Working on 500 Free Time

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 so I was doing 3:04 intervals, resting for 1:32 after swimming 1:32. Today I am going to try to swim a 200 free in under 3 minutes. That’s my new goal, and I will continue to work on lowering my 500 free time, too. My goal is to get that time under 8 minutes. My plan is to get video of my stroke as soon as I can and post it here to get more suggestions on how I can get faster.

I'm not sure if you completed your 10 x 100 set or not, though it seems like you didn't. I think you need to adjust your pace to something you can sustain for a full 10 x 100, and adjust your sendoff interval to something that gives you closer to :15 to :20 of rest. For instance, 10 x 100 @ 2:00, holding 1:45's for each repeat. If that is too easy then adjust to holding 1:40's. This will give you some aerobic base and muscle endurance to improve your 500 and 200 times. You can still do some pace work but I think you need to do some base building work as well. The same principle would hold true for the USRPT I mentioned earlier in this thread. You need to select a pace that you can sustain for a number of efforts. Thanks, I'll try that on Monday. No, I didn't complete the set at 1:30 per 100.

Thanks, I'll try that on Monday. No, I didn't complete the set at 1:30 per 100. If 10 x 100 seems a bit much then even just getting to 5 or 6 repeats is a good start. Work up from there.

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! Thanks for the suggestions. I will try this the next time I swim next Monday.

Yesterday I swam the first 100 in 1:30, but I dropped off the pace after that; I couldn't hold it for any additional 100s. So, after the first 100 I adjusted the time on my Tempo Trainer Pro and also swam 6 75s after the first 2 100s. The set I had set out to do was 10x100 on 3:00 holding 1:30s. My times per length after the first 100 ended up being between :23.25 per length and :25 per length. The last 2 100s were on 1:40. If only I could hold that 1:30 time for 5 100s! That would put me at 3:00 for the 200 and 7:30 for the 500. I will count the number of strokes I'm taking per length next time, too.

Yesterday I swam the first 100 in 1:30, but I dropped off the pace after that; I couldn't hold it for any additional 100s. So, after the first 100 I adjusted the time on my Tempo Trainer Pro and also swam 6 75s after the first 2 100s. The set I had set out to do was 10x100 on 3:00 holding 1:30s. My times per length after the first set ended up being between 23.25 per length and :25 per length. The last 2 100s were on 1:40. If only I could hold that 1:30 time for 5 100s! That would put me at 3:00 for the 200 and 7:30 for the 500. I will count the number of strokes I'm taking per length next time, too. I'm not sure if you completed your 10 x 100 set or not, though it seems like you didn't. I think you need to adjust your pace to something you can sustain for a full 10 x 100, and adjust your sendoff interval to something that gives you closer to :15 to :20 of rest. For instance, 10 x 100 @ 2:00, holding 1:45's for each repeat. If that is too easy then adjust to holding 1:40's. This will give you some aerobic base and muscle endurance to improve your 500 and 200 times. You can still do some pace work but I think you need to do some base building work as well. The same principle would hold true for the USRPT I mentioned earlier in this thread. You need to select a pace that you can sustain for a number of efforts.

I'm not sure if you completed your 10 x 100 set or not, though it seems like you didn't. I think you need to adjust your pace to something you can sustain for a full 10 x 100, and adjust your sendoff interval to something that gives you closer to :15 to :20 of rest. For instance, 10 x 100 @ 2:00, holding 1:45's for each repeat. If that is too easy then adjust to holding 1:40's. This will give you some aerobic base and muscle endurance to improve your 500 and 200 times. You can still do some pace work but I think you need to do some base building work as well. The same principle would hold true for the USRPT I mentioned earlier in this thread. You need to select a pace that you can sustain for a number of efforts. I found a set that I can do that will build aerobic base: 10x100 @ 2:05 holding 1:45. I will work on this set and decrease rest time when possible. If I were racing a 200 I can swim the first 100 @1:30 but then drop off that pace during the second 100. Perhaps if I split the race right I can get close to 3:00.

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! Thanks. I’ll try the 10x50 set.

I've experimented with a number of different training regimens over the 8 years I've been coaching Masters--this past year, for my mid distance group I used a modified regimen from Bruce Gemmell. At the national USMS coaches conference last year, he talked about how he trained Ledecky in the leadup to 2016, showed some sets, and talked about the general training regimen. The basic philosophy is that there are training zones (red, blue, purple, green, etc) that correspond to various percentages off of a threshold pace. Here's how I implemented it (note, all my mid distance swimmers are between 5:15 and 6:00 for their 500): -I had the swimmers do 3 x 500 from a push on 9:00 (you'd adjust to an interval that gives you 3:00-3:30 rest) -I averaged out the 100 pace for all three 500s, that gives the threshold pace -From the threshold pace, I calculated out red, blue, purple, and green target zones (2% faster than TP, 4% faster, 8% faster, and 12% faster than TP, respectively) at distances of 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, and 400 (note, each 50 increase in distance from 100 on up resulted in a 4% increase in pace compared to regular 50 TP) -In general, red sets would give :10-:20 rest at target pace, blue would give :15-:30 rest at target pace, purple would give :30-1:30 rest, and green would give 1:00-2:00 rest -I printed the resulting spreadsheets out and had them on the pooldeck for my swimmers to see during sets -Here's a sample worksheet: docs.google.com/.../edit (expand the hidden columns and rows to see the formulas, if you want to play around with it) For training, the majority of the sets I gave my mid distance crew stayed in the red and blue zones at probably a 60/40 mix, with short stints in the purple zone and very limited, irregular stints in the green zone. Taking Bob "Fly and Die" from the sample worksheet, here's a sample set I might have given him: -3 x 100 red zone on 1:40, target pace of 1:24 -2 x 200 red zone on 3:10, TP of 2:48 -1 x 300 blue zone on 4:35, TP of 4:14 -1 x 300 red zone on 4:30, TP of 4:20 -2 x 200 red zone on 3:05, TP of 2:52 -3 x 100 blue zone on 1:45, TP of 1:23 -1 x 150 purple zone, TP of 2:00 The key takeaway from this kind of training is repeatability. The idea isn't to fly and die, but to be able to hit your target pace every single time, whatever training zone you're in. It necessitated quite a substantial mindset shift in a number of my swimmers, since quite a few trained solely based on feel and never looked at the clock, or tended to start a set really strong and then epically crash and burn by the end. For example, the swimmer I based this sample worksheet on started off the season ranging anywhere from a 1:21 to a 1:36 on red zone 100s in the same set, even though his target red zone 100 pace was 1:24, but by the end of the season was able to hit within a :1 or :2 range of that 1:24 target pace very consistently throughout these kinds of sets. I think you can definitely train for the 500 while swimming nothing longer than a 300 in practice (not counting doing a timed 500 from time to time)--during Bruce Gemmell's presentation on training Ledecky, he mentioned that she never swam distances longer than a 400 in practice, and I hear she's a pretty good distance swimmer. Most of my mid distance swimmers swam very well this past season after using this training methodology for the majority of the season. Beyond the USRPT suggestions from earlier in the thread, this is another training methodology to consider.

You seem to be building a base of speed from what I see you doing. It will take awhile for your body to accept these changes.Keep at it!