[juddy_009]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. All of what you have said is along the lines of what I was already working on but it definitely helps to hear it from other people. The ‘elbow bend’ is something that I continue to work on (believe it or not my arm used to be even straighter) and I reckon when I get this right I’ll be able to hold together the back end of my 100 much better than I currently am. I had a look at my 50 metre pace videos after posting the 100 pace ones above and they seem to have less ‘issues’ in them than the 100 pace does. I’m wondering if all my years of ‘traditional training’ is showing through more here due to what seem to be some lazy habits surrounding my breaths. Anyway I’ll focus on the particular elements discussed and will re-post in a couple of weeks to compare.
cheers

PS: I’m in Melbourne

[juddy_009]

I am a 50/100 swimmer but on my 100 sets I have the same thing in that I’ll really struggle the first 6 reps (maybe make 3/6) then I’ll take a quick break and come back with say 8 reps before my next fail followed by 8 again . I know this isn’t strictly in the protocol but I’ve been experimenting with a couple of things to avoid this start of set ‘lag’.
1) I do a 50 metre pace set beforehand to ‘wake up’ the nervous system. This normally looks like 8*25 @ 2 minutes rest @ 50 metre pace. I use a tempo trainer to enable exact recording of how many I make. I allow a 5-10 minute break between this set and my 100 pace set with a limited amount of swimming off (100-200 max). This has been somewhat successful, however there is still a small lag at the beginning of the 100 pace set that follows while I ‘find my rhythm’ as I often do my 50 pace in a different stroke (I train for all 4 strokes).
2) I do some ‘above pace work’ on increased rest. This is normally around 0.5 second faster that my normal pace but with the same breathing pattern and stroke count. Example: my 100 pace for free is 13.7 (25m), my above pace would be 13.2. I would do this on 1:2 or 1:3 work rest ratio while using my breaks to watch my u/w video of the repeats I have just done (I use an Ipad in a lifeproof case). In this way when I start the set the 13.7 feels ‘easy’ when I start the set and I have an idea of any specific technique elements I need to focus on throughout the set, particularly as I begin to fatigue. I wouldn’t do more than 200 metres at ‘above pace’ to ensure I don’t take any fatigue into the set (the increased work/rest ratio helps with this as well).
I normally use both of these to help avoid the ‘failure lag’ you are talking about. The other thing I would recommend is if possible you should try to train in the afternoon rather than the morning. I can’t find the research article I read about this, but I did read something about the best time of the day to train/compete being between 2 pm-8pm due to circadian rhythms, core body temperature etc. Personally I have dropped morning sessions to train only once a day as I felt it was negatively impacting my recovery (I work full time) and my morning performance was much lower than my afternoon performance. I know there will be times when I need to swim heats in the morning but the earliest they start is 9 am whereas if I train it has to be 6.30 am at the latest. Anyway something to think about. Happy for others to feedback with thoughts/ideas on what I’ve written.

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