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!
First off, I'll be a little self-serving, but if you want workout ideas for pacing for a 500, scroll through my blog January through April of 2012 starting here - forums.usms.org/entry.php. I was writing the High Volume Workouts for USMS that year (they have now disappeared from the archive) and had oriented those towards training for two of the world's three greatest races, the 400 IM (#1) and the 500 free (#3). The 200 fly, of course, is the world's second best event. I also swam my best time of my Masters' career that year, going faster at age 45 than I had in my 30s. Anyhow, you should get some good ideas of pacing and a variety of sets. If I can find old offline copies I saved of the workouts, I can share those (just message me and I'll see what I can dig up)
With some reiteration from above
4-5 dolphin kicks will kill you in the 500. Google Townley Haas, Clark Smith or Zane Grothe and find videos of their races. They don't do that and they went like 4:08 or something. 1 kick is probably warranted, 2 might be OK, but at 3 you're already in the danger zone.
Breathe as much as you want and probably more than you think. Google Sun Yang videos and watch him take 3 breaths in a row going into a turn, then another one coming out. The 500 is an aeorbic effort (e.g., requiring oxygen!)
Technique, technique, technique - you want to be able to swim as smooth as possible with as little effort as long as possible. Check out Total Immersion (www.totalimmersion.net/), GoSwim (https://www.goswim.tv/) and/or Swim Smooth (https://www.swimsmooth.com/)
Then go find a coach who will watch you and correct your technique, ideally video'ing you so you can see what you're doing wrong.
Oh, and you shouldn't need to do workouts longer than 3K, 4-5x per week. Think about
~1K warmup (but make it meaningful)
Main sets of about ~1750
Cool down ~250
Of course, you can do more if you need, but the key is to make as much of the workout "count" as possible and be focused on your technique and pacing simultaneously. I'm not quite a complete USRPT guy, but much of your main set training should be done at or as close as possible to race pace.
blah, blah, blah, something about how 45-49 500 FR at 2012 USMS Nats was the greatest masters race (and one of the top 5 in person races, period) I have ever witnessed, blah, blah, blah
:P
First off, I'll be a little self-serving, but if you want workout ideas for pacing for a 500, scroll through my blog January through April of 2012 starting here - forums.usms.org/entry.php. I was writing the High Volume Workouts for USMS that year (they have now disappeared from the archive) and had oriented those towards training for two of the world's three greatest races, the 400 IM (#1) and the 500 free (#3). The 200 fly, of course, is the world's second best event. I also swam my best time of my Masters' career that year, going faster at age 45 than I had in my 30s. Anyhow, you should get some good ideas of pacing and a variety of sets. If I can find old offline copies I saved of the workouts, I can share those (just message me and I'll see what I can dig up)
With some reiteration from above
4-5 dolphin kicks will kill you in the 500. Google Townley Haas, Clark Smith or Zane Grothe and find videos of their races. They don't do that and they went like 4:08 or something. 1 kick is probably warranted, 2 might be OK, but at 3 you're already in the danger zone.
Breathe as much as you want and probably more than you think. Google Sun Yang videos and watch him take 3 breaths in a row going into a turn, then another one coming out. The 500 is an aeorbic effort (e.g., requiring oxygen!)
Technique, technique, technique - you want to be able to swim as smooth as possible with as little effort as long as possible. Check out Total Immersion (www.totalimmersion.net/), GoSwim (https://www.goswim.tv/) and/or Swim Smooth (https://www.swimsmooth.com/)
Then go find a coach who will watch you and correct your technique, ideally video'ing you so you can see what you're doing wrong.
Oh, and you shouldn't need to do workouts longer than 3K, 4-5x per week. Think about
~1K warmup (but make it meaningful)
Main sets of about ~1750
Cool down ~250
Of course, you can do more if you need, but the key is to make as much of the workout "count" as possible and be focused on your technique and pacing simultaneously. I'm not quite a complete USRPT guy, but much of your main set training should be done at or as close as possible to race pace.
blah, blah, blah, something about how 45-49 500 FR at 2012 USMS Nats was the greatest masters race (and one of the top 5 in person races, period) I have ever witnessed, blah, blah, blah
:P
