Training for only 50 and 100 Free

[billratio]

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything here but I’ve been checking in to read the forums regularly.

We’re about a 3rd of the way into our girls high school season and things seem to be going well. Our 200 Free Relay is .05 off our school record which we set last year. We have several girls going faster than their Section times from last year (where they were rested with tech suits).

Here is my main question for the day. I struggled with it last year as well. My top sprinter will only be swimming the 50 and 100 free. How do I train for it? We’re doing multiple rounds of 25s at 100 free pace on M,W,F.

We are also doing 50s on M,W,F. The 50s are said to be back half of 100 free pace but they are really more like somewhere in between 200 free pace and back half of 100 free pace. About half the time we are doing these @ 1:00 and half the time we are doing them @1:30 so that she can actually swim the back half of her 100 free pace. Obviously this isn’t actually USRPT but I can’t have her swim 100 25s a day and it seems like the 50s are helping.

She is holding 29.5 when done @ 1:00 and 28.5 when done @1:30. Is it good to be doing both of these types of sets or is one better than the other?

I’ve been doing a bit more work at 200 Race Pace to start the year because I heard Peter Andrew say that he feels like training for the 200 helps Michael get back to his 100 race pace faster once he has taken some time off.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays we do 25s @1:00 for a little extra speed on her 100 free. We also do 50 free training as 25s @1:30 (odds from blocks, evens from push) and 25s @2:00 from blocks. We do 25s off the blocks at the end of many practices if she is feeling good.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!

"Most people have the will to win. Few have the will to prepare to win."

[billratio]

Is it bad to train 50s and 25s for the 100 free on the same day?

"Most people have the will to win. Few have the will to prepare to win."

[Gary P]

After training only for freestyle events (100 and 400/500 primarily) for the last year, I’ve recently added a couple butterfly sets a week to the mix. I figure the overall conditioning can’t hurt, and I’m already seeing dividends in the power of my UDKs off turns in freestyle. I may try a 50 fly in a meet now and again, but I’m not really expecting to make butterfly a major competitive focus.

[billratio]

Thanks for the tip.

What does your 100 free training consist of? Is it mostly 25s or do you do a lot of 50s as well?

"Most people have the will to win. Few have the will to prepare to win."

[Gary P]

Thus far, I’ve strictly 25’s to train for the 100. I will say, I think there was some residual carry over from the sets of 75’s I did training for the 400/500 that helped me finish a 100 better.

[ryanupper]

I do 20s for the 50 events. So I kill the swim at the opposite flags. Target time sub 9 seconds on a 30 interval. After using this for swimming and water polo for a year now I’m beginning to see that you can’t expect more than 6 all-out 20 yard efforts on a 30. Right now I’m trying 3 sets of 6 with a minute break. Some days I do the sets with progressively more rest: 6 on a 30, 6 on a 35, 6 on a 40 to focus on peak speed.

So without giving your sprinter a dedicated lane and practice session I would suggest having her do 20’s during some of the time the others are doing 25s for a longer race length (the 100 and 200). She can also do 37.5 yards at 100 pace during those 50s on a minute (when others are at 200 pace) and scull/flutter kick the last 12.5. This should still give her plenty of rest (20 seconds based on your times) and she can work on the turns without becoming too fatigued. And the flutter kick uses the heavily aerobic leg muscles for active recovery and she’s not swimming slow, etc.

You can drop a dive brick at half or tie a weighted rope to the lane line at half for reference points.

Of course, if she is improving within your current framework you might be fine!

Ryan

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