This topic has come up peripherally in a few different threads recently, but I thought I'd try to revisit it directly. What race strategies are people using in connection with the 200 free (or any 200 for that matter)?
I recently swam in my first meet in 16 years. Historically 200 free was one of my favorite events, and I swam it essentially as a long sprint. That strategy failed miserably in the recent meet, however: my second hundred was six seconds slower than my first (1:03/1:09 SCM) and felt even worse than it sounds -- I was barely able to rotate my arms on the last 25 meters.
The issue for me may simply be conditioning: I've just been back in the water since July, and it's been hard to get as much training in as I'd like. But I'm also wondering if at age 34 my days of treating the 200 like a sprint are over, notwithstanding Henry Clark's experience to the contrary.
It was interesting: after my experience in the 200 I was spooked a bit and ended up taking my 400 out too slow -- unlike in the 200, I had a lot left at the end. My 100 free, an event which historically I wasn't particularly good at, turned out to be my best event (58.3 SCM, felt very good).
The meet was a lot of fun--and, boy, there were some incredibly fast swims--but it did highlight for me how practicing racing is as important as general conditioning.
If anyone is willing to share how they race 200's, I'd be interested.
--Brad
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Originally posted by Ion Beza
I am now addressing this, so that I am not thrown off again in future workouts and tapers.
At the risk of going down the discussion-too-focused-on-individual-swimmers path that has been rightly criticized in the "netiquette" thread, I've been curious: where are you swimming now Ion?
My impression was that Sickie's program at UCSD was really the only game in town for real top-tier masters swimming (I lived in San Diego for 12 years, but didn't swim there, so I certainly could be wrong). I know that the JCC right by UCSD has a fairly large program too, though -- is that where you are now?
In an effort to 'up-level' this to a more generic level: I wonder to what extent different masters programs take on different flavors due to the philosophies of the coaches? I.e., are most programs fundamentally similar, with minor differences around the edges, or are some programs radically different from others based on the interests/outlook/orientation of the coach?
--Brad
Originally posted by Ion Beza
I am now addressing this, so that I am not thrown off again in future workouts and tapers.
At the risk of going down the discussion-too-focused-on-individual-swimmers path that has been rightly criticized in the "netiquette" thread, I've been curious: where are you swimming now Ion?
My impression was that Sickie's program at UCSD was really the only game in town for real top-tier masters swimming (I lived in San Diego for 12 years, but didn't swim there, so I certainly could be wrong). I know that the JCC right by UCSD has a fairly large program too, though -- is that where you are now?
In an effort to 'up-level' this to a more generic level: I wonder to what extent different masters programs take on different flavors due to the philosophies of the coaches? I.e., are most programs fundamentally similar, with minor differences around the edges, or are some programs radically different from others based on the interests/outlook/orientation of the coach?
--Brad
