Okay, so I'm starting to push things a bit to better my chances of hitting the goals listed in that thread (500 free in under 6:00, and 100 fly NQT which is a 1:04 for my age). I'm in a weird spot in that I took up the sport about 3.5 years ago. I'll be 47 in a couple of weeks. So, I'm kind of in between getting faster with more time in the sport, and getting slower as I age. Trying to do as much of the "getting faster" part as possible, and as little of the "getting slower" part :)
Anyhoo.....so last week it was the 500 free. Got through most of the sets, which progressed from 50's and 75's to 75's and 100's, and the last workout was 10 100's, twice through. These were workouts posted by SwimDogs back when he was doing the basic workouts. First set I got through using 1:12's as my goal (baseline) pace. Then took a couple of minutes rest between the first and second rounds. Could not hold that pace. Crept to 1:13's, then finished only able to hold 1:14 on the last couple. So here is the weird thing. My heart rate for the first set was creeping up slowly as I got further into the set. Not surprising pretty normal. On the second set, it remained pretty stable......but about 10bpm lower than the average of the first set.
Similar thing happened today, working on the 100 fly. Main set was 20 50's, first 10 were 25 easy free, 25 pace fly. Second 10 were the opposite. I added extra rest on those because it was fly, I'm still trying to regain my pre-COVID fly form, and I'm no spring chicken (the set is not stroke specific, and calls for 20 seconds between reps - I went for 30 seconds). I didn't really keep track of my time so much (because the fly leg was only part of it), but thinking more about my ability to do the stroke properly. Anyway, I took an extra minute between the two rounds of 10 (for the same reasons). Similar thing happened. Not exact. First round my heart rate peaked, then came down on each set. Second round started that way, but the peaks were lower and the drop during rest was not as pronounced (so it would drop 10-15bpm, rather than 30). Again, my peaks were about 10bpm lower. And my stroke degraded.....which with fly just means a death spiral, as I'm sure most of you know!
So how can I improve on this? First thing I'll say is I don't get enough sleep. Usually between 4-5 hours. So that is I am sure a factor, but with the kids' schedule it is more or less what it is. Outside of that, am I right to think that my issue is more overall strength, and less cardio? So should I be doing some more dryland work? I have implemented some lateral raises with the dumbells to try to improve my recovery on the fly, but that is it so far. Or is it cardio?
I do not think it is strength or cardio. When I am coaching fly I try to get the swimmer to try to relax as much as possible during the arm recovery and hand "entry". Since I cannot watch you swim I have a question. Do you feel like you are working the whole time you are swimming fly? Like freestyle, you should feel like you are not working during the arm recovery. When you are bringing your arms over the water, try to relax as much as possible. Also try to let your hands land on the surface rather then go too deep. Like in freestyle, you do not want your hands to enter deep as you then lose part of the pull. When your hands land on the surface you should relax everything from the waist up and let your chest and chin drop down into the water (keeping your hands high near the surface if possible). This will happen naturally. Relax your back (too many swimmers keep their back stiff and this prevents their chest from sinking down). Imagine someone pushing down on your relaxed back for a second. Then the air in your lungs will start to push your chest back up. During this time you should be relaxed, until as your body starts to rise you start to drop your forearms (keeping your elbows high) to begin the pull. Also I would try to rise as little as possible during the breath or non-breath stroke (if you breathe every other stroke). Drag your chin in the water if you can still get air. If you can convince yourself you are relaxing (during the recovery and hand entry) and only working during the pull you will be able to hold the pace you can sustain. I hope this helps. Strength training is important but most swimmers I have worked with did not need to get stronger to swim fly faster or longer. I would assume this is true of your improvements in freestyle. Hope this helps. Let me know if you have questions about what I am suggesting.
I do not think it is strength or cardio. When I am coaching fly I try to get the swimmer to try to relax as much as possible during the arm recovery and hand "entry". Since I cannot watch you swim I have a question. Do you feel like you are working the whole time you are swimming fly? Like freestyle, you should feel like you are not working during the arm recovery. When you are bringing your arms over the water, try to relax as much as possible. Also try to let your hands land on the surface rather then go too deep. Like in freestyle, you do not want your hands to enter deep as you then lose part of the pull. When your hands land on the surface you should relax everything from the waist up and let your chest and chin drop down into the water (keeping your hands high near the surface if possible). This will happen naturally. Relax your back (too many swimmers keep their back stiff and this prevents their chest from sinking down). Imagine someone pushing down on your relaxed back for a second. Then the air in your lungs will start to push your chest back up. During this time you should be relaxed, until as your body starts to rise you start to drop your forearms (keeping your elbows high) to begin the pull. Also I would try to rise as little as possible during the breath or non-breath stroke (if you breathe every other stroke). Drag your chin in the water if you can still get air. If you can convince yourself you are relaxing (during the recovery and hand entry) and only working during the pull you will be able to hold the pace you can sustain. I hope this helps. Strength training is important but most swimmers I have worked with did not need to get stronger to swim fly faster or longer. I would assume this is true of your improvements in freestyle. Hope this helps. Let me know if you have questions about what I am suggesting.
