Hello everyone! I'm sure there is already a bunch of advice on here about this, but I figured some up-to-date, fresh information wouldn't hurt. First, a little background info.
I've only been back in the water for a little over a month. I took a 6-month hiatus to let a bad case of shoulder bursitis heal after almost two years of open water marathon swimming. I'm migrating back to the pool and "shorter" events now, and I badly want to compete in my first 400 IM in November. That gives me a little bit over four months to train. Currently, I only am able to swim twice weekly for about 45 minutes each. Hopefully, within six weeks or so, I'll be able to up that to 3-4 times weekly. However, I am supplementing that with two dry land (running/stationary bike) sessions per week, too.
Are there any training plans out there that you'd recommend for preparing for such a grueling event? It's no multi-mile open water marathon, but I'm still re-learning the other three strokes and I currently can only do about 50 yards of butterfly consecutively, let alone the full 100 followed by the remainder of the IM. I'm comfortable with the other three strokes, but definitely have tons of room to improve. I'm possibly looking for useful sets/drills that I can do in under an hour that will help me prepare. I used to compete in 200 IM events in high school, but that was a long time ago and I want to up the anti this time. Thanks so much for any advice and pointers! :bow:
Based on this I think the key for you is to work on your butterfly endurance ...
Agreed. When I started working on 400 IM several years ago (and I'm still working on it), the biggest puzzle was how to swim 100 fly, and still have enough left in the tank to finish the race. In service of that end, I started working on a long stroke length, low stroke count, low turnover rate style of butterfly we now call "DPS fly", though others call it "butterglide" or "gliderfly". Here is a post that sorta introduces the style. It tends to be slower than regular fly, but not that much slower, and it saves a lot of energy. That Guy (yes, that one) has had a lot of success with it, especially in events like the LCM 800 IM and 1650 fly.
... Do 100 IMs, for example, where you are taking 5 or 10 seconds between each stroke.
My latest favorite 400 IM training set is 100 fly, 100 back, 100 ***, 100 free, on intervals which give roughly 10 sec rest between 100s. The add-ups are pretty close to race times.
Based on this I think the key for you is to work on your butterfly endurance ...
Agreed. When I started working on 400 IM several years ago (and I'm still working on it), the biggest puzzle was how to swim 100 fly, and still have enough left in the tank to finish the race. In service of that end, I started working on a long stroke length, low stroke count, low turnover rate style of butterfly we now call "DPS fly", though others call it "butterglide" or "gliderfly". Here is a post that sorta introduces the style. It tends to be slower than regular fly, but not that much slower, and it saves a lot of energy. That Guy (yes, that one) has had a lot of success with it, especially in events like the LCM 800 IM and 1650 fly.
... Do 100 IMs, for example, where you are taking 5 or 10 seconds between each stroke.
My latest favorite 400 IM training set is 100 fly, 100 back, 100 ***, 100 free, on intervals which give roughly 10 sec rest between 100s. The add-ups are pretty close to race times.
