Since nobody on the planet cares I thought I’d toot my horn on ST.
I swam a set of 10 x 100 today on the 1:40 and hit 1:20± a few tenths for each one! I’ve never managed this before and I think I could have HD’dFU and hit a couple more…but it’s a cut back week for me.
Improvements are very very slow for me right now so this was quite refreshing. So I can probably now beat all 8 year old girls in the 500. And the 9 year olds that can beat me have been swimming much longer I’ve got 8 months under my belt.
Hmmm. That’s a trick question because open water never seems to be accurate and contains some amount of running in the water.
So my pool goal is 500scy under 7 flat. I should be getting pretty close.
As far as longer stuff in the lake (wetsuit) I’d like to think I’ll be able to swim under 1:30 scy pace for OLY. I think my first tri this year may be a half (and I’ve never even done OLY) and I’d like to think I can do 1:30 pace for that and still be able to bike and run. IM I really have no goal as I have no plans to do one this year. I’d like to hope I could do 1:30’s for that as well if I ever got to that point.
I did swim my 1/2 mile in my 2nd tri last year in 1:30’s and I am in MUCH better swim shape now. That was on under 3 months swimming, but it killed my bike.
Since nobody on the planet cares I thought I’d toot my horn on ST.
I swam a set of 10 x 100 today on the 1:40 and hit 1:20± a few tenths for each one! I’ve never managed this before and I think I could have HD’dFU and hit a couple more…but it’s a cut back week for me.
Improvements are very very slow for me right now so this was quite refreshing. So I can probably now beat all 8 year old girls in the 500. And the 9 year olds that can beat me have been swimming much longer I’ve got 8 months under my belt.
NICE WORK! Add in some CSS sets at least once a week and you’ll see that number go up even more. Determine your CSS by this quick set and use the example sets after you know your CSS.
I’m confused by that CSS testing. I’m familar with the site, but when I enter in my “theoritical” 400 and 200 times it spits out a particular CSS (about 1:30). When I decrease (faster) the 200 the CSS time goes up. So if I swim a bullet fast 200 the CSS gets slower. I don’t understand it.
As is I’m already swimming my workouts faster than my “theoritical” CSS…which is wierd to me I guess.
You do know the site is talking meters and not yards? You were talking about yard times i believe, so a 1;30 for meters would be about right for you as a CSS time…
Keep in mind the CSS test is looking at “pace decay rate” so that a faster short interval just shows your pace decay rate steepening and thus your LT pace will be slower. Yards, meters, no matter really for purposes of the CSS tool.
gregn is correct…It has alot to do with the difference between the 400 and 200 times and uses those times to factor in how soon you will “drop off”. Its explained a bit here:
It shouldn’t matter if you perform the test and do the sets in a meters pool or yards pool just as long as you test in the same length pool that you do your weekly sets in.
OK this makes great sense. In other words you have to try REALLY hard on both the 400 and 200 I also understand I should be ok dealing in yards or meters.
Congrats. Savor the breakthroughs. And, take stock. That’s awesome, did you say you’ve been doing this for EIGHT months? If so, you’ve got some natural ability. Couple that with hard work and you’ll do real well. Actually, you already are. NICE!
Also, THANKS to dagraham9 for the reference to Swim Smooth and the CSS info. I converted my numbers from scy (using the SwimAz converter) and low and behold the CSS data matches super close to a logical number that will be useful for the CSS training program. I’m ready to incorporate some different stuff, so that reference was useful.
Once your skin is dry enough that no amount of lotion can cure it, and your hair is coarser than your wire grill brush, then you’ve hit the right number of hours in the pool.
8 months is correct. I’m 34 and I did take swimming lessons for a couple years when I was 12 or so, but no swim training ever. I’m a runner that decided to dabble with tri last summer becasue my wife said so
I actually swam another PB today. My 2nd 500 was 7:19. This was no time trail just a good hard threshold type effort. It might be time to go all out and see if I can threaten 7 minutes…lol. And to think a full minute faster than that is considered good for a HS male!
What I’m starting to notice now is my ability to hold pace. Before I would erode very quickly. Even when I swam up to 3000. Now I’m able to hold pace longer and longer all the time.
Well I’m pretty sure I just read in the paper that 5:55 made it to state here. Maybe I read something wrong.
Swimming is VERY VERY humbling for me. It’s simply mindboggling for me to watch that 8 year old girl swim 500 yd as fast as I do…on probably 1/10th the muscle mass. I still just can’t wrap my head around it.
And guys here talking about doing 100’s on the 1:00…I can’t sprint a 50 at that pace (maybe not a 25?). I just don’t get it. And that’s because I can (could) run at those elite levels at least for a little bit!
But at the end of the day it’s fun for me because I see improvement (on the bike as well). I am long since done improving the run.
As someone who learned to swim 18 months ago at the ripe old age of 43, after having a fear of water due to a near drowning as a kid, I appreciate like you how hard and humbling it is to learn, and slowly improve.
Sure I hear of guys who say ‘only took me 6 months to learn to freestyle 2, 3 k’s etc’, for me it took at least 12 months to get over my fear of water. And a lot of people could at least tread water or just swim badly.
I also use to see the kids tearing up and down the pool. But as my instructor used to tell me they could have been swimming for 4-5 years, even for 9-10 year olds. And probably never had the fear either.
So feel good within yourself about your progress. And just keep refining your technique, as that is where your big gains will come from.
I’ve got 8 months under my belt.