I am trying to come up with a way to use a specific set to determine intervals for swimmers. Obviously this set would not work perfectly for everyone, specifically elite level swimmers. Although I do feel that it could work well for Masters swimmers and others who work out for about an hour a day.
Here is the set:
2x100 @ moderate interval
1x100 @ very easy interval
Repeat this until you can not make both of the 2x100s. Each round subtract :05 seconds from the 2x100 interval. 1x100 interval remains the same throughout the set. The goal is to finish at least four rounds.
Following the missed interval:
1x100 very easy
1x100 sprint: the goal is to be :05 seconds faster than the interval you could not make. So, if you miss a 100 @ 1:00 your goal is :55.
What I am thinking is creating A,B,C,D...etc. intervals based on the rounds. So the last round you completed successfully would be your A interval and then each of the next intervals would be the same as the prior rounds. I feel that the A interval would be an interval the swimmer could finish about 5x100 successfully. If you failed @ 1:00 your A interval would be 1:05, B would be 1:10 C would be 1:15 D would be 1:20, etc.
I am very interested in other peoples opinions especially if you have experience constructing a system based on a test set or swim or if you have participated in such a system. Also I would love to hear about your experience doing the set. Try it out and let me know how you feel about it.
coachtrent.blogspot.com
with most of my swimmers we've just done a 800m swim as fast as you can comfortable and take the splits as our basis for intervals.
I can swim an 800m in 10:40 the last 2-300 I have to really think about what I am doing but I don't have to work harder. average 1:20 I then use 1:20 as my a2 base. I can swim 10x100 on 1:30, 5x100 on 1:20 but can really push myself down to 1:08-1:10 if given enough rest, but in a meet 1:01
but once I had my swimmer try a set, 5x100 st 1:45 then repeat removing 5 secs until you could do 5. but it didn't really help since we almost always swim 10x100 and most of them couldn't swim 10 on the same interval as 5
