Dec 1 SUNY 2600 yds

In my last practice, I swam a 1500-yard main set composed of 3 rounds of 4 x 125. My added-up 500 times for the three rounds were 6:49, 6:42 and 6:38. Today I decided to closely replicate that practice, but with 100-yard repeats to learn how that would affect my pace if nothing else changed: Same SPL, same effort-regulators, and similar work-to-rest ratio. If you don’t want to read to the end to know the result, my added-up-500 times for today’s set were 6:45-6:40-6:34, an average of 3 seconds faster per 500.

Here are the details:

Warmup: Swim 1000 Free as: 4 x 100 + 4 x 75 + 4 x 50 + 4 x 25.

I swam all rounds on intervals of 25 seconds per 25 yards (1:40-1:15-:50-:25) with an extra 30 seconds between rounds.

For the entire warmup, I limited my effort by (1) keeping a light-pressure catch; (2) gliding off the walls without kicking; and (3) minimizing my kick after pushoff by focusing on leg-streamlining, rather than leg-drive. I swam the first length of each repeat at 12SPL and the rest at 13, which required discipline and patience. My pace improved effortlessly as repeat distance decreased.
100s: 1:30 to 1:28
75s: 1:04 to 1:02
50s: :41 to :40
25s: all at :19
What I find beneficial in this warmup is that it starts a pattern of steadily-increasing speed achieved with no increase in SPL or effort. In other words "speed happens."
Some might say I "cheated" by reducing repeat distance but I mainly use warmup to tune up my nervous system to swim a given – admittedly modest — speed as economically as possible.

Main Set: Swim Free – 3 rounds of (5 x 100), one round each on intervals of 1:40, 1:45 and 1:50.
I swam the first round as follows:
100 @ 13SPL
75 @ 13 SPL + 25 @ 14
50 @ 13 SPL + 50 @ 14
25 @ 13 SPL + 75@ 14
100 @ 14 SPL
I swam the second round with the same pattern but added one SPL sequence, and repeated the pattern on the 3rd round, but added another SPL:
I also adjusted my kick. On the lower SPL in each set, I emphasized leg-streamlining. On the higher SPL, I shifted to tight, but light, leg-drive.

My repeat times were:
1st round: 1:23-1:22-1:21-1:20-1:19 (6:45 for 500)
2nd round: 1:22-1:21-1:20-1:19-1:18 (6:40)
3rd round: 1:21-1:20-1:19-1:17-1:17 (6:34)

Notes: Similar to my last practice I swam progressively faster within each round and at a faster average pace on successive rounds, but did so by adjusting my SPL and allowing my kick to become more dynamic, rather than by swimming harder. Indeed, I was specifically aiming to maintain a sense of relaxation from the 1st 100 to the 15th.

It’s unquestionably more common to train often as an exercise in what I call the "brute force" approach: Develop a tolerance for pain and fatigue…by repeatedly subjecting yourself to pain and fatigue. My approach, particularly since age 50, has been exactly the opposite – to "tease out" speed while seeking to avoid pain and fatigue.

The experience of 40 years of distance races influenced my choice. I had swum dozens of races in which I experienced considerable pain and fatigue – and on a few occasions managed to rather heroically (speaking immodestly) plow through those barriers to manage a decent time. But my results were generally erratic and often disappointing.

In more recent years, while writing about swimming, I’d interviewed a half dozen world record holders. Each time I asked "what was it like." Every one emphasized how good – even easy – their best swims felt. Aaron Peirsol’s answer was typical "When I hit the touch pad I felt like I could have just kept going."

So I thought I’d experiment with having as my primary goal in training to feel as good as possible, rather than to suffer. And ever since, I’ve swum better than I ever thought I was capable of. One caveat: my best swims have come in open water, including four USMS championships, two 55-59 records and a #1 long distance ranking. But my pool swimming – also distance-oriented — has been far more consistent than ever before.

On Wednesday, I’ll begin using the Tempo Trainer and report on it here.