I really suck at swimming. I have done about 10 1/2 IMs and my swim time are always around 44-45 minutes. I have done 1 Ironman and my swim time was 1hr 30 minutes. I am not very tired when I get out of the water.
I want to get faster and I think I need to add some faster sets to my pool swimming instead of just doing endless laps and drills.
How do you really know how fast you should be swimming and how much rest between each set. I swim my 100’s between 1:45 second and 2:05 depending on how long I have been swimming.
Does it make sense to swim more sets of 400-500 hundreds at a slower pace or more sets of 100-200 at a faster pace around 1:50 per hundred?
I am doing IMC in June and have been swimming shorter sets 100,200&300’s with 10,20,30 seconds rest between sets with total yardage around 3500.
Any help would be great. also any suggestions in workouts would be great…trying to get yardage around 4000.
Does this make sense…
100 - 10 second rest
200 - 20 second rest
300 - 30 second rest
400 - 40 second rest
500 - 50 second rest
oh my god, you just described me to a T! Or at least what I hope I was. I have been doing longer overall sets (3000-4000m) but at faster speeds for the last 8 months compared to what I used to do in prior years. I have seen my 1000m time drop from 20min (yeah slow I know) to 18min. I am hoping if I keep this up I can crack 40min at my 1/2IM in Aug.
As for your example workout listed below, I think that’s too much rest between each “leg”. I try to keep the rest to 15sec or less, I prefer to swim on a turnover, that is a fixed time that includes the swim time and rest time, i.e.: 10x100m (lcm) on 2min (swim 1:45+15sec rest; or if I speed it up then 1:40swim+20sec rest and so on). With the turnover approach if you swim harder/faster, you get more rest, but nowhere near as much as you list below. If I tried to take that kind of rest, my coach would smack me upside the head with a kickboard.
How about this for your next three main sets:
Main #1: 30x100 on a turnover (do your first 100, time it and add 15sec, there’s your turnover, stick to it).
Main #2: 20x150 on a turnover.
Main #3: 4x800 on a turnover.
Mix it up, one session do the short stuff, you’ll be in pain by the end trying to stay on the turnover, another session do the longer ones, you will be in a different kind of pain by the end. I find these kinds of mains really help me develop a sense of pace.
Keep refining your technique through drill and concentrating on your body position during swim sets. Improving body position/proper technique is the easiest way to make gains in the pool, especially if you’re a BOP swimmer.
That being said, I’m not a proponent of just tooling around the pool doing slow drills all day long. I don’t know how people think they need to do aerobic work on the bike and run, and then they get to the pool and just do drills and wonder why they don’t get any faster. Maybe this works for some people… maybe those people would be faster if they did drills and aerobic work too. If you want to swim fast, work on your technique and swim lots.
I’d do longer sets at a pace you can maintain and without so much rest. 50 seconds rest for anything is really too much. I’d aim for 15-20 seconds rest only for your longest intervals (400-500s). If you’re doing 100s, you shouldn’t need more than 5 IMO.
If you want to add in faster swimming, a good workout someone gave me is:
500,5x100,400,4x100,…,200,2x100,100,100 (3000total) swim the 100’s at your best maintainable pace with 2-5 secs rest (the next mark on the clock) , then straight into the long swims. “recover” during the long swims at a slower pace. 10 seconds rest per 100yds is probably too much rest.
I see the rest amounts as pretty much right for the distance. However, you should be doing fixed send-off time intervals and the send off time should be quick enough that you have to work just a little bit harder than aerobic threshold pace to get that much rest for each swim.
So I’d try 100s on a 1:55 send off
200s on 3:50 send off
300s on 5:45 send off
400s on 7:40 send off
500s on 9:35 send off
Keeping the sendoffs fixed does a good job of forcing you to consistently stay at a given pace, rather than letting you do a slow fade as you tire.
And if you’re not used to using the pace clock that way, calculate and write down when your send offs are going to be all the way through the set beforehand. Start the first 100 when the second hand is on the up (60/0), first 200 starts when the second hand is on the 55, first 300 starts when the second hand is on the 45, first 400 starts when the second hand is on the 30, first 500 starts when the second hand is on the 10 …
It takes a bit of time before the math becomes automatic to the point where you just know that you’re supposed to leave on the 45, or 35, or 20 for the next swim without having to think about it that much.
i think i would be comfortable closer to 2:05 fixed send off but what happens if in the middle of the workout you do fade and can’t keep it up…do you adjust and make it 2:10 or do you take a 30 second rest to adjust or what?
If you miss one or two, you just keep going continuously and hopefully catch back up on the next one. Miss more than two, and then take about a 30 second to a minute rest and start again on the same interval.
The idea is to train yourself to hold a consistent or decending pace even when you’re feeling tired and when things start to fall apart a little technique-wise. (not so you’re utterly losing control in the water, just when you’re working hard, and things are still a little bit sloppy)