Over the last weekend I competed in 50m and 100m LCM butterfly.
I can swim the events, but I am just not able to keep my stroke together and remain at a reasonable speed (I would say fast, but even when sprinting it takes me about 36 secs per 50m SCM). I then deteriorate into 'survival' fly, where my hips drop and the priority is breathing on each stroke.
On the 50m, I started to struggle over the last 10m, which lost me a few seconds. On the 100m, I went out a bit slower, but by the time I got to the second 50m I was really struggling. This meant it took me around 55 secs to do the second 50m.
I've done a lot of fly in training recently, so I didn't expect it to be so tough.
In contrast, I did the 100m freestyle, and kept my intensity near maximum throughout, so I'm not sure why fly would be so different?
I do all of my training in a 25m pool, so do I really need to get to a 50m pool to get used to longcourse?
Is part of the problem oxygen debt? I seem to have trouble breathing properly on fly, as I am normally rushing to get my head back down after a very short breath.
I saw in the archives a topic about fly endurance. It suggested working on sets of 25m, then 50m, then 75m until doing 6x75m at a good pace. Another suggestion is doing 8x25m fly and decreasing the rest with each workout. My coach suggested doing 20x25m of 6 stroke fly followed by easy freestyle into the wall. That doesn't seem to be working for me, because it seems to be teaching me to swim 6 strokes then relax.
Would you recommend one of the above training methods or another one?
Is land training essential for conditioning to the level required, as most of my training is pool based right now?
Sorry for the long topic, with lots of questions. Hopefully, I will find some help here or just pointed towards some articles/training methods that work.
A few thoughts:
If you really want to race butterfly in long course, then you must practice it long course. You can 'survive' a long course fly race if you only train in short course, but there will be lots of pain.
I do love racing the 200 fly (SCM or SCY), I find that my butterfly falls apart pretty quickly in workout, so most of my repeats are 25s or 50s. I really only do a straight 100 fly in workout when I'm doing a 400 IM. I will never do a 200 fly in a workout, because my stroke will just degrade. Like, never, ever, ever.
When I am training to race a 200 fly, I tend to start with something like 6 or 8 x 50 where I'm aiming to hit my target race pace on each 50. When I first start doing this set, I'll set the interval at 20 seconds above my target race pace. If I get to the point where that is really comfortable, I'll drop the interval to 15 seconds above target race pace. As I get closer to race day, I'd probably do 4 to 6 x 50 and set the interval at 10 seconds above target race pace.
The biggest key to surviving a 200 fly, is to be as relaxed as possible on the first 100. I once read a former Olympian compare it to 'sleeping through' the first 100. Then start to build the 3rd 50 ... but not too much ... so that you can be strong on the last 50. Whenever I've adhered to that approach, the time has been good and the pain well-managed.
Beyond all of the above ... or, rather, before all of the above, see if you can have a good technique coach help work on your form.
Thanks for the advice.
It seems my plan of doing repeats off 1 min/each 25m (so, 50m is done off 2 mins etc.) may be a bit too easy. But I'm going to make it a long term goal to keep training towards the 200m fly, so I can adjust the rest/distance as I improve. Whatever I do, I will aim to hold about 20 secs/25m swim time, as that's roughly what I can do when holding a good stroke without going all out.
I may add in longcourse training too, or train towards a longer distance than 200scm, like a 250m or 300m.
A few thoughts:
If you really want to race butterfly in long course, then you must practice it long course. You can 'survive' a long course fly race if you only train in short course, but there will be lots of pain.
I do love racing the 200 fly (SCM or SCY), I find that my butterfly falls apart pretty quickly in workout, so most of my repeats are 25s or 50s. I really only do a straight 100 fly in workout when I'm doing a 400 IM. I will never do a 200 fly in a workout, because my stroke will just degrade. Like, never, ever, ever.
When I am training to race a 200 fly, I tend to start with something like 6 or 8 x 50 where I'm aiming to hit my target race pace on each 50. When I first start doing this set, I'll set the interval at 20 seconds above my target race pace. If I get to the point where that is really comfortable, I'll drop the interval to 15 seconds above target race pace. As I get closer to race day, I'd probably do 4 to 6 x 50 and set the interval at 10 seconds above target race pace.
The biggest key to surviving a 200 fly, is to be as relaxed as possible on the first 100. I once read a former Olympian compare it to 'sleeping through' the first 100. Then start to build the 3rd 50 ... but not too much ... so that you can be strong on the last 50. Whenever I've adhered to that approach, the time has been good and the pain well-managed.
Beyond all of the above ... or, rather, before all of the above, see if you can have a good technique coach help work on your form.
Thanks for the advice.
It seems my plan of doing repeats off 1 min/each 25m (so, 50m is done off 2 mins etc.) may be a bit too easy. But I'm going to make it a long term goal to keep training towards the 200m fly, so I can adjust the rest/distance as I improve. Whatever I do, I will aim to hold about 20 secs/25m swim time, as that's roughly what I can do when holding a good stroke without going all out.
I may add in longcourse training too, or train towards a longer distance than 200scm, like a 250m or 300m.
