Reply To: How to Train for the 50 Free
It looks like pace correlates even with the extra rest. I think I am going try doing 25’s on 50 for breast and see how it goes. I need to do something because I have been stuck on breast for a couple of months while I have made progress on free and fly. Right now I am on 18.5 25 meter pace or about 17.5 without the tempo trainer delay. That’s a 110scm or 103 in yards. I have done my breast on 15 seconds rest for a few weeks but I got tired so fast with only 15 seconds. For most of the time I have done a 1:1 ratio, so 18-19 rest. For the past couple of months I have been doing them on 23.15 rest and usually I can’t get more than 8 reps before the first fail. The best I’ve done is 13 before the first fail but some days I start failing on the first 6. The thing that frustrates me about breaststroke is that a lot of the times that I fail it is because of muscle fatigue rather than oxygen debt. It sort of like doing as many pull ups as you can. Heart rate is up and breathing is elevated but it not like you are totally winded. Even though I try as hard as I can to make as many reps as I can, I’m not even that tired on a fail sometimes. It’s the same with less rest too. I’m sure if I went a straight 20 reps trying to hold the best average, I would be winded like I am in fly or free.
When I did my breaststroke before fly, I felt like I got very little reps on the actual race pace tempo. Coming in fresh, a lot of the reps would be long and easy but as soon as I would have to push it to make it, my kick power fades and I fail very soon after. If I started off the set at my race tempo, I would be way under the interval. I don’t know my exact race tempo or if this math adds up but if my race tempo is 1.15 and I did a USRPT set and my first fail was at 14, reps 1-4 would be a tempo of like 1.4, 5-8 1.3, 9-12 1.2, 13-14 1.15. I would hit 18.5 each lap, but I am only at my race tempo for a couple of laps. If I swam at a 1.15 right off the bat I would be way under the interval. Doing breast after the fly kills my easy speed but I get more reps at actual tempo but at the same time I haven’t progressed with this.
If I was to have a side by side video of the third lap of my 100 free/fly/breast with a USRPT set of each stroke, most of the reps on free and fly except for the first 2-4 would look identical to the race footage. The breaststroke would only synch up with a couple of the repetitions closer to failure. Most of the USRPT breast reps would have slower tempo and longer distance per stroke even though the time would be the same. I am afraid with extra rest it is going to force me into a slower than race tempo. I am having trouble figuring out how I get over this and the failure due to muscle fatigue.
