New swim PR - 100 free

I finally broke 1:30 for a 100 free! Super stoked. The thing is, I wasn't trying to break my previous personal best. I was doing a set that looked like this:

200 cruise
8x25 brisk (on 30)
200 cruise
4x50 brisk (on 1)
200 cruise
2 x 100 brisk (on 2)
200 cruise
4x50 brisk (on 1)
200 cruise
8x25 brisk (on 30)

During the cruise, we counted strokes and strived to maintain a "liesurely, relaxed feel in the water. My stroke count was 16 +/-1 for the 200s.

During the "brisk" sets, we simply put a little more effort into each stroke and try to maintain the same liesurely feel and stroke count of the 200s. Basically, increasing stroke rate, but keeping stroke length the same by trying to get a little extra from each stroke. (but not by pulling harder...by spearing more firmly, anchoring the water with more patience and intent, not allowing the arm to slip back through the water, rotating the core more briskly, putting a little extra effort into the kick to help rotation...at least those were the focuses I had). Mostly...I focused on the process of swimming (form), not the outcome (speed)

In finished my first 100 and looked at the pace clock, a new PR of 1:27 for me...not even when I was training heavily for Alcatraz did I ever get close to that.

I'm still working on getting my endurance pace (500+) down to a consistent 1:40, but every swim is dedicated towards improving some aspect of my swimming, and it's been going well.

Edited by AdventureBear 2010-05-08 10:07 PM