In a tri session Id get them doing that choice no FC, Bk or Kick Chat / Social Kick.
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That seems too fast (imo).
Our main club coach has 4 guide paces. Fast, tempo, cruise and slow. He specifically uses slow instead of easy, as he thinks people associate “easy” with sloppy swimming, whereas as H indicates above, when he says slow he almost wants even better form as you have loads of time per stroke to focus on technique. Slow swimming is some of the most demanding in a session.
Anyway, slow would be easily 5-10s/100 slower than cruise. Cruise is in the range of 70.3-full distance pace. Tempo is more what you’d hold for a 1k effort (maybe 1500 if fully conditioned) and he’d expect that to be at least 5s/100 faster than cruise. And fast is what it says on the tin, and again, should be 5-10s/100 faster than tempo.
Before I got my recent wrist injury, I was just getting back into some decent shape. I was doing high teens per 100 on fast 100s, my tempo pace was high 20s, cruise low 30s and slow in the 1:40 range. So that’s a good 20-25s difference across the various paces.
I’ll caveat that those paces were helped by the draft effect as I only occasionally led the lane. Solo, I’d got back to doing a 1500 in under 24mins, so 1:36/100 pace.
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Few was the wrong word, yes 5-10s for me but it varies depending on the day and the swimmer . I wanted to convey that it wasn’t a huge amount.
Some days a moderate perceived effort gives me 1:40, 1:45 or 1:50. Easy, perceived, can be a few seconds off that if my form is good or ship out to 2:00/100.
So I also want to convey that when you’re training by perceived effort don’t aim for a pace, aim for an effort. If you have a coach on deck, you can ask for a technique check that might put your pace back into expected.
This is largely what we work too as well. I really enjoy the sessions that are mixed with fast and slow/easy. The fast is just balls out and the slow you can really concentrate on your stroke.
I’m in a bit of situation where I’m the fastest in the lane now but moving up one seems a big jump. I suppose I might be alright clinging onto feet
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I break it up as:
Easy - CSS - Tempo - Hard
Easy is easy
CSS you can calculate, 1500 pace in theory.
Tempo, between CSS & hard. Higher stroke rate for me without pushing the effort too much & not too disimilar to 750m race pace.
Hard is hard.
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Last nights tri squad set (performance juniors) (1 lane does 1hr, other lane does 1.5 hence “extras” set focus 400 pace
WU 19:00
400m FC focus on DPS
200m kick with fins KonS L/R , Bk , Fly on Bk. Mix
4 x 50m pull descending on 1min RPE6-9
Build 19:17
16 x 25 7RPE FC 8 with fins 8 w/o, hold same pace
Main 19:26m
4 x 200 broken, 150 @ 400pace, 20sec ri, 50 fast. on 5mins
8 x 25 on 1mins (sprint 15,20,25,easy)
19:55 relays
Extras (20:00)
2 x (4 x 100) on 1.45 (DPS, 17 - 20 strokes try to hold 400 pace)
4x25 stroke count between 2 sets
CD kick chat
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Sighting, deep water starts, mass starts, no goggle mass water swimming and back stroke turn around bouys practise with the club tonight. That was a lot of fun. Cleared quite a few out of the pool though and I’ve genuinely got jaw ache from taking a solid kick to the face. But that could be race day, loved it
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Based on current form;
If I can do 5/7 stroke breathing, then it’s easy 
I tend to glide and/or overreach, though.
Current form has my easy at about 1:43/100m.
Hard would be 1:24/100m.
It’s then a bit of an odd jump to 1:32/100m for something tempo-ish. Not yet under that 1:30/100m mark, which is why I’ve held off on a 400m TT 
Then cruising is 1:37/100m.
Pretty pleased with what I’ve done over just 21 swims, 11hrs and 40km since April 9th 
I’d like to be faster, get back to doing 4km in under and hour of moving time, but there’s a whole year to do that 
Pretty bored of my own swim plans now, need to
Mix it up with some new stuff, but it takes time finding sets and printing them, learning them, etc etc 
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What’s the plan?
For me “easy” is currently about 2 minutes per 100 I think. That’s the sort of equivalent of jogging, could keep this going as long as needed & can happily daydream away.
Tempo - the sort of pace I can keep going for half an hour or so - seems to be about 1m40 per 100m
Think I could possibly still just about bash a 400m out in 6 minutes, but it wouldn’t be pretty, that would be a hard pace. Might give it a try next time the pool is free of NPCs 
This is however on about 7 swims per week 
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I’ve not yet gone sub 6min for a 400m, PB is 6:06 from back in October & I’ve improved a chunk since then so optimistic it’s in there just need the pool space to go for it.
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Noticed you churning out some pretty fast intervals recently
Now that @stenard has schooled me in how to use a watch, I’m starting to get some interval data - this was from a few days ago:
Feel like I could probably string 2 of those 200s together, although might need a lie down afterwards
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A minute rest! 
Did you get out and have a biscuit?
@buzz - The plan is to dig out my plan from just before June 2021 and repeat that, but with some sprinkles on top 
Test swim is this under an hour;
4 x 400m
4 x 300m
4 x 200m
4 x 50m
200m pull buoy cool down
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To no-ones surprise, my zones are all quite close.
Did 2km yesterday taking it easy coming in about 1:40 per 100m.
“hard” would be about 1:28-1:30
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He is getting on a bit 
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Depends what you are resting and recovering from and going into. Ive seen swim sets 4 x 100 on 15mins, getting out and “sleeping” between reps.
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Would you do 5x3’ on the bike/run with 10s rest between?
Don’t understand why triathletes are so against taking rest in swimming.
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16 biscuits there 
I’m thinking choc hobnobs for the 400s and jaffa cakes for the rest
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I wouldn’t do any intervals on the bike or run 
But neither would I take just 10s rest whilst swimming 
For 200m, I’d probably take 25s rest, hoping to make 3:00, so the wall clock maths is nice and easy and I don’t lose count 
I meant is there a plan for an event in 2025? Or just a plan to swim faster?
Your sprinkles look like jelly fish…
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