Training for 200m freestyle

You can not fake a 200m free the last length. Sounds like a quote for a t-shirt. :)

... broken 200s by 50 with 10 seconds rest between each 50 at your goal speed. This. :agree: I've been using 15 sec rest between each 50; it seems to be tough enough for this old guy. This set improved my times in all 200s this year.

One set my coach likes to give us that seems to work well for the 200 is something like: 200 fast 200, broken @ 100 for 20 sec* 200, broken @ each 50 for 10 sec* 200, broken @ each 25 for 5 sec* 200 FAST * for each broken swim, when you stop (except at the end), you should flip and do a foot touch. hand touch at the very end. I think we do them on about a 4 min interval, enough so you get about a minute rest after each. Have you swum a 200 in a meet before? If so, how was it, and when was it? Do you have a goal for this one? And I agree that the 200 is not a distance event. Perhaps a mid-distance at best.

I don't know how much you train now, but for the last month or 3 weeks you shouldn't train any more than normal or your muscles will be broken down and you will swim slower. You might want to swim less distance and do more race pace swimming, such as broken 200s by 50 with 10 seconds rest between each 50 at your goal speed. If your goal is to swim as fast as possible I also wouldn't touch any weights within 10 days to 2 weeks from your meet. If you have a bigger meet you are swimming later then you might want to just take 1 week off weights or even less than that.

For a good 200 you need good technique,good conditioning ,and good sense of pace.You should already be working on conditioning and technique,so I'd focus on pace until the meet,with decrease in yardage in the last 2-3 weeks if this is a taper meet.Figure out what your goal 2nd 100 and goal last 50 is.Do 100s at last 100 speed with 2x the swim time for recovery,or do broken 200s with each 50 at the goal time and 10-20 sec rest,then rest 1 min and go againx4-6.Or you can do the Rushall set of 50s at goal speed with 20 sec rest doing as many as you can at that pace,sitting out one when you can't make the time and continuing for about 20.(When I try the Rushall method I end up with the broken 200s as 4 in a row is what I can get at race pace,on a good day.)

I swim on ego and memory...... the 200 free actually requires yardage and training...... so I don't do it anymore.

I have no first hand tips for a distance event such as a 200, others more appropriate may chime in for that, but I do think any significant conditioning adaptation may be too late being a month away. With that said, look in to this for future 200's: forums.usms.org/showthread.php If you can make strength gains with dryland training, that can only help. Don't forget to taper some too. What can be accomplished is develop a strategy (check Ande's thread "Swimming Faster faster for the 200 pacing), work your streamline, block start. And a few tips would be to stretch your ankle's until the feet are floppy, and practice getting your arms streamlined locked behind head. For drills, just have your stroke analyzed and from there you can figure out what drills can help, and it appears you are already on to that. Good luck

There's a swim meet coming up in one and a half month's time, and i am planning to take on the 200m freestyle. Can anyone help me specific on what drills and sets should i be focusing on? And by the way i am training with weights too, following this program by jason lezak www.bodybuilding.com/.../jasonlezak1.htm I am on the speed training phrase now though. I am also doing the 3-3-3 drill swimspire recommended me and some finger drag catch up, but hope for some sets and other drills As Steve mentioned, one month's preparation will not give you too much opportunity to train specifically for the 200 freestyle. But you can use this as a 'time trial' just to get an idea of what level you are on for this particular event. I'm glad that you are using the drills I suggested. Go sparingly on the fingertip drag catchup as it is easy to get into the habit of swimming fullstroke that way. The best thing to do would be a combination of drills and fullstroke. For example, 25 drill, 25 fullstroke for a 200...You can also go for sets of kick and drill, then sets of drill and fullstroke. Variety is the key. Be sure to get your splits from the race and use this first time as a test run to see where you need to go from there. Good luck! Julia Galan www.swimspire.com

I have no first hand tips for a distance event such as a 200 Distance event? Spoken like a true sprinter!

Mr. Lezak's training methods are probably good in their own right .... but let's be honest.... he was not a middle distance swimmer. He was a 100 man. The 200m free needs more yardage based training to pull off succesfully. I would recommend getting in as much yardage as many days a week (in a long course pool) before this race as possible. You can not fake a 200m free the last length. A modest taper would be preferred as compared to a 100 free.