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.
Thanks ya'll!
I like the idea of the eggbeater kick, Allen. And my "training" such as it were has gotten to be much more USRPT-style as I only have an hour a session and usually can only go a couple times a week, so I skew toward shorter pace work than longer aerobic stuff (incidentally that's probably why I will never be a 400 IMer again :P ). The ***/dolphin kick with fins also is probably a good addition - I'm very gangly (6'1" with 6'8" wingspan) but not a freakishly strong kicker like a Cordes/Dugonjic type so I need to build the handspeed but it's tough for me with the long arms/legs.
As for the turns/pullouts... I have those down pretty well. That's probably the only thing breaststroke-related I don't need any help with! I "came of age" as the dolphin kick pullouts were legalized and they were basically my saving grace in IM events, so I've fine-tuned them a lot - and surprisingly they came back really quickly when I came back to the pool.
Thanks ya'll!
I like the idea of the eggbeater kick, Allen. And my "training" such as it were has gotten to be much more USRPT-style as I only have an hour a session and usually can only go a couple times a week, so I skew toward shorter pace work than longer aerobic stuff (incidentally that's probably why I will never be a 400 IMer again :P ). The ***/dolphin kick with fins also is probably a good addition - I'm very gangly (6'1" with 6'8" wingspan) but not a freakishly strong kicker like a Cordes/Dugonjic type so I need to build the handspeed but it's tough for me with the long arms/legs.
As for the turns/pullouts... I have those down pretty well. That's probably the only thing breaststroke-related I don't need any help with! I "came of age" as the dolphin kick pullouts were legalized and they were basically my saving grace in IM events, so I've fine-tuned them a lot - and surprisingly they came back really quickly when I came back to the pool.
