Main Set Tuesday - March 20, 2012

This is another "planning" set.  You have to start with a pace you're going to finish with, and plan that you'll be able to hold that pace through the entire set.

The more you do sets like this, the more knowledge you'll have about where to start.  The more aware you are over time about your pace, you'll also be more aware of your pace during races.

Main Set (short course yards)
 - 8 x 50 on :50 holding a strong pace.  You want to hold this pace through the entire set
 - easy 100
 - 8 x 50 on :45 holding the same pace as the first set.
 - easy 100
 - 8 x 50 on :40 holding the same pace as the first set.
 - easy 100
 - 8 x 50 on :02 seconds rest.
 - easy 100

If you did this set as written, you'd know that at minimum, you'd have to go :38's on every 50 through the entire set.  As the rest decreases, the effort level increases.  If you went the extra mile and knew you wanted to be able to take one more step toward the perfect set, then you'd have to go at least :37's on all of the 50's, so you'd be going just a bit faster than the :40 second interval on the 3rd set.  

You have to think of the final set as swimming to failure, just like a weight workout.  You'll try to take very little rest, nearly a touch-and-go on the wall, holding the same time.  Once that time begins to increase, you've reached failure and you're done.  While the set reads as 8 x 50's, you may not make all 8 exactly as writen, but now you'll have a goal or record to break the next time you do the set.