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.
When I used to swim the 200 fly, as I did for many years, I paced myself so I would negative split the race. I used my 200 timing which is a lot different than the 100....and I never collasped during the last 25. You "float" the first 100, the pick up the pace, the last 50 hurts and the last 25 is a sprint. Does anyone remember the man who died at the end of the 200 fly in Florida? He was only 36! And he could hardly get his arms out of the water on the last 25, collapsing and dropping under the water at the finish. His friends were all cheering, "Come on...you can do it!". I would like to suggest that anyone doing the 200, in shape or not, modify their stroke, learn pacing and negative split this race. A word to the wise.
When I used to swim the 200 fly, as I did for many years, I paced myself so I would negative split the race. I used my 200 timing which is a lot different than the 100....and I never collasped during the last 25. You "float" the first 100, the pick up the pace, the last 50 hurts and the last 25 is a sprint. Does anyone remember the man who died at the end of the 200 fly in Florida? He was only 36! And he could hardly get his arms out of the water on the last 25, collapsing and dropping under the water at the finish. His friends were all cheering, "Come on...you can do it!". I would like to suggest that anyone doing the 200, in shape or not, modify their stroke, learn pacing and negative split this race. A word to the wise.
