Swim: reached 2min/100m, what next? (Page 2)

I'm sure some of the more experienced swimmers will chime back in with better advice, but I've found shorter sets much more valuable.  You can both push yourself as far as speed go es and (importantly) still focus on your form more easily in the shorter sets.  So I would think 50s on 10-15sec rest or 100s on 15-20sec are probably a good place to start. 

My swim coach has a set that works well to learn to swim faster.....so you can swim 20:00 for 1000 yds or 2:00 per 100 yds. Let's say you want to take 4 seconds off per 100..so 1:56 per 100.

I do one of these sets each workout if it is the plan for that workout so I normally do it twice a week.

First swim 20x 50's all under :58 per 50 with 20-30 seconds rest..probably you can do that right off. Then go to 10x100 all under 1:56, when you can do that move up to 5x200 all under 3:52, then 4x250 all under 4:50, then 2x500 all under 9:40, then get to 1x1000 under 19:20. Set a new goal for speed maybe just taking one second off per 100 pace and then work your way up.

I am able to do the 50's and am stuck on the 100's. I think I picked to much improvement.  It is a great way to learn to swim the pace you want to, then increase distance gradually.. and learn to swim that pace longer and longer until you can do it for the whole 1000 yds.

Last winter I spent 3-4 months first doing sets of 50's and after a month or two 100's in an effort to learn how to swim faster. It really worked and my 100 time dropped about :25 as I was wicked slow before. To go fast you need to learn to swim faster and just like run intervals or bike intervals learning to do a movement faster is easier when you go shorter as your body learns how to move faster and can in time translate it into going faster longer.