Main Set Wednesday - January 18, 2011

Learning what a solid pace to hold is typically a work in progress... understanding how the water feels as you travel at that pace is a learned skill.

This simple set allows swimmers to figure out just what their pace fees like, but pre-planning needs to occur to really understand your pace and abilities.

Main Set (short course yards):
The goal of this set is to maintain the exact same pace for all the "stroke" portions of the set.  Whatever you go on the 25's, needs to be held through the entire set.  Example - if you start by holding :18s on the 25s, you'll need to be :36 on the 50, 1:12 on the 100, and 2:24 on the 200.  Knowing where you want to end up at the end, make it a complete set from the beginning.

8 x 25 on :30 - holding your goal pace
1 x 200 easy on 3:00 - free
4 x 50 on :50 - holding your goal pace
1 x 200 easy on 3:00 - free
2 x 100 on 1:30 - holding your goal pace
1 x 200 easy on 3:00 - free
1 x 200 on 3:00 - holding your goal pace
1 x 200 easy on 3:00 - free
(repeat)

The second time through this set should prove to be a bit more on target than the first set.  Swimmers will tend to overshoot the initial 25's, but with more knowledge the second time through, it should be a bit better.

Experience is key.