A 400-meter (or 500 yard) time trial or race is a great measuring stick for
any swimmer. It’s a sufficient distance that if you can maintain consistent efficiency and a consistent pace throughout you’d easily be able to extend that capacity to longer distances – 800m, 1500m and beyond.

Topic: 400 m freestyle : how to get ready ?
Conf: Racing - Pool or Open Water
From: Dominique Rongvaux

I intend to swim a 400 m freestyle at a masters meet in December. I have trained the TI way for six months, four hours a week, focusing mostly on efficiency. Do you have any training suggestions?

-My spl for 25 meters is 13-18 while doing “Gears” practice.
-As a stroke length builder exercise, I 'm striving to swim 1000 m @ 15 spl with Fistgloves. At this point I can complete that distance by swimming 10 x 100m with 5-8 yoga breaths between intervals.
Thanks.

From: Bill Oddy
Coincidentally, I’m also focused on 400 meters as a goal at this time. Our triathlon club holds regular 400-meter time trials. I’m aiming to hit the dizzy heights of sub-5-minutes. I'll begin by doing a personal time trial during a Masters workout to gauge how much I need to improve and repeat this about once a week to check my progress. My current pace for a "fast" 400 in training is 5:20, which I will aim to improve to 5:10.

In most of my distance swims – 1500 meters or longer – I’ve swum my best when I maintained a consistent 100m pace, so I’ll make that a focus of my training. The backbone of my plan is to regularly do a benchmark set
of two rounds of 6 x 100. I've chosen 6 x 100 as my "simulation set” because swimming 50 percent farther than my target distance, while getting a bit of rest each 100 seems a reasonable way to simulate the stress my body will experience in a nonstop 400.

And why will I break my simulation set into 100-meter repeats? I find 100m is a long enough distance to reduce the influence of my quicker first length on my average speed, but short enough to allow me to swim "well" for the full set. In longer repeats, say 200 to 400 meters, when I’m working to maintain a goal pace, struggle can occasionally overtake form, so when I am seriously working towards a goal I put form first.

Now there are a host of different ways to swim these 100m repeats:

1. Maintain constant pace and constant SPL (Strokes Per Length).
2. Increase pace per 100 through the set, but maintain constant SPL.
3. Maintain constant pace, but reduce SPL.
4. Maintain constant pace, but put in a burst of increased effort/speed on a different length on each 100.
5. Maintain constant pace, but increase effort/speed on the same length each time – i.e. 4th 25.

My general goal is to swim each of my 100m repeats fairly close to 72 seconds at a consistent stroke count. Whilst I am nowhere near that at the moment I think that this plan should point me in the right direction. During this training period, I will also throw in some sets of 200 repeats, for instance swapping a round of 6 x 100 for one of 3 x 200 and at least one timed 400 during my five weekly swims. By varying the distances I hope to avoid getting stale – a fast 200m places different demands on me than 2 x 100 fast.

For a distance like 400, I somewhat doubt the value of over-distance swims, like 500 to 800 meters, because I’m ever mindful of the possibility of losing form when trying to swim at these speeds, so I'd rather swim shorter repeats with good form than a longer struggle. If I feel I need to increase the degree of difficulty in my benchmark sets, I'd rather reduce my rest intervals than increase the distance. While I may begin with rest intervals of 15 to 20 seconds per 100, as I approach my goal I am hoping that five seconds rest
will be enough.

In addition to the goal-focused pace sets, I’ll spend about half my swim time doing TI drills. Why? Two reasons really, for the past few months (with kids holidays) it really has not been feasible to drill much and as a consequence I am not currently very happy with my stroke, and secondly whilst specific swim fitness will gain me a few seconds it won't gain me as many as better technique will – and I’ll need all the seconds I can find.

From: Terry Laughlin
Dominique, Bill’s advice is excellent and you would certainly improve your 400 time by following a program such as the one he suggests. A 400-meter (or 500 yard) time trial or race is a great measuring stick for any swimmer. It’s a sufficient distance that if you can maintain consistent efficiency and a consistent pace throughout – as Bill says his training is directed at – you’d easily be able to extend that capacity to longer distances – 800m, 1500m and beyond.

Bill’s suggestion of choosing a weekly test or benchmark set of two rounds of 6 x 100 is exactly what I’d suggest as the basic component for your training. Here are a few further suggestions:

1. Establish your SPL goal early in your “training season” (i.e. the period from now until the date of your race or time trial). Focus initially on being able to swim your repeats at that SPL. I’d suggest making that SPL perhaps one stroke lower than the count you’d like to maintain during the race or time trial.
2. Once you acclimate to the SPL, then focus on swimming as close as possible to the goal pace you are aiming for. Want to do 5:30 for 400m? Then you need to acclimate your body to a pace of 1:22 to 1:23 per 100. Take whatever rest you require in order to repeat your 100s at that pace and in your SPL range. Over the course of your training period, that required rest interval should gradually get shorter, down to 10 seconds or less as you approach the date of your race or time trial.
3. Consider doing some sets with active rest rather than conventional rest intervals. Instead of a 20-second rest, swim a recovery-pace 25 between timed 100s.
4. Bill’s suggestion to mix things up by occasionally swapping a set of 3 x 200 for one of 6 x 100 is also sound. Since he’s planning two rounds of 600 meters in repeats for his benchmark set, I’d replace 100s with 200s (or with 4 x 150) on the first round. That should make it seem a bit easier to hold the desired pace on the second round.

Also your practice of doing 10 x 100 on a rest interval of 5+ yoga breaths with Fistgloves is a great idea. You could follow that with a set of 5 to 6 x 100 without the Fistgloves. If you maintain the same SPL without the gloves that you used with the gloves, you'll swim faster with ease and control, which is always a good confidence builder. The first round will require discipline and imprint good efficiency. The second will show you how to apply that efficiency to produce "relaxed speed."

Doing similar sets according to the same principle – i.e. before a "speed" or "quality" set do a pre-set that prioritizes or challenges your efficiency – is a standard feature of my own training.

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