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.
No, pool training should be enough. I just wanted to make sure you were doing aerobic training in the pool because I think that's critical if you want to improve your 100 fly. My personal opinion is at least a couple days a week (and ideally more) you should be doing a set where you are swimming with only short rest intervals for at least 20 minutes.
I swim 4-5 times a week if work allows. Some of those will be 1 hour club sessions, where I have little control over what I do, but I do like getting more backstroke practice by doing it instead of freestyle on some sets, which also increases difficulty. The other sessions will be in public lane swimming, but it's normally quiet enough to get a good varied longer session done. I save the fly for if there's lots of room, as switching to single arm to pass people ruins my momentum and stroke.
My fitness is still improving after stopping swimming for about 14 years. I've been back for about 2 years now, but I am still making regular progress. My bodyweight has improved greatly, as when not swimming I was a powerlifter and was over 320#. I'm now back down to about 225# at 6'3". I still have weight to lose, and I am sure that will help my fly, but I want to get the training right too.
In terms of talent, I am not good at all, but I want to get to a level where I can swim a 200m fly without switching to survival fly, i.e. maintaining a long and strong stroke, even if it's not as quick as the good swimmers.
No, pool training should be enough. I just wanted to make sure you were doing aerobic training in the pool because I think that's critical if you want to improve your 100 fly. My personal opinion is at least a couple days a week (and ideally more) you should be doing a set where you are swimming with only short rest intervals for at least 20 minutes.
I swim 4-5 times a week if work allows. Some of those will be 1 hour club sessions, where I have little control over what I do, but I do like getting more backstroke practice by doing it instead of freestyle on some sets, which also increases difficulty. The other sessions will be in public lane swimming, but it's normally quiet enough to get a good varied longer session done. I save the fly for if there's lots of room, as switching to single arm to pass people ruins my momentum and stroke.
My fitness is still improving after stopping swimming for about 14 years. I've been back for about 2 years now, but I am still making regular progress. My bodyweight has improved greatly, as when not swimming I was a powerlifter and was over 320#. I'm now back down to about 225# at 6'3". I still have weight to lose, and I am sure that will help my fly, but I want to get the training right too.
In terms of talent, I am not good at all, but I want to get to a level where I can swim a 200m fly without switching to survival fly, i.e. maintaining a long and strong stroke, even if it's not as quick as the good swimmers.
