I signed up for the 200 fly next Sunday and am wondering if anyone has some advice on how to swim this. My twin brother told me he swam it in college, and by the last length, he felt he was actually moving backwards. I'd like to avoid that if at all possible.
To get into shape for this, I've been doing a lot of 25's fly with 10-15 seconds rest. I started doing 8 at a time and have worked my way up to 40. Yesterday, I did 20 x 25s then 10 x 50 on a minute.
Questions:
Pacing--reason would say to go out slow so you have something left for the second hundred, but I wonder if this is right. After all, you get tired either way, so maybe going out reasonably fast means you will end up with a better time (albeit a greater feeling of misery on the last length or two.) I'm not talking a sprint pace, but a reasonably fast clip. Or is this a recipe for disaster?
Stroke mechanics--does the fly need to be modified for a 200--i.e., not pulling all the way through, gliding longer, hand entry a bit wider than usual, etc. I've read that some people can swim a continuous mile butterfly, and I wonder if they are swimming the same stroke I do. It's hard to imagine...
I have only swum the 200 fly once--last year--and got a 2:30 on it. My 100 fly has improved this year (a 59.59 , the first time I've broken a minute since high school 31 years ago), and I am in better overall shape this year, so I am hoping to lower the 2:30 to at least a 2:25 (which would give me the Y age group record in our league.) Any advice from 200 flier veterans would be truly appeciated.
Thanks in advance for your words of wisdom.
Parents
Former Member
Jim,
Thanks again for beginning this discussion. I've considered myself a butterflyer for the many years I've dabbled in Masters swimming but never trained very seriously. I've felt for some time that I "should" be training more fly, but it was always just so much harder, and I've been satisfied with just swimming free or IM.
Since this thread began last week I've made the conscious decision to put more effort into butterfly.
Although it doesn't sound like much to some of you diehards out there, this morning I did 4X100 fly on 2:00. I never would have attempted this in a workout if not for this renewed sense of purpose here. (The 13 year old kid in the next lane, who just set the national record for 11-12 200 M fly last year got a real kick out of my effort).
Anyway, I may run into you at a meet sometime to talk to you in person; I'll be in 50-54 age group entered in any and all butterfly and IM events. Hope your 200 this weekend went well for you. I'm sure you'll let us know how it felt.
Jim,
Thanks again for beginning this discussion. I've considered myself a butterflyer for the many years I've dabbled in Masters swimming but never trained very seriously. I've felt for some time that I "should" be training more fly, but it was always just so much harder, and I've been satisfied with just swimming free or IM.
Since this thread began last week I've made the conscious decision to put more effort into butterfly.
Although it doesn't sound like much to some of you diehards out there, this morning I did 4X100 fly on 2:00. I never would have attempted this in a workout if not for this renewed sense of purpose here. (The 13 year old kid in the next lane, who just set the national record for 11-12 200 M fly last year got a real kick out of my effort).
Anyway, I may run into you at a meet sometime to talk to you in person; I'll be in 50-54 age group entered in any and all butterfly and IM events. Hope your 200 this weekend went well for you. I'm sure you'll let us know how it felt.
