I had a good “slow swimmer” breakthrough last week- 1000m under 20 min in a 50 m pool for the 1st time. I catch a look at the pace clock about 5-6 m short of the wall each time, and notice this pattern:
1st/2nd lap: 1:45-1:50- feels easy, not even working almost
laps 3-5: 1:56-2:00 level of effort progressing to an RPE of 7-8/10- anything more, and it’s just tharashing harder to gain no speed, so I’ve stopped trying to thrash harder
rest of the swim: 2:00/lap; reach, don’t cross over, smooth push, don’t cross midline, brush thigh… any deviation from this brings instant slowdown of 5-12 sec/lap(think I’m starting to get some idea what technique to feel for)
My question is this: is there any one or 2 major things that may turn the 1st 2 laps into the last 5-6? It feels like I may finally get there in another 2 months or so, I’ve just got to keep that same smooth feeling. Aerobic conditioning is not a limiter, guaranteed.
My question is this: is there any one or 2 major things that may turn the 1st 2 laps into the last 5-6? It feels like I may finally get there in another 2 months or so, I’ve just got to keep that same smooth feeling. Aerobic conditioning is not a limiter, guaranteed.
I’m a fast-twitch sort of person, and it’s taken a lot of years to get the long-haul endurance into my legs. I’ll often catch myself w/ poor hand alignment on the pull later on in a long set- I’ll focus and notice better speed in the water. Is focusing on these sorts of things the key, or is there a better way?
FWIW, I sort of slipped up earlier in the season- I broke an ankle, and consoled myself with some gym time for about 6 weeks. Now that that bit of bulk is gone again, I feel a lot better in the water.
I’ll often catch myself w/ poor hand alignment on the pull later on in a long set- I’ll focus and notice better speed in the water. Is focusing on these sorts of things the key, or is there a better way?
You need to swim often, focusing on your stroke, and for longer than is comfortable. When you get tired and your form starts to break down and everything goes to shit, take longer breaks at the wall in between sets and really focus on your technique.
you need more swim-specific fitness, swimming uses a lot of muscles that running & cycling don’t (obviously). Those muscles don’t get stronger / fitter unless you use them.
You might “think” you are starting off easy, but really you aren’t. Remember, even swimming races as short as 200m require that they be properly paced, which means that you start off easy through the 1st 50 (relatively speaking). In my case, that meant going through the 1st 100 of a 200 about 4-5 secs slower than my 100 time, which makes it feel positively pedestrian. That dropoff in effort is way more pronounced for the 1500, it is really easy to start too hard.
Do a test set once at least 2 weeks of 3x300 with 30 seconds rest try to keep all three on goal pace within 25-20 seconds of the first one. Stay with it.
The first 150-200 of my sets are always have a little extra cheap & easy speed like that, no matter what kind of swim shape I’m in. After that, steady but slightly slower pace until I get something with 45-60 seconds of rest and the first little bit is faster again.
Some people just swim like that when their arms are fresh.
So if you’re like me in that regard, when you’re getting in the 1:37ish range on the first bit, you’ll be down to that 1:45-1:50 you’re looking for on the rest.
If it’s any consolation, the first 50m I swim typically have the best technique of my entire workout. Same deal back in the day when I was a swimmer kid. Never figured it out.
It’s not horrible, but it’s still several minutes off where I want to be. A 25 minute 1500 will make me happy. 2:10 for an olympic distance is the next hurdle for me (likely 2009, as 08 is a bit of a wash), and a 30 minute swim isn’t going to get me there!
One question - How much/how hard are you kicking? The longer your distance, the less the legs are used for propulsion and more for keeping the body aligned and on top of the water. You may be kicking too much/too hard for the distance.
Not much kick going on- I truthfully can’t even figure out the 2,4,6 beat thing. Never really tried, as I always thought it better to save the legs for the other 75+ % of the race. I do kick a bit, but it just sort of happens as needed- balance, I suppose…