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!
I guess my goal when coaching was to make the swimmers feel what a :30 or a :59 felt like. And to know what one felt like when you are sucking wind at the end of 10x100 on 2:00. You can’t tell me you want to break 5:00 in the 500 but not tell me you know what it feels like to string together 5 100s that are 59.99 or faster (not you personally but just a general “you”). More anecdotally, from this year I think the best I averaged was 58.9-59.1 or somewhere in that range. Went 4:58 in the 500 at mid season when I rested, and I was :55 followed by 4 1:00s. Certainly helps me know what my speed equates to in time. And now that I think about it, my better training came in the second half of the SCY season. I think the two times I remember doing 10x100 my average was actually closer to :59+ (which brings it more in line with how I performed when I rested). I missed my taper in the spring so my 500 there didn’t correspond to the kind of training I had been doing.
I also realize different strokes for different folks. Not saying mines the only way (I know you aren’t accusing me of that either!). But all this talk about race pace training, I kind of look at a set like that as another way of race pace training. I want to feel what a 59 feels like. So I. Can find that groove in my race. My greatest protege was 4:54 in her best 500. The other girls I trained, while most didn’t break 5:00, it doesn’t mean what I was having them do wasn’t working. Most of them couldn’t hold 59/1:00 for 10 100s (some not even close) and for the most part what they held on average ended up coming close to what they held and went in their best 500s. And yes, in most of those cases, they were NOT sucking it up and going as fast as they could in their 500s. Afraid of pain.
I guess my goal when coaching was to make the swimmers feel what a :30 or a :59 felt like. And to know what one felt like when you are sucking wind at the end of 10x100 on 2:00. You can’t tell me you want to break 5:00 in the 500 but not tell me you know what it feels like to string together 5 100s that are 59.99 or faster (not you personally but just a general “you”). More anecdotally, from this year I think the best I averaged was 58.9-59.1 or somewhere in that range. Went 4:58 in the 500 at mid season when I rested, and I was :55 followed by 4 1:00s. Certainly helps me know what my speed equates to in time. And now that I think about it, my better training came in the second half of the SCY season. I think the two times I remember doing 10x100 my average was actually closer to :59+ (which brings it more in line with how I performed when I rested). I missed my taper in the spring so my 500 there didn’t correspond to the kind of training I had been doing.
I also realize different strokes for different folks. Not saying mines the only way (I know you aren’t accusing me of that either!). But all this talk about race pace training, I kind of look at a set like that as another way of race pace training. I want to feel what a 59 feels like. So I. Can find that groove in my race. My greatest protege was 4:54 in her best 500. The other girls I trained, while most didn’t break 5:00, it doesn’t mean what I was having them do wasn’t working. Most of them couldn’t hold 59/1:00 for 10 100s (some not even close) and for the most part what they held on average ended up coming close to what they held and went in their best 500s. And yes, in most of those cases, they were NOT sucking it up and going as fast as they could in their 500s. Afraid of pain.
