Cesar Cielo is fastest swimmer in the world -- 25 yards in 8.88 to the foot -- he was just trying to "maintain" on the second 25...
There are 3 ways to swim faster in any given race:
1) Improve your technique -- if you become more effecient in your technique, your times will drop across the board
2) Maintain a pace as close as possible to maximum speed -- You can hold your maximum speed for 6-8 seconds. There are no swim races of that length - so when training for any swimming race (50 up the mile), you are trying to maintain a pace as close to your maximum speed as possible.
3) Get Faster = improve your maximum speed
I would say on average, Masters swimmers (and age-groupers) spend their in the water workout season according to the following breakdown (rough guess):
1) Improving technique = 20-30%
2) Maintaining close to max = 65-79%
3) Improving Max Speed = 1-5%
Think about it -- if you swim 4-5 times per week, that equals about 20 hours a month. Did you spend more than a full hour in October on maximum speed ?
This Thread is all about Category 3 -- Improving your Max Speed --
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One question for Erik: are you using the tempo timer throughout workout or only on your speed sets?
I only use the tempo trainer during sets that I want to work on stroke rate. For me - that is sprint sets at the moment. However, if you want to lengthen your stroke in longer sets - you can use it during an aerobic main set. I know all about the limitations of a faster 200 / 500, because of "sprint problems".
One question for Erik: are you using the tempo timer throughout workout or only on your speed sets?
I only use the tempo trainer during sets that I want to work on stroke rate. For me - that is sprint sets at the moment. However, if you want to lengthen your stroke in longer sets - you can use it during an aerobic main set. I know all about the limitations of a faster 200 / 500, because of "sprint problems".
