Cam Wilson said:sounds good, Martin. i was doing a bit of this sort of interval work some time ago, but when i
realized i could actually achieve some distance, i dropped the speed training and concentrated
mostly on a workout consisting of: warm-up, maybe some drills, a main set (continuous swim),
cool-down.
Let's not call this speed work. I'm uysed to thinking of three kinds of sets. One is distance, one
is speed, and one is pace. At this point for you, 700m is distance work. You swim that 700m with
completing the distance in a respectable time as the goal. You try to improve that time and increase
the distance. In speed work, you might do a set five 100s on three minutes, and you try to go as
fast as you can on each one. Pace work is something in between. You try to swim at a certain pace.
If you had someone taking split times for you when you swim your 700m swim, he would record the time
at each 100, and at the end you would have a sequence of seven times. You could subtract time n from
time n+1 to get the time you swam for each hundred. If you go along at an easy pace, you might see
that the seven split times are all about the same, all between 2:30 and 2:35 say. But if you try to
swim the 700 as fast as you can, you would probably see the split times drop way off, from 2:00 for
the first 100 to maybe 3:30 for the last one. That would indicate that you started off way too fast
and you couldn't hold the pace. You would have been better off starting off at 2:20, maybe, and then
you might have only dropped off to 2:35 at number 5, and then maybe you would have had something
left to bring numbers 6 and 7 home in under
2:30. Your total time would have been lower then, probably.
But even dropping from 2:20 to 2:35 would mean you chose too fast a pace. A world class 1500 swimmer
might swim a 1500 race in 15:00, and if you looked at his 15 split times, you would see that all 15
of them would be right around 60 seconds. There might be less than a two second difference between
the fastest and slowest.
This is important in triathlons for two reasons. The obvious first reason is that your swimming time
will be faster if you choose the right pace, and the second reason is that if you choose too fast a
pace, you will build up lactic acid in your muscles, which might cause cramps when you run out of
the water and jump on the bike.
Quoted message said:how would you suggest i incorporate some intervals into my workout? i used to swim a few times a
week, but now do one long (1:30-2hrs) swim each weekend. i would think that intervals be done
prior to the continuous swim, while the bod is feeling fresh and strong.
No, usually the other way around. If you do a distance set, do it as your first set after your
warmup, and then do a pace set. On another day, you might do a pace set followed by a speed set.
Some days you might just do a distance set only, but that distance set would be longer than the
distance set you do on days when you also do a pace or speed set.
What is the difference between a pace set and a speed set? In both you are trying to go fast, but
the basic difference is that in the speed set, say 5 X 100, each 100 is independent of the others,
each swim is a performance in which you go as fast as you can. If you do the same 5 X 100 as a pace
set, you are still trying to go fast, but you are also trying to keep all five times the same.
There are endless variations. You can vary the number of swims in the set - 5, 8, 10, etc, you can
vary the distance of each swim, 100, 150, 200, etc, you can vary the interval, and you can raise or
lower the pace time you are trying to hit. And you will want to have variations to keep it
interesting, but you should have a few "barometer" sets, like 5 X 100s on 3:00, that you keep coming
back to once every two weeks or so, so you can see how your pace is improving. You should record
your times in a notebook so you can see your improvement over time.
One swim per week is not enough. To train properly for a triathlon I would swim three times per
week, and consider each week a swimming cycle. In the first session (which could be your weekend
swim), do just a long distance set. In the second session, do a distance set and a pace set, and in
the third session do a pace set and a speed set. But you don't have to be religious about that
mixture. It sounds like increasing distance and improving pace are your two, primary goals.
Quoted message said:i'm glad you reminded me of this training. with the race in late May, i think that a couple of
months of repeats could make a difference. thanks for the great idea. i'm sure i would have
thought of it.... too late! 🙂
Cam
martin
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Martin Smith email: [email hidden] Vollsveien 9 tel. : +47 6783 1188
P.O. Box 482 mob. : +47 932 48 303 1327 Lysaker, Norway
