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
It turns out my inlaws live about 2 miles from the Hollidaysburg pool, so I am familiar with it.
Jim, I wish I could have described my experiences swimming that event as well as you did; evidently some experiences are just universal. Maybe there really is a hell.
I swam the 200 fly last year at Santa Clara for the first time in my Masters career. As I approached the finish and passed under the flags, I doubted I could take as stroke and still recover over the water. If I couldn't, it would be a sure DQ, so I kicked the rest of the way in. I remember thinking that this must be the way a parapalegic felt - the arms would not do what the brain told them to do.
As I was deciding if I could possibly climb out of the pool, one of the timers looked down at me sadly, "You could have had a better time if you had taken another couple of strokes" he said.
It was also the only event I managed to place, and one of the happiest and proudest moments of my year. I'll do it again :)
It turns out my inlaws live about 2 miles from the Hollidaysburg pool, so I am familiar with it.
Jim, I wish I could have described my experiences swimming that event as well as you did; evidently some experiences are just universal. Maybe there really is a hell.
I swam the 200 fly last year at Santa Clara for the first time in my Masters career. As I approached the finish and passed under the flags, I doubted I could take as stroke and still recover over the water. If I couldn't, it would be a sure DQ, so I kicked the rest of the way in. I remember thinking that this must be the way a parapalegic felt - the arms would not do what the brain told them to do.
As I was deciding if I could possibly climb out of the pool, one of the timers looked down at me sadly, "You could have had a better time if you had taken another couple of strokes" he said.
It was also the only event I managed to place, and one of the happiest and proudest moments of my year. I'll do it again :)
