I've got a bug in my head that I want to break 1:00 in the 100 *** at Nationals in May. I was a backstroker/IMer in college and so never got a chance to swim breaststroke races rested (or really any breaststroke races at all - I think I did about 2 100s and 2 200s my whole college career). I did a 31.2 SCM 50 on 2 months of training (after 6 years off) with a completely jammed turn so I think this isn't an unreasonable goal.
Problem is, I know breaststroke training is a bit different than anything I have experience in - I'd probably wear out my knees and/or pull a groin trying to just sub out some of my best backstroke sets with ***. Anybody have insight on good drills or sets for building breaststroke speed? I'm most interested in learning about 1) progressive type stuff - things I can repeat or build on and be able to measure progress, and 2) drills for building effective stroke rate.
Not sure about a coherent program, but here are some thoughts. SCY BR is nearly as much about underwaters as SCY BK. If you have good streamlining and good breath control that will really help. Make sure you are really warmed up before you do any BR kick in a workout. I have started doing eggbeater kick with snorkel in warm up to get my legs ready to kick. Do some really slow BR in warm up to work on technique and to get loosened up. Then,still in warm up, increase the speed until you get to at least 200 pace intensity. In the actual workout, I do only race pace BR or faster. The USRPT idea of 25s at race pace with 15 sec. rest is OK, except it doesn't help the turns and doing them with a turn at the end makes it hard to quantify. For this reason I do mostly 50s at 100 pace. To save my knees I don't do many 50s as full stroke, doing mostly BR pull/dolphin kick with fins as that still gets the timing right,It is a good drill for timing and for faster than race pace feeling. Then I finish with AFAP eggbeater 25s with snorkel. I find eggbeater kicking is much easier on the knees, uses the same muscles as the kick, and really gives the legs a workout. You can do them as vertical kicking if you prefer.
For the turns, make sure you are in a tight ball for the turn, then make sure you are in a ridged line for the streamline. You only get one dolphin kick, so make it a good one. Similarly, you only get one pulldown, so make it really strong. Shrug your shoulders to streamline after the pulldown. As you slow down make your kick and then immediately begin the next pull, just make sure your head breaks the surface before the insweep(you probably knew all that, but it bears repeating.) Good luck on your quest, see you at Indy.
Not sure about a coherent program, but here are some thoughts. SCY BR is nearly as much about underwaters as SCY BK. If you have good streamlining and good breath control that will really help. Make sure you are really warmed up before you do any BR kick in a workout. I have started doing eggbeater kick with snorkel in warm up to get my legs ready to kick. Do some really slow BR in warm up to work on technique and to get loosened up. Then,still in warm up, increase the speed until you get to at least 200 pace intensity. In the actual workout, I do only race pace BR or faster. The USRPT idea of 25s at race pace with 15 sec. rest is OK, except it doesn't help the turns and doing them with a turn at the end makes it hard to quantify. For this reason I do mostly 50s at 100 pace. To save my knees I don't do many 50s as full stroke, doing mostly BR pull/dolphin kick with fins as that still gets the timing right,It is a good drill for timing and for faster than race pace feeling. Then I finish with AFAP eggbeater 25s with snorkel. I find eggbeater kicking is much easier on the knees, uses the same muscles as the kick, and really gives the legs a workout. You can do them as vertical kicking if you prefer.
For the turns, make sure you are in a tight ball for the turn, then make sure you are in a ridged line for the streamline. You only get one dolphin kick, so make it a good one. Similarly, you only get one pulldown, so make it really strong. Shrug your shoulders to streamline after the pulldown. As you slow down make your kick and then immediately begin the next pull, just make sure your head breaks the surface before the insweep(you probably knew all that, but it bears repeating.) Good luck on your quest, see you at Indy.
