Here in the DVLMSC we area a little thin on meets this time of year. I imagine that this is true in many other places as well. Therefore, for fun, and to help sustain the motivation to train, I set forth this Independence Day challenge: Swim an 800 IM, time yourself and report your result here.
To kick off this challenge, (and since I know that someone would call my bluff on this if I didn’t do it myself) I did my 800 IM today (SCY) and swam it in 11:50. Splits were:
2:55 (fly in 2:55)
5:44 (back in 2:49)
8:13 (*** in 3:29)
11:50 (free in 2:37)
(Next stop, :bed:)
To compare swimmers of different ages and genders, compute your rating as follows:
1) Go to the Australian Masters Swimming records and find the record for the SCM 800 IM for your age group and gender.
www.portal.aussi.org.au/.../records.php
For example, for my age group, M45-49, the record is 10:53.34, held by someone named Mark Smedley. (What a great name for an IMer!)
2) Convert the Australian SCM record to SCY with the swimming world time converter.
www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../conversions.asp
(Just use the 400 IM conversion. Hey, this is for fun, we don’t have to be precise here.) For example, Mr. Smedley’s time converts to 9:45.39 SCY.
3) Convert both your time and the record time to a total number of seconds, and take the ratio of the record time to your time. For example, Mr. Smedley’s record time is 585s and my time was 710s, so my rating is 585/710 = 0.82. In other words my speed is 82% of that of the record swim for my age group and gender.
4) If you swim it SCM you won’t have to convert. If you swim it LCM, you can use the Austrailian LCM record and you will also not need to convert.
Anyone who completes this challenge gets a :banana: .
The highest overall rating gets a :bow: .
If you complete this challenge LCM, you are :weightlifter: .
So are there any takers? tjrpatt, That Guy, pwb, jaadams1, gdanner, couldbebetterfly? I know that there are some distance fly/IM types out there just itching to do this, so find a pool and celebrate the holiday! Any non-US swimmers, here is your chance to show that your motherland outshines the ‘States.
I like the pentathlon workout and the double brute. I don't know about that 3300 though... maybe as backstroke... :rolleyes:
Next training cycle I'm focusing on the 800 IM and 400 fly. Something different!
I like the pentathlon workout and the double brute. I don't know about that 3300 though... maybe as backstroke... :rolleyes:
Next training cycle I'm focusing on the 800 IM and 400 fly. Something different!
Good!! At least I won't see you in anymore 400 IMs or 200 Flys then! :D
It has been an Independence Day challenge weekend. I tried to post an 800 IM yesterday but upon hitting the wall in 9:48, I could only conclude that I had done a 750. So today I took another crack at it. Yesterday's swim was a real pain-fest, so today I tried something different. I did DPS fly instead of regular fly. My fly leg was slower, around 2:35 instead of 2:25, but I made most of that up on the backstroke leg, which was not a recovery swim for a change. I ended up at 10:27, right in between my prior efforts of 10:21 and 10:31 in this event. My free leg today could have been faster so I think DPS fly doesn't slow me down, overall. This strategy is the one I'll use when I swim the 800 IM in competition next month! :banana:
...today I tried something different. I did DPS fly instead of regular fly. My fly leg was slower, around 2:35 instead of 2:25, but I made most of that up on the backstroke leg, which was not a recovery swim for a change. ...My free leg today could have been faster so I think DPS fly doesn't slow me down, overall.
That was my experience too.
U.S. Masters Swimming Discussion Forums - View Single Post - Independence Day challenge
... 800 IM ... LCM ... 11:23.83.
:applaud: :applaud: :applaud: :bow:
Can somebody explain DPS butterfly (or better, link a youtube video)?
A start --> U.S. Masters Swimming Discussion Forums - View Single Post - The Butterfly Lane
Most Impressive "That Guy" - I presume zones means USA-S meet? I'll bet their mamas were screaming for them to catch you!
:applaud: :applaud: :applaud: :bow:
A start --> U.S. Masters Swimming Discussion Forums - View Single Post - The Butterfly Lane
Thanks guys! It was a Masters meet: www.swimphone.com/.../meet_menu.cfm
A big +1 to Swimosaur's link. I learned DPS fly by watching those videos of Ida Marko-Varga. My interpretation of it is a bit different than hers (I take 3 kicks per stroke, whereas she says that she only takes one (though it looks like she takes two)) but we both have a glide phase which is the key to saving energy and being able to swim fly for longer distances.
Yesterday I raced an 800 IM in competition for the first time, in the 800 free event at NW LCM Zones. I used DPS fly and it was super effective. I was leading my heat at the 400 mark, but then two guys pulled ahead of me while I was swimming breaststroke. I got the lead back on my freestyle leg. My time was 11:23.83. That was fun! It did hurt though. Yeah. It did.
