Any comments on this topic? Thanks, Marcos.

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http://www.marcosapenedoamaral.blogspot.com

WU to long, recoveries to long.

Kurt

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http://www.pbmcoaching.com
USA Triathlon Level 3 Elite Coach
USA Cycling Level 1 Elite Coach

So your pace per 100 was 1:32 / 1:31 / 1:27 / 1:24 So a nice progression downward, which you should be seeing with that type of a set and rest interval. Probably a bit too much of a neg split from 1st to last repeat, IMO. If I were doing it, I would have done the first 3 a little faster. Assuming that the 200 was as fast as you could manage, I would have said the pace of the first 3 should be around 1:29 / 1:27 / 1:25 and finishing with 1:24.

With those rest intervals, there is plenty of time to recover between efforts, so there isn't much reason to hold back between efforts, and by sandbagging the first couple you are reducing the impact the set has on your threshold.

That is basically a set to train your aerobic / anaerobic threshold (or whatever the current term for that is), if you do it the way it is laid out.

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not an expert/coach, but a lifelong swimmer, so i'll chime in with my 2 cents

Agree with other poster....Warm up too long, too much rest.

Drop rest to 20-30 seconds max. Pace is 1:24-1:32/100m....pretty decent. I'd work on your endurance. If you need 3 minutes to recover from a 400 swum at 80%, fitness is your limiter.

Good luck.

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I don't think he was asking if the set was a good one, he was asking what he got out of it, if anything.

By sandbagging the first 2 repeats, I don't think he got much. Only the 300 and the 200 counted for anything. If he had done it the way the set was designed, he would have gotten more out of it.

I agree that the set wasn't a really well designed one, but there may be reasons.

As for the warmup being long, he said that included drills and such, I am guessing broken into a couple of sets. Ideally, 500 or so warmup, then some kick and/or stroke work and/or drills.

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I agree that the recoveries are too long given the pacing of the workout, but why do you think the WU is too long? We generally use a 1500 - 2000yd warm-up in our longer masters workouts (4000+m). Granted its not all just floating along either, but our main sets usually start after about 1/2hr in the pool.

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Fit2Tri Multisport
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i guess it comes down to what you consider a "warm up"?

I limit my WU to 1000 yards even for longer sets (an occasional 5000+ yard set)

Kurt

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http://www.pbmcoaching.com
USA Triathlon Level 3 Elite Coach
USA Cycling Level 1 Elite Coach

I agree with your point about sandbagging the 400 and 500. With that much rest, every rep should be nearly full-out, IMO.

2000 wu for a 3400 total workout seems like a lot. But, I don't know if there was a another set following this and/or an extended cool-down.

FWIW, my typical warmup is 500 swim, 400-500 kick, 200-300 drills.

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My old coach would have kicked my ass if he saw me slacking off during the set. Funny, he never chewed us out for working too hard ;)

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

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2 min of rest will make your seat too high

same here....my coach had a deadly temper and was wicked accurate with a kickboard. If he saw someone slacking off, one would come flying at their head. Once he even threw a deck chair at me for forgetting that we were doing 200 IMs not 200 frees....he got suspended for that one since a parent was sitting in the stands and complained. I didn't mind, I dodged it. :-)

Or he would just say "you're so pathetic, I can't even watch you swim" then proceed to make us get out, get into push-up position on the pool deck, dripping wet and shivering cold, and leave us there for 5 or 10 minutes.

Good times.....good times.

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My coaches had generally mellowed out to some degree by the time I got them. I did have fun when I used to have to wait around for my sister to get through practice and D would send me to the side of the pool and tell me to throw pull buoys at her if I saw her breathing inside the flags. (she was in a different age group and we lived a good drive from the pool so we'd sit through each others' practice every day)