We all know swimmers ring in the new year with the toughest, most grueling 1-2 weeks of training of the year. So how does the fastest 500 and 1650 freestyler in the world step it up from those 20 x 150s he did in the run-up to his record-breaking Winter Nationals performance? American Record Holder Zane Grothe recently traveled with Indiana University to Arizona State University for their annual holiday training trip. Below is a monster 4,000-yard set Zane did in just one of the many practices that week.
4 x 100 @ 1:10 white zone (heart rate 130-150bpm)
4 x 200 @ 2:20 white zone
4 x 300 @ 3:15 pink zone (around 150 bpm)
4 x 400 @ 4:10 red zone (150-170bpm)
:54, :54, :54, :54
1:53, 1:52, 1:51, 1:51
2:49, 2:48, 2:48, 2:47
3:35, 3:35, 3:34, 3:26!
You might be wondering how he managed to drop 8 seconds on his last 400 to go that jaw-dropping 3:26. Here’s how Zane describes it, “The 400s were supposed to be in the red heart rate zone, not all-out. But Coach Westphal egged me on at the end. I was pretending not to breathe hard just before the last one, joking that I should go a 3:30. He replied, smirking, ‘I was thinking under 3:30, at least, if you want to be good…’ So I did.” Had Zane held that pace for another 100, his 500 would have been about 4:17. In practice. From a push. Unshaved, unrested, and in the middle of holiday training. Yeah, he’s good.
You can see more of these “good” swims and support Zane on his journey to Tokyo by following his Instagram and Facebook pages, and by following Fike Swim on Instagram and Facebook. SWIM DIFFERENT! And #traininzane
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Swim Training courtesy of Fike Swim, a SwimSwam partner.
Ledecky workout performance
If one were going to do that set at a slower interval, would you maintain the rest time (i.e. 16 secs for 100s), or would you look at the percentage of swim/interval (77.1% for 100s) giving 1:09 at a 1:30 send-off?
Let me ask the coaches and see what they think.
Coach Looze says that they typically focus on maintaining the rest interval when they do slower sendoffs – so would maintain the 16 seconds.
Thanks for following up, Braden. Looking forward to adapting some of Zane’s sets as I prep for the 500 and 1650 at USMS Spring Nats in May.
Does he wear a heart rate monitor? I hope he starts crushing the 1500 LCM
Coach Looze says they use a Treffene ‘Bob & Jon’ EHR7FA Heartrate Monitor.
Fastest 500 & 1650 freestyler in the USA.
Not the world !!!!
name a non American who has gone faster in yards
Name a world record holder in the real pool in the past 20 years who has taken yards seriously. I bet Pierkens would have at least the mile record still. Woulda been obliterated if Hackett and Thorpe or Sun or Agnel before his epic decline got to it.
4:03 and 14:09 are conservatively on point with LC WR times. Zane is awesome, but not THE man… yet. Maybe we can start talking after some LC American records??
How much advantage are the turns in metres gained. Oops Yards.
probably not by sun yang with his turns, but i agree on the rest
Yang’s turns arent as bad as everyone thinks and he’s best in the business at generating speed from nothing. Look at some of his historic finishes. Dude would have no problem demolishing scy records. Even 200 Free I see no reason he can’t beat Townley. You seen his turns??
I think 1:43 low Yannick’s swim is a 1:28 mid, and that Biedermann’s WR woulda been a 1:27.
The rest of the world doesn’t waste their time swimming imperial SCY
So get FINA to do a one off championship???
Pffft….. dreaming.
I believe he just set the American record in the 500? Not last year, or 2 years ago, but just now. Mr. Grothe is obviously still getting better. I think we could all think that would relate to his LCM this upcoming summer. The people he’s now in front of in SCY were pretty beastly in LCM.
Does anyone know about how many yards or meters Zane would swim in a typical training week , or is it not so much about yards but quality? I understand Indiana is a high volume program so what does that mean exactly?
This is one main set in a workout and the set isn’t short at 5000 yards, and I’ve seen other ZG sets at the same (5×1000) or further. it’s a hybrid of quantity and quality
looks like a 4000 yd set to me
I don’t see how you think 3:26 400 translates to a 4:15 500. 3:26 is averaging 51.5 so another 51.5 would put it around 4:17. Obviously still insanely fast and impressive just was curious how you arrived at 4:15
Assume he went from a push off not dive. That may be how you get to a 4:15.
Yep, thanks for catching that! Wishful thinking!
I like how he stays 130-150 bpm for much of the set. For a man his age that would be very much in the aerobic zone, with comparatively little energy coming from anaerobic glycolysis.
Whatever his coach asks of him, Zane is willing to do it. At the very top level of swimming, you need that special relationship with your coach.
Zane has the American records in yards, now maybe it’s time to shoot for the ones in LCM.