Descending Swim Sets

I thought descending sets were slower and slower....ascending sets are faster and faster...

or something like that?

p.s. never should yourself, or should on anyone else for that matter 

This means that each set of four gets gradually faster so #4, #8, #12 and #16 would be hard swims.

 Ex. :46, :44, :43, :42 ----- :45, :43, :42, :41 ----- :46, :42, :41, :40 ---- :45, :43, :41, :39

Does this help?

No.

hmmmmm, not saying I am right, but my reaction is different [eta - to the first response], I would descend 1-4, then start again descend 5-8, etc. 

So each set of four is a set of descending 50s.

And by descending, each successive 50 is faster than the previous.  (may know that part)

Interesting to see what others think [who posted while I was typing....]

In my Masters swim descending sets mean you go faster (descend in time).

For this set we would descend our time for each group of 4 sets.  Times would look like:
1 - 50 at 50 seconds
2 - 50 at 48 seconds
3 - 50 at 46 seconds
4 - 50 at 44 seconds (then repeat three more times)
5 - 50 at 50 seconds
6 - 50 at 48 seconds......

There might be different ways to do this as written but this is how I'd do it.

Yeah, I think it means... 4 x (4 x 50 descending)

Thanks for the replies!  That refreshes my recollection, that each successive set is to be faster.

Think descending in time it takes to complete the rep...meaning faster as ChrisM said.

think sets of 4

First one easy, second a bit faster and so on...last one hard pace.  Take a rest interval then go back to the first easy one.  Repeat til complete

Except each successive set isn't supposed to be faster. Each swim within each set is supposed to be faster. When you get to a new set, start over.

Ok that makes sense, descending time.

Answer

Yes. 

x2