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 --
Just lost my mesh bag with all my gear
What a bummer! I hope you get it back.
What gear is in your mesh bag and why ?
Fins (orange and blue Speedos). I use these for building leg strength through kicking with extra resistance. I can't use them too much, though, because after a while one knee and the other ankle hurt in a way that probably qualifies as "bad pain." I kick more without them than with them.
Finis Swimmer's Snorkel, a great swimming investment at $30 or so. Using it regularly has really helped me learn to keep my head more still. You cannot fool yourself about how still your head is (or isn't) if you don't have any reason to turn your gaze away from the bottom of the pool. It's also good for kicking on the front. I am way better at kicking on my back than on my front but I would like to change that.
Pull buoy. When I use it in combination with the snorkel it really forces me to focus on using my abdominal oblique muscles to aid in rotation. It's also a fun bit of core work while the coach is talking to float on my back with the pull buoy upright under my spine and try to balance on it.
I would sort of like to get a tempo trainer, because I think my shorter races would improve a lot if I could increase my turnover. OTOH, I also want a swimp3, which I suppose with clever music selection could sort of double as a tempo trainer.
Just lost my mesh bag with all my gear
What a bummer! I hope you get it back.
What gear is in your mesh bag and why ?
Fins (orange and blue Speedos). I use these for building leg strength through kicking with extra resistance. I can't use them too much, though, because after a while one knee and the other ankle hurt in a way that probably qualifies as "bad pain." I kick more without them than with them.
Finis Swimmer's Snorkel, a great swimming investment at $30 or so. Using it regularly has really helped me learn to keep my head more still. You cannot fool yourself about how still your head is (or isn't) if you don't have any reason to turn your gaze away from the bottom of the pool. It's also good for kicking on the front. I am way better at kicking on my back than on my front but I would like to change that.
Pull buoy. When I use it in combination with the snorkel it really forces me to focus on using my abdominal oblique muscles to aid in rotation. It's also a fun bit of core work while the coach is talking to float on my back with the pull buoy upright under my spine and try to balance on it.
I would sort of like to get a tempo trainer, because I think my shorter races would improve a lot if I could increase my turnover. OTOH, I also want a swimp3, which I suppose with clever music selection could sort of double as a tempo trainer.
