After having a disappointing state meet and just a general lack of enthusiasm for the sport I took a couple weeks off of swimming and lifting to reset. I got it in my head that it would be really cool to swim a 500yd butterfly. Problem was is that my technique needed work and that even in practice I struggled to do even a 200fly.
So I decided to just go a little at a time and really concentrate on technique and not worry about the clock. Started with doing aorund 2-400 then worked my way up to doing 1000 yards work of workout sets. just 25's, 50's and some 75's.
After about 6-7 weeks of this I found that my stroke got a lot smoother and I could hold on for sets of 100's and even the occasional 200.
Last week I decided to try to do a 300. It was a little slow but I saw the clock at 200 and I was right at 2:30 so my pace was pretty good..came in in under 4 minutes.. But what was really awesome was that even after the 300 I had enough in the tank to finish our workout doing half of it fly-about 2200 yards total!
2 days later at the other pool I swim at I told the coach about the workout and she knew that I wanted to do a 500 at the end of summer. She said why not at least try it now??
So I started out with a long kick off the walls for the first 200 and then it was just blood and guts from there. I concentrated at kept my stroke and glide really long and just let my mind focus on the task-not the pain!!!
After 350 I got so excited about finishing I nearly choked after taking in a little water, but I regained my composure and kept going for it.
At 450 I kept thinking "COME ON!! ALMOST GOT IT!!!"
At 475 there was no stopping me now!
At the end of 500 I was seeing spots!!!
Finished in 7:10
No one arm, no hanging out on the walls, just a straight swim!!
My splits per my coach on deck were 1:21, 1:31, 1:30, 1:32, 1:26.
Now my next goal is to get this under 6mins by february 2013..maybe do it in a masters meet.
I'm pretty much decided to abandon freestyle and work on getting through my entire workouts doing 80% butterfly.
Any more tips and suggestions regarding this goal would be appreciated.
After having a disappointing state meet and just a general lack of enthusiasm for the sport I took a couple weeks off of swimming and lifting to reset. I got it in my head that it would be really cool to swim a 500yd butterfly. Problem was is that my technique needed work and that even in practice I struggled to do even a 200fly.
So I decided to just go a little at a time and really concentrate on technique and not worry about the clock. Started with doing aorund 2-400 then worked my way up to doing 1000 yards work of workout sets. just 25's, 50's and some 75's.
After about 6-7 weeks of this I found that my stroke got a lot smoother and I could hold on for sets of 100's and even the occasional 200.
Last week I decided to try to do a 300. It was a little slow but I saw the clock at 200 and I was right at 2:30 so my pace was pretty good..came in in under 4 minutes.. But what was really awesome was that even after the 300 I had enough in the tank to finish our workout doing half of it fly-about 2200 yards total!
2 days later at the other pool I swim at I told the coach about the workout and she knew that I wanted to do a 500 at the end of summer. She said why not at least try it now??
So I started out with a long kick off the walls for the first 200 and then it was just blood and guts from there. I concentrated at kept my stroke and glide really long and just let my mind focus on the task-not the pain!!!
After 350 I got so excited about finishing I nearly choked after taking in a little water, but I regained my composure and kept going for it.
At 450 I kept thinking "COME ON!! ALMOST GOT IT!!!"
At 475 there was no stopping me now!
At the end of 500 I was seeing spots!!!
Finished in 7:10
No one arm, no hanging out on the walls, just a straight swim!!
My splits per my coach on deck were 1:21, 1:31, 1:30, 1:32, 1:26.
Now my next goal is to get this under 6mins by february 2013..maybe do it in a masters meet.
I'm pretty much decided to abandon freestyle and work on getting through my entire workouts doing 80% butterfly.
Any more tips and suggestions regarding this goal would be appreciated.
Good job! Make sure to join the Butternuts: www.grinswim.org/.../butternuts.html
80% butterfly in training is aggressive. 25% is good, and 40-50% is really good.
Good job! Make sure to join the Butternuts: www.grinswim.org/.../butternuts.html
80% butterfly in training is aggressive. 25% is good, and 40-50% is really good.
Congratulations!!! :applaud:
Yep! I took That Guy's suggestion and joined the Butternuts! Join us!! And, check out my thread where you can see the graphic of the t-shirt you will receive after you join: 900 yard Butterfly- Really! - U.S. Masters Swimming Discussion Forums
I did continuous 2,000 fly one week ago, however, my pace was a lot slower than yours! :cane:
Cheers!
:chug:
Former Member
Well done. That is a great effort. It shows that working on your fly technique and rythm you can do it over long distances. Once you do that it also gives you great confidence that you can rac a great 200 fly
Good for you! After years of doing a good fast 150 fly & a dreadful 50 at the end, I have learned to slow my pace WAY DOWN to where I can do 1,000 fly & still live to tell the tail !:D
