{"id":388,"date":"2013-01-22T19:30:32","date_gmt":"2013-01-22T19:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaycoaching.com\/?p=388"},"modified":"2013-05-22T21:46:45","modified_gmt":"2013-05-22T21:46:45","slug":"swim-pacing-part-1-holding-pace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaycoaching.com\/?p=388","title":{"rendered":"Swim Pacing – Part 1, Holding Pace"},"content":{"rendered":"

SWIM PACING \u2013 Part 1, Holding Pace<\/strong><\/p>\n

The ability to pace eludes many people. There are several straightforward ways to look at the skill:<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Holding the same pace over a series of swims<\/strong>
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Increasing pace consistently over a series of swims
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Varying pace at will<\/p>\n

The key to holding pace over a distance is to know how you should FEEL (perceived exertion) as the distance progresses<\/span>. You would not warm up for a run by sprinting or running hard \u2013 this is a good way to get injured, or simply ruin your later sets. So it goes in the pool.<\/p>\n

Many SLOWER SWIMMERS find themselves trying to keep up with others<\/span> (or not slow them down) and start quickly and fade, never thinking about how they feel at all. They will have to get better at managing the act of letting faster swimmers through as they go at their own pace, especially at the start.<\/p>\n

COACHES should remember that poor pacers typically don\u2019t know how to time themselves.<\/span> They may even avoid or dislike doing it. You\u2019ll have to do this for them initially so they can learn by feel.<\/p>\n

An example from this morning:<\/strong><\/p>\n

6x100yd, 20sec rest, build effort by 25 from very easy to moderately hard<\/p>\n

By design, you\u2019re supposed to get faster with each 25, but this didn\u2019t happen and it turned into a pacing lesson. This is an easy set for experienced swimmers but deceptively difficult for current non-pacers to manage. First, you must realize that you have to MANAGE EFFORT THROUGH THE SET. Second, manage effort through EACH 100. Here\u2019s what happened to one swimmer, who was really great to work with:<\/p>\n

1st<\/sup> 100: 25yd in 29.5<\/strong>, 25yd in 28.5, 25yd in 30.5, 25yd in 31.0
\n2nd<\/sup> 100: 25yd in 29.5<\/strong>, 25yd in 29.5, 25yd in 30.5, 25yd in 31.5
\n3rd<\/sup> 100: 25yd in 30.5<\/strong>, 25yd in 30.5, 25yd in 31.0, 25yd in 31.5
\n4th<\/sup> 100: 25yd in 31.0<\/strong>, 25yd in 31.5<\/strong>, 25yd in 30.5<\/strong>, 25yd in 29.5<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was working with her each time to measure and moderate her effort<\/span> in an attempt to find optimal pacing, telling her the 25yd splits at the end of each 100. SWIMMERS NEED DATA to know how they\u2019re doing. What happened:<\/p>\n

1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Each successive 100 started slower (vertical bold numbers). She was coached to do this: I knew her times got slower in the 1st<\/sup> 100 because she went out too hard not only for that 100 but for the ENTIRE set.
\n2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 By the last 100 she was at a pace she could hold and even slightly improve. The NEXT TIME she does a similar set, she would aim to do her 25s in 32-33sec to start, a 2:10-2:15 per 100 pace. She\u2019ll have to learn to use her watch or the pace clock. (There were long breaks at times between these swims so even 31sec would be difficult for her to hold with minimal\/consistent rest.)
\n3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It took four tries before she went EASY enough on the first 25. This is typical.
\n4)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To her, 31sec felt like crawling compared to 28 or 29sec, but the effort was MUCH more manageable.<\/p>\n

Most people must go MUCH easier to start a long set than they imagine<\/span>. It can be difficult mentally to go slow when you know \u201cyou\u2019re much faster than this\u201d. However, the quality of your sets will improve, and the quality of your races (if you swim meets, open water, triathlon, etc\u2026) will improve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SWIM PACING \u2013 Part 1, Holding Pace The ability to pace eludes many people. There are several straightforward ways to look at the skill: –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Holding the same pace over a series of swims –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Increasing pace consistently over a series of swims –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Varying pace at will The key to holding pace over a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[127,126,74,121,125,124,42,123,122,16],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/racedaycoaching.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/header_81.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaycoaching.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaycoaching.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaycoaching.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaycoaching.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaycoaching.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=388"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/racedaycoaching.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":426,"href":"https:\/\/racedaycoaching.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388\/revisions\/426"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaycoaching.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaycoaching.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaycoaching.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaycoaching.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}