Can you Help me swim the 500 scy in the 5:50s? Workout tips please.
Former Member
Hi, I've been reading a lot of what you guys have to say and some of the people on this forum are really helpful.
First off, I'd like to say that I have TREMENDOUS respect for good long distance swimmers. I know what it feels like when I do a hard fast 29-33 second 50, and I can't imagine keeping that pace up for a 500...much less a 1650.
I was wondering if somebody could give me some workout tips for the 500 free (SCY). I'd really appreciate any insight.
Times (SCY):
I set a personal practice best last week with a 6:18 off the wall. I think I split (rough estimate from glances at the pace clock) 1:09 1:14 1:19 1:19 1:17.
My PB in 2001 was something like 1:05 1:14 1:17 1:18 1:15.
How do I reduce my fatigued race pace to anything around 1:10-1:12? Even when I try to take out the first 100 really easy, I still have terrible 3rd-5th 100s. Is it all mental, do I just need to bring it home tougher and sooner?
I've been working out 4 days a week about 3000-4000 yards doing things like 10 x 100s on 1:45 coming in on 1:15ish. I can sprint 50s off the wall in 28 or 29 on the 3:00 and I sprinted a 100 in 1:04 at the end of a hard grueling practice.
I can complete a set of 10 x 50 frees on the :55 coming in on 34-35 every time. Should I just keep trying to complete the same set with less rest?
I also tried 5x75 on the 1:30 followed by a 125 and I held a 36 second 50 pace the whole time which would equate to a 6:00 500 free.
I'll reiterate that I have tremendous respect for those people who can hold such fast long distance paces.
Thoughts?
Former Member
Thanks etrain. It's reassuring to see that it is possible to drop time by more than 10% in one year with enough hard work, and you were already at a much faster point than I.
Yes, I do feel like I could make the 1:45s in 1:16 and slower ALL day, but if I try to swim them harder, like 1:10-1:13, It gets really tough fast. 1:15 is a moderately hard pace to keep on that interval for me, but I even split poorly on 1:15s, like :36 :39 or worse. I should definitely work on descending/building to split correctly. So you think it's better to take much less rest if I'm trying to swim distance faster, even if I sacrifice 2-3 seconds per 100?
I think the thing that would work best would be to train with some 5:40s 500 swimmers to push me on the second half of anything longer than a 50.
One more point, I swim with 2-3 inch long hair and no cap, since I can't seem to wear a cap without my goggles filling with water (underneath the cap) or slipping off (when over the cap) after 100 or so yards.
Hi Jim, I'm in the process of registering for USMS and was looking into joining up with the RAMS. I actually did notice your name on some of the distance events.
Next time I'm in the pool I'll make my main set 100 frees on 1:30 and see what happens.
Thanks for the tips everyone.
This might be a difficult question, but is there a set that, if I can complete, means I should be able to swim a 500 in
I think you have a good start to your workouts but there are a few things you can do to boost that 500 time.
1. Do some repeat 500's. Say 3 on 7:00. Make the middle one a negative split, i.e. second half faster than the first half. Negative split is a great way to learn a sense of pace.
2. Try to do a set of 500's where you descend each one of a set of three, even if each one is a second faster.
3. Do the same with 200's. Negative split. Descend.
4. Try to decrease your rest on your repeat 100's.
5. Same with your 50's. Or try to do a set of 50's on whatever time interval, but instead of just 10x 50's, do as many as you can until you cannot make the interval anymore. That is a fun challenge.
6. Go to meets and race 500's as often as you can. 500 is not an easy race so the more you do it the better you will be. Not going out too fast is the key. Go easy on the first 100. And if you have done those negative split repeats in practice, you will know how to build and accelorate at the end of the race.
I am sure others on this forum will have good tips for you. Good luck!
Glenn:)
Thanks for the tips. I see your favorite event is the 500?
So I shouldn't worry about never swimming slower than the pace I want to race at in those 10 x 100 or 10 x 50 sets?
I actually did a set of 4 x 500s last year in my third or fourth practice (after taking months off) and did something like 6:40 6:39 6:50 6:51 (on the 9 minute). Two practices later I did 6:33 6:42 6:52 6:46. It's really easy for me to get to that point, but hard to get any faster than a 1:20ish/100 practice long distance pace.
Theres this guy at my pool who pulls :36 second 50s continuouly all day and then seemingly effortlessly glides 31-32 second 50 swims for thousands of yards. I'm jealous.
Originally posted by Lunatichigh
This might be a difficult question, but is there a set that, if I can complete, means I should be able to swim a 500 in
Last time I swam I took out a 200 in 2:24 (planned on going the full 500) but BOTH eye pieces were full of water so I had to stop (I can't swim with a cap without this happening).
I'm guessing I would have gone 6:12-6:15ish? I think the cap is worth at least a second per 100 for the same effort.
I did complete a set of 5 x 100 on the 1:50 holding a 1:10-1:12 pace (I know, too much rest). Next time I'll try a 1:30 base and see what I can hold for the last few.
I'm doing well considering that two weeks ago I couldn't break 6:40.
Hey Chris, way back when I started swimming high school in Greece (the town not the country), my 500 time improved by 30 seconds in the first 2 months of practices (before the first meet), so you can see a lot of improvement from the right training.
As part of your workout, you should also try swimming 5x200s and 10x100s. Not necessarily at the pace you want to go for the 500, but still at a hard effort. You aim to keep your stroke efficient (even as you get tired), and to maintain the same (or faster) pace for the repeats. If you condition yourself to be able to handle a thousand set in practice, you will be able to handle a 500 on race day more easily.
You did come to the right place for good advice.
Glenn's advice helped me break 6 min in the 500 at age 50
after trying for 11 years. The best I did in college was 5:44.
Great a 50 yr can whoop me, heh. Another rochester native Mattson?
Ok, last "practice" I did 3 x 5 x 100s on the 1:30 (and an extra minute rest between each set of 5), holding 1:12-1:16 for all. After that set I did 10 x 50 on the :50 holding :33-36 (this follow up set was really tough for me and I had huge urges to just stop and quit).
So it looks like the limit of my 100 pace time as rest approaches zero is about 1:18 right now. My 6:18 off the wall last week was a quick easy first 100 followed by 4 of these. Hmmm, I'm not feeling very fast!
EDIT: The FOLLOWING practice I tried all long distance to get a feel for my slowest maintainable pace and swam a 1650 in 23:00 (6:45 7:00 7:10 2:05 sloooow) followed by a 500 in 6:45, a 500 in 6:36, then a 500 in 6:40. I took them all out with moderate effort.
V02 Max once or twice a week. Say swim 25m rest 15 sec X 5 rest 30 seconds and repeat 8 times, or 50m rest 20 x 5 rest 40 x and repeat 8. Be careful you need to know your resting heart rate and your speed is calculated by your age and the max heart rate you should swim. You do have to do some good workouts as well.
