My 'spread' is about 11-12 seconds per 100.

my 1000 TT best is 12:35 right now which is about 1:15-1:16 per 100. I can swim an all-out 100 in about 1:03-4 and do sets of 100 intervals in about 1:08-9. 200 intervals are at about 1:11-12/100 pace.

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JP

my twitter feed

You the man!!!

I'm coming at this from the opposite end of the spectrum as you. my fastest 50yds off the blocks was 24.8 a couple years ago, and yet my 100yd repeat pace when pushing hard is never faster than 1:20 today. I have plenty of top-end speed, but can't keep it up for very long, so it's useless in a tri. my goal for this season is to focus a lot more on 200-400yd intervals and just do longer sets in general. hopefully some of my sprint speed will begin to translate.

You know this whole thread just reminded me of a test I did way back when. I swam a certain distance each with descending speed. There was a person hlping me out and at the end of each repeat my, time, heart rate and strokes per 25 were written down.

Can't remember the exact numbers but it turned out that a very little increase in speed resulted in a very large increase in heart rate. Basically what it boiled down to was In order for me to drop my time by 20 secs I would have to increase my fitness by some 100% or some ridiculous number like that.

This of course lead me to believe that the best way I could get faster is thru reducing drag.

At this point I believe that the above is still true, however I now also believe that shedding drag and applying power at 2:00/100 is a completely different animal than doing the same at 1:15/100. IOW a person will gain some fitness via swimming fast, but the major gain will likely be "learning" what it takes to effeciently apply power and shed drag at the higher speeds.

~Matt

Bingo- we have winner!!!

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I'm just a 10 cent rider on a $2,500.00 Bike

[reply]All this talk about 25s and 50s is crazy. Even for a sprint triathlon, you need to train for the swim as if you were a distance swimmer. Aerobic work is the way to increase your overall speed, especially for longer swims. An Olympic distance tri has a 1500 meter swim. That is equivalent to the longest swim that exists in pool swimming.

Swim like a swimmer, bike like a biker, run like a runner.[/reply]

Then why do all competitive cycling and running programs (not just for triathletes, but for people doing those sports only) always have speed work? Speed work is an essential element of being a faster athlete no matter what distance you compete at.

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Proud Founder of the Jamis Mafia- Daring to be different.