Wednesday Practice Thoughts

We offered two sets today:

Set 1 -- 9x300

Most people did freestyle.  Jack and Cole did IM.  The IM version was really tough, in fact too tough for Jack and Cole dispite a good effort.  Guys, I just wanted to see if you could do it!  Let's try it again in a few weeks.  Freestylers were very good for the most part.  Averaging under your average pace from 10x300 on (330) is exceptional…anywhere near it is pretty solid training, considering the intervals  -- which were under 3:30 for a good part of the set (345, 335, 325, 340, 330, 320, 335, 325, 315).

Set 2 -- 16x75 Breast (1:30) with flip turns

We focused on strong times and stroke counts under racing stroke counts.  Matt led the way with 49-47 average with 7-9-9 on the stroke count for much of the set (lots of 48s).  When you do the (SCY-LCM) conversion math on :48 per 75, you get :48x3 (2:24).   

So, for Matt it makes sense to train right at 48, maybe 47s…with a stroke count that is 1-2 under his racing stroke count (or in the case of LCM…it's not stroke count we are training here, but "stroke rate"….I use the concept of "stroke count" to get the athlete to do a certain "stroke rate").

We are going to do this set again, or one like it, very soon.  I think all of the the athletes are one step away from breaking through…we just haven't offered the set often enough as of now.

{OK, I'm gonna go big swim nerd now…..proceed with caution….}

The main thing I consider when we do 75s is that it's one third of a 200M swim.  So, a short course 75 at :40 is a 2:00 swim (or a :30 second LCM 50).  If I want to get really exact, I'll add one second on the end of a 75 to simulate a turn, and I'll conclude that a :40 is really a :41 (2:03 LCM 200 pace, or 30.75 LCM 50 Pace).

So, for Breaststrokers, 47 is really 48 (2:24), and 48 is really a 49 (2:27).  It doesn't make much sense to try and be a 2:27 200M Breaststroker if one can't go some 48s or 49s in practice.  That's one example. 

Another example: take the women's 800, in which a female athlete must swim 8:48 to get the Olympic Trial cut (that's 2:12 per 200).  So to me, female athletes must be able to do 43 per 75 in practice because I take 43, add a second for the turn (so 44), and multiply by 3 (44x3 = 2:12).  Ideally, a female athlete can do 43s "all day" in practice, and after having done that as well as probably 5 or 6 other things, she is going to be ready to go 8:48 or better.

Here is the chart I use.  Suffice it to say, we use "Lap Speed" as our guide when considering high level LCM performances.  Most breaststrokers are not on this chart….I just figure them out as needed.