I posted about 6 weeks ago asking for workout advice on how to lower my time in the 100 free. I am now down to a 1:02. I have been focusing on my kicking, my technique and most of my workouts are at race pace. I would like some workout advice on how to strengthen my last 25. I notice a considerable drop off in strength and my technique tends to fall apart in that last lap. Anyone have thoughts or advice?
I posted about 6 weeks ago asking for workout advice on how to lower my time in the 100 free. I am now down to a 1:02. I have been focusing on my kicking, my technique and most of my workouts are at race pace. I would like some workout advice on how to strengthen my last 25. I notice a considerable drop off in strength and my technique tends to fall apart in that last lap. Anyone have thoughts or advice?
Swim where you build to an absolute spring on the last 25. Say maybe something like this?
6x100 Free on 3:00 - 50 Pace/25 Build/25 AFAP - first 50 goal is to hold about a :35 or so then build to sprint pace as you hit that last turn.
Everyone should feel like they're falling apart on the last lap, it's OK to feel that way but the true goal is to still keep your stroke technique tight and don't give in to the burning pain from your muscles as they try to get you to stop what you're doing. The goal is to slow down as little as possible at the end.
Great advice from Paul there. I would just like to echo what he says about concentrating on the stroke not breaking down in the final 25. You really have to focus tremendously hard in the face of all that pain to maintain your stroke length, maintain a high elbow, maintain an EVF and maintain a strong pull through. If you can do that you will be surprised how much faster you can go even without working on your endurance.
With regards to training, I like to do 125's. Do a 100 at race pace. Don't flip turn at the end. Touch the wall with your hand. Now do another 25 ALL OUT! You have to work really hard not to treat it as a 125. You should be completely spent when you touch the wall at the 100 mark. Stop for 2 seconds (one one thousand, two one thousand). Now try and maintain a good stroke and your fastest speed for another 25. It's PAINFUL but very educational!
Good luck. You are almost there.
Great workout this morning. 6 x 100 on the 3:00 really sprinting the last 25. I held about a 1:10. I then did the same with 75's and 50's. I thought is was a great set, really taxed the muscles on the last 25 of every set. Thanks for the help.
Great workout this morning. 6 x 100 on the 3:00 really sprinting the last 25. I held about a 1:10. I then did the same with 75's and 50's. I thought is was a great set, really taxed the muscles on the last 25 of every set. Thanks for the help.
Nice job!!!! But be careful here. Don't fall into trap of just swimming fast as you can AT THAT TIME. Be very conscious of your technique, keep your strokes out in front of you, long and with a good catch, make sure your hands are not slapping the water on entry, get good extension and make sure your getting good body roll. Keep your head down and sneak your breaths. Keep your kick strong and tight.
Granted there are times when it's OK to just blow out your body but don't fall into the trap of swimming hard with horrible technique.
Keep up the hard work and you'll get there sooner than you think.
Edit: Forgot to ask, what were your splits for that 1:02. If you could post those, that would help. Also your best 50 free time.
I always love to see these threads about getting under a min in the 100 SCY free, as it has been a goal of mine for years. The tips are, as always, very valuable.
I'm definitely much more of a workout swimmer and probably more distance oriented. Today I held (for SCY 100s) 1:20 fairly comfortably, but 1:15 were a struggle. I can pull out a 1:08 in workout without too much effort, and I've gone a 1:02 in workout. Been way too long since I've done a meet for times to be of any value.
Looks like I'll be putting this to test in our meet on Mar 15. My coach is going to work with me on some other events (the 100 Free is towards the end of the meet), as well as times.
But I'll throw this to the group, am I being too ambitious by seeding myself at a 59.9 if I'm not 100% sure I can do it? When I used to do meets, I always added a small allowance to my seed times. I have a feeling if I seed myself for the goal time, I'd have more of a chance to make it.
...my technique and most of my workouts are at race pace...
...a considerable drop off in strength and my technique tends to fall apart in that last lap...
Anyone have thoughts or advice?
You have already dropped so much time. ~5 seconds, if my memory is correct... Thats a huge drop! be satisfied with it! ...at least for the time being.
Maybe its timeto go back to swimming longer sets at tighter intervals?
Forget about breaking 1:00 in the 100 free for a while. Work on lowering your intervals in freestyle sets... and on being able to swim a tighter interval for longer distances. In other words... 'getting faster'. Move up a lane at practice...
This will allow you to re-attack the 100 free later, faster and stronger than you are now..but with all the new '100 free racing' tools you have been developing over the past few weeks... (strokes, breathing, start, turns, touch...)
I suppose the impatient alternative is to taper for a week, shave down, and go for it. But I really think taking a conservative step back and rebuilding your foundation will position you to really smash through that one double oh when you do decide come back at it in 6-8 weeks..
...am I being too ambitious by seeding myself at a 59.9 if I'm not 100% sure I can do it? ... ... I have a feeling if I seed myself for the goal time, I'd have more of a chance to make it.
You should ALWAYS enter the time you plan to finish the given event in... not what you have swam in the past. If you were getting slower, you wouldn't ask about entering a slower time than your past... why is this a problem going the other way?
also, you might prefer to enter 59.88, or 59.86 or something like that. If it's a big meet there might be lots of people with an exact 59.9 entry time.
Great post, Paul! Here's a positive to think about...once you break 1:00.00 it's hard to go back over 1:00.00 unless you take a vacation from training!
Either way, work on your "tired technique" instead of doing drill sets just before the workouts, try to sandwhich your workout with drill sets so you are able to focus on the technique when you are exhausted after the workout. Just something to work on the debate between "swimming tired" and "tired swimming"
This is a good thread, Im finding breaking 1:00 on the 100 FR scy to be a "wall" that has captured my attention and focus for the past several months.
Im using strength training, pre-workout supplement Cytomax Pre-formance, (I find I can't have any food for a least 3 hours before w/o, or I get cramps and everything else just painfully burns in my stomach such as gatorade, carb jells and musclemilk) and just trying to motivate myself to getting through advanced workouts 2900+ yds....
Ill stay tuned :)
Coachtoml,
You never did post exact splits and per lap breathing / stroke counts. Are you tracking any of this information? feel free to share!
I do assume you are using a block for your start. If you arn't you can expect to gain at least a second with a block start vs. a wall push.
-Jesse
