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Wallace takes the keyboard...

"I love the smell of sprinting in the morning."* That smell, that mixture of morning fog tousled by high-turnover swimming. Set intervals that make you say, “What!?”

When Tim doles out 100 and 200 intervals that make me wonder if I am in the right lane, I find comfort in the tactics that he and Mike Ingardia shared regarding swimming these distance a few years back.

On the 100 yard swim, Tim highlighted that the human body can really only sprint 75 yards. So an effective way to master a 100 yard sprint is to treat the first 25 as a length to build to your ultimate pace. The real work starts at the first wall. After that I generally find that fitness is good for the next 50, and pride is in charge of the last 25.

Mike Ingardia later highlighted that the above does NOT work for a 200. “Split it evenly” is the advice I remember. So how do I split a 200 yard threshold piece evenly? How do I leave the piano on the deck rather than dragging it through the deep end? Build by 50. As perceived exertion increases, so does fatigue…so speed stays constant. I usually need to count on pride for the last 50 yards when swimming 200’s at threshold though.

*credit to Robert Duvall

warm up: 8 x 100's free, last 2 done as fast 50's with 5 second break

500, 300, 300, 500 (first 300 and last 500 done at threshold pace)

8 x 100's free: 2 strong, 2 easy, 2 strong, 2 easy

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