Working on 500 Free Time

I am in about the same situation as you are. If you look for '500 free improvement needed' I got some very good suggestions I've been using. couple comments from what I've learned so far: 3 UDKs max for me. When I'm warming up swimming 500 - 1650, I'll do 3-5, but other than that, 3 max. I just started light lifting, very high reps, perfect form 5x per week. I used to lift a lot and very intense. I think I'd get hurt now doing that. Mostly swim on my own, try for 1 masters / week on Saturday but has been hard to get there in the summer. Usually 5-6 times per week, 4000 yards. Goal is 'll be happy when I go 'm really working on form now, don't know how much you do. I thought I had good early vertical forearm and I didn't. posted some video and got good comments. I used to do 10x100s on 1:50-2:00 and 1:15 or less for time, but I'd die at 250 in the 500. I changed to do 10x100s at 1:50, then 1:45, and now 1:40 at below race pace, usually 16-17 for all 10. Also do 10x50s on 50 at below race pace. I think these are even better. My 50s and 100s at a meet would be slower, but I believe my 500 would be close to 6:30 now. I want to go 1:15/20/20/20/15. How did you get the video of your stroke?

... to be well-prepared for the 500.... as well prepared as you can be for what happens somewhere around the 350 mark ... www.youtube.com/watch

Yesterday I swam 10x100 but I couldn’t hold the pace of 1:32 per 100, so I ended up doing 3x100 free on 1:32, then I had to drop the pace a little more and I did 3x100 on 1:36, then I had to drop the pace a little more and did 4x100 on 1:40. I figured out after that workout that the 200 free is going to be a much better race for me than the 500 free. I am very close to being able to swim the 200 free in 3 minutes and I know I can reach that goal. Going under 8 minutes in the 500 free, however, is going to take a lot more work. I will keep trying to reach that goal too, though. I can tell that the 500 is going to be a lot more challenging. I’m thinking about breaking the 500 it into 2 200s and a 100 with some rest between the three segments and then lowering the amount of rest time until I’m linking all three segments together into a 500. Suggestions?

On the 500, turns are your moneymakers. If you can really get your turns done well and fast, you can drop some easy time there. It sounds like you're on the right track with some of the concepts you're doing with the sets and your Tempo Trainer. One set I enjoy doing for 500 training is this: 1x 500 at 75-80% pace 5x100 on 1:30 (this allows about 12-15 seconds rest) 10x50 on :45 (or :50), aiming for :35 pace 1x 500 faster than the first Adjust these for your own times and as you improve, you can continue to adjust. When I do these, I work to keep the same pace for the 100s and 50s. It gets harder to maintain as the set goes on, but it helps build your endurance if you don't go out too quickly in the beginning. It also gives you a sense for pace as well. You'll start to feel when you are falling off of it. Also, don't be afraid to breathe every 2 strokes as you get further into your race. Your body needs air on these longer races - O2 depletion will suck the life out of you pretty quickly. Thanks for posting this set. I will try it next time I swim.

How did you get the video of your stroke? I used one of those cheap, really small,

Yesterday I swam 10x100 but I couldn’t hold the pace of 1:32 per 100, so I ended up doing 3x100 free on 1:32, then I had to drop the pace a little more and I did 3x100 on 1:36, then I had to drop the pace a little more and did 4x100 on 1:40. So, when you say this, do you mean you did a 1:32 interval? Or how much rest did you take between repeats?

I was using a 1:1 work-to-rest ratio..A 1:1 work:rest ratio will not get someone to hit their target 500 time. Think 1 to 1/6th work to rest ratio. For example, if I wanted to be sub 5:00 on a 500 yard free, a great test and training set of whether I could hit that would be to do 5 x 100 on 1:10 and hold 1:00. If I can do that set, I can hold that in a meet.

Montana, To more clearly apply what pwb is illustrating. You should do sets that more closely mirror the aerobic challenge you will face to break 8:00. To break 8:00, you need to average 1:36/100. The set you need to attempt is 5 x 100 on 1:45 holding 1:36. If you cannot do that, I suggest trying 5 x 100 on 2:00 - holding 1:36. For me, these sets were difficult. Even though I was swimming the 500 in 5:04, I could not do 5 x 100 on 1:10 holding 1:01s. So, I would do them on 1:20-1:30. My suggestion to you is to do 5 x 100 on whatever interval is necessary to be 1:36 or faster. Once you are able to do that, shorten the interval and try again the next day (or the day after). The key point is to swim the pace you need to swim 8 minutes. To be honest, without knowing anything about you (other that age), I suspect you are limited by technique. As you are working on getting the video, tell me how many strokes/length you take. Tell us how far off the wall you can streamline glide before surfacing. BTW - get rid of the dolphin kicks - just push-off as spear-like (aka streamline) as you can be. For what you are trying to accomplish, dolphin kicking is counter-productive (IMO). I have found 10 x 50 a much better training method. When I was around 5:00 for the 500, I would do 10 x 50 on 1:00 holding :29-30. You should try 10 x 500 on 1:10 trying to hold :48. Good luck!

A 1:1 work:rest ratio will not get someone to hit their target 500 time. Think 1 to 1/6th work to rest ratio. For example, if I wanted to be sub 5:00 on a 500 yard free, a great test and training set of whether I could hit that would be to do 5 x 100 on 1:10 and hold 1:00. If I can do that set, I can hold that in a meet. YES! 1:1 is great to work on speed and getting an initial "feel" for the pace, but my experience is that you have to be able to hold pace on short rest to have a high probability of holding the pace in a meet.

YES! 1:1 is great to work on speed and getting an initial "feel" for the pace, but my experience is that you have to be able to hold pace on short rest to have a high probability of holding the pace in a meet. Agree. My point with the 1:1 stuff was always grounded in “feel”. It just so happens it correlates pretty closely FOR ME to what I end up going in a meet. But also you got to train the way that best helps you. I’ll keep doing my 100s BEST AVG on a 1:1 work to rest ratio because it helps me :)