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.
It has occurred to me that the 200 fly has something in common with a weight lifting set--the first couple repetitions are relatively easy, but as your muscles get progressively more fatigued, it becomes harder and harder to keep going. The last few strokes in the race are analogous to the final lift in the set--you are on the verge (assuming you haven't crossed over entirely) of muscle failure.
Something physiological must be taking place here, but the exact nature of which I have no idea. Are there any knowledgable exercise physiologists out there? If so, can you explain what precisely is happening on the final several strokes of the race, where it becomes almost impossible (at least for the likes of me) to get your arms out of the water?
Is it the case that lactic acid has built up so high that this has begun impeding the muscle fibers' ability to contract?
Or have the muscle fibers exhausted all immediately available fuel and/or oxygen?
Or is something else entirely the cause?
Whatever is going on, is there anyway (short of going slower early in the race, streamlining, etc.) to prepare your body for this moment of muscle failure--that is to say, to delay it?
It has occurred to me that the 200 fly has something in common with a weight lifting set--the first couple repetitions are relatively easy, but as your muscles get progressively more fatigued, it becomes harder and harder to keep going. The last few strokes in the race are analogous to the final lift in the set--you are on the verge (assuming you haven't crossed over entirely) of muscle failure.
Something physiological must be taking place here, but the exact nature of which I have no idea. Are there any knowledgable exercise physiologists out there? If so, can you explain what precisely is happening on the final several strokes of the race, where it becomes almost impossible (at least for the likes of me) to get your arms out of the water?
Is it the case that lactic acid has built up so high that this has begun impeding the muscle fibers' ability to contract?
Or have the muscle fibers exhausted all immediately available fuel and/or oxygen?
Or is something else entirely the cause?
Whatever is going on, is there anyway (short of going slower early in the race, streamlining, etc.) to prepare your body for this moment of muscle failure--that is to say, to delay it?
