1500m Free?

I know Larsen Jensen broke his 1500 up into 15 100's. He and his coach came up with his splits that he wanted to swim for each 100, and when it came time for his race at Athens he was never more than .3 off the splits he had practiced for each 100.

I think a straight arm pull would be easier on her shoulder then the high elbow. The high elbow position requires shoulder rotation that is not natural for most people. Sure, the high elbow may be more effective, but if she is sidelined with a shoulder injury it won't really matter.

An off topic question here...how did you become a coach for these people? Did they just happen to come across you? Did you coach them at a club? Just curious.

First, on pacing... I'm like the 100's rather than the 400's to build an awareness. If you want to really clue them in on a pace, make sure it's timed feet to feet, not push to hand.

As far as a straight arm PULL, do you mean... straight arm RECOVERY? If it really is about a straight arm PULL, I'm right there with you Tyler... just seems silly and a very weak move in comparison to a good bent arm stroke.

It is straight arm pull. I was in the pool with my goggles to see the underwater movement (since I don't own an underwater camera lol). Swimming changes so fast sometimes I just was hoping I wasn't behind on a new technique.

The Grand Prix will be amazing. Have fun!

Tyler, could you please clarify the "straight arm pull" once more - is the difference in the timing (ie she is immediately starting to pull when entering the water) or in the movement (ie she is not bending her arm while pulling)?

I'm sure your right - but is it really a *straight* arm pull? I know I used to have what I thought was a *straight* arm pull but in actual fact my arm always naturally bent - it's just that I never proactively bent it. I used to find this a pretty efficient way to swim - though you have to be careful where you apply the arm pressure during the stroke.

Having said that I've been adjusting the last few months to a more proactive bent arm stroke.

Tyler,

As one having been down this route, I'd respond as follows.

There is no escaping that fact that you need to practice the distance in it's entirety at some stage (and then do this on a regular basis to build up endurance). Also, swimming beyond that distance in training (2-3km), does seem to assist me both mentally and physically when tackling a 1500m. I suppose you can work up to that by doing repeats (100s, 200s, pyramids etc) or just by trying to go longer each time. I find it helpful also to do "fartlech" (speedplay) work over the longer distances (i.e. do 200m steady, 100 fast, 200m steady etc)

But, completing the distance is just one part. Training to do it faster is the other. Last year in the London Triathlon, I'd done lots of repeats up to and over the distance in training which gave me the endurance to get through the race quite comfortably (I was about 18th out of the water out of a field of about 250), but I felt that I lacked the power to put in a bit of pace now and again.

So, this year I've mixed up the training. Generally, I have one two-hour club session a week which totals around 5km in distance. This is usually comprised of 200m sets of drills, kicks and pulls, with a main set of 1500m (sub-22min), 1000m (sub-15min) and 500m (sub- 8 min), and finishing maybe with 6 x 50s/or 25s then 200m warm down. I find this to be an absolute killer but the payoffs in terms of stamina is great.

The rest of the week (maybe 3 - 4 swims) I do shorter sessions & distances (about 2500m) over the course of one hour. Usually, I do a 200-300 warm-up (which I now devote to drills) and main sets of:
- 12 x 100m (leaving on 1.45, sometimes descending);
- 16 x 50m on 1.00min; 16 x 50m kick off 1.15 [this is fun for a predominately distance swimmer as you have to turn your arms and kick over at a much higher rate - can feel odd at first]
- repeats of 200, 300, 400 to total around 2km

To put this in perspective, when I first tried a timed 1000m a couple of years ago, I came in on around 18mins. Since, I've managed a 14.30 but aim to break that this year.

Also, although it's a real wrench, I've given up some swim time each time I train to drills and that's had a great effect too (I went right back to basics - balance, rotation, timing etc).

In summary, mixing up long straight swims with aerobic threshold & lactate tolerance work seems to have helped my distance times. But, there again, drilling has also helped a lot too.