Finally made a swimming goal!!!

I'm not your coach - but might I suggest some intervals that are a little longer?
50's?  100's?  200's?

Thanks for the response.  Actually my Masters coach does mix it up I just zero'ed in on the 25's.  She has it planned out some days are long days, speed days, etc.  TBH, I pretty much just try to make it to class and follow along.  Lately she has had us doing some sets such as 150 then out of the pool, 15 push ups, next 150, etc.  Great workouts!  My biggest issue is making class, as my work schedule makes it a bit difficult.  On those days she leaves the workouts for me and others to do on our own.

FWIW, I like your focus on 25s, since if you can't repeat 18 seconds for a 25, you will never go 1:12 for a 100. The other thing that is good, IMO, about short distance time goals, is that swimming fast is very stimulating stuff - your body/brain will naturally introduce refinements to your stroke as you make it go faster.

regards,
r.b.

Thanks, I have found that the short speed work has helped the longer sets also.  We have been doing sets of 100's and am finding that keeping that speed up for the 100's is getting easier.  Hitting a 1:40/100 yard consistantly is getting easier.  Pushing that for even longer sets is a goal I will start working on soon.  Luckily the coach is pushing some of this on long days.

Since we are talking about maintaining a certain speed out to longer distances, here is my approach:

I determine my stroke count and stroke tempo required to hit a certain target goal...for example if I want to do 1:40/100s as my endurance tempo (500s, 1000s, 1500s) and I can swim a 25 in 16 strokes after pushoff and/or turns, then in order to hit my target I need to do so at a rate of 1.3 seconds per stroke

Here's the math:

1:40 / 4 lengths = 25 seconds per length

25 seconds / (16 strokes + 3 "stroke intervals" for the pushoff or turn) = 25/19 = 1.3 seconds per stroke.

1.3 seconds per stroke is a fairly liesurely stroke rate. But if you can swim 1:40/100 for a set of 500 or 1000 or 1500, most age-group triathletes would be very happy with that.

If you thought a better target pace for you was to hit 1:20/100 for a longer set, and you take 17 strokes per length, your math might look like this:

1:20/4 = 20 seconds / 25

20 seconds / 17 + 3 (time allotted for pushoff/turns) = `1.0 seconds per stroke.

This is more of a racing tempo for many folks.

In either case, now you can plan some sets. Set a tempo trainer for 1.3 seconds and start doing your 8 x 25 on 30 seconds. Each 25 instead of your target being to swim as fast as you can, your target is to take 16 strokes for the length. Or in the 2nd example, set the TT for 1.0 seconds/stroke and your goal is to hit 17 strokes each length. You'll find that as you get more tired, your stroke count will go up. Focusing mentally on form to keep your stroke count within your target is a different way of "working hard" than most masters swimmers are used to...yet it's just as physically taxing as just trying to "swim fast". The bonus is that you are taking a measured approach.

then you can work on doing 50s, 75s, & 100s with the same target strokes per length.

The great thing is that this method can be adjusted no matter what your stroke length or tempo is. If you need 20 strokes to get across the pool, your tempo needs to be faster. or if you feel more comfortable at a faster tempo, you can take more strokes and hit your target pace.

Want to get faster still? Take the same number of strokes, but increase your tempo a bit at a time. OR, take fewer strokes at the same tempo.

It's a great way to see and measure progress, as well as make a targeted plan for improvement

Edited by AdventureBear 2010-09-29 3:00 PM

i dont have a tempo trainer


Edited by ionlylooklazy 2010-09-29 3:36 PM

That's an easy problem to fix!