Any advice on how to train for a 100 and 200 breaststroke? I don't get to do a lot of breaststroke in practice with my team. But I swim on my own once a week, so I'd like to add a set specific to the 100 and 200 breaststroke, especially the 200. So I'd appreciate any suggestions on how to train for that event. 200 breaststroke is my best and favorite event, but I've not raced much since I was a kid, so I never put any thought into training specifically for it. Thanks!
Shera,
First of all, the 200 breaststroke is a beautifully difficult event. The 200 fly gets all the "street cred" as being the biggest, baddest 200 stroke event, but those of us in the know fully realize that the 200 *** is a beast.
As for training for it in your team workouts, my recommendation would be to move to a slower-interval'd lane and do breaststroke when everyone else is doing freestyle. After all, freestyle sets are, well, free-style and any stroke is allowed.
My second bit of advice would be to suggest to your coach that freestyle-centric only workouts are boring, not in the best interest of developing his/her swimmers and, well, boring ;)
As for your days when you train by yourself, this is a golden opportunity to do some pace work. At the risk of exposing myself to flaming for blatant self-promotion, I'd suggest you try my workout #3 (done breaststroke instead of IM) from this week's Stroke & IM workout thread - forums.usms.org/showthread.php. For me, this set is a very good predictor of what I'm going to be able to do in a meet for a 200.
Shera,
First of all, the 200 breaststroke is a beautifully difficult event. The 200 fly gets all the "street cred" as being the biggest, baddest 200 stroke event, but those of us in the know fully realize that the 200 *** is a beast.
As for training for it in your team workouts, my recommendation would be to move to a slower-interval'd lane and do breaststroke when everyone else is doing freestyle. After all, freestyle sets are, well, free-style and any stroke is allowed.
My second bit of advice would be to suggest to your coach that freestyle-centric only workouts are boring, not in the best interest of developing his/her swimmers and, well, boring ;)
As for your days when you train by yourself, this is a golden opportunity to do some pace work. At the risk of exposing myself to flaming for blatant self-promotion, I'd suggest you try my workout #3 (done breaststroke instead of IM) from this week's Stroke & IM workout thread - forums.usms.org/showthread.php. For me, this set is a very good predictor of what I'm going to be able to do in a meet for a 200.
