't going to help for the 500.
I've never really trained swimming HIIT style like that, but it seems like it would be pretty comparable to pace work if you are working on going the around the same distance each repeat.
When you say you did 10x50 on 51.5, I assume that was the pace you were holding? If so, what was the sendoff interval you were going on? That pace is not significantly faster than your current 500 time, so I'm not sure I would quite classify it as "speed" work.
