Racing Strategies

I think you'll find that everyone has their own personal game plan for each distance. And you'ld also have consider some other factors...for example, how about a pure sprinter trying to muscle through a five hundred? Each swimmer has to figure out their own way to get to the finish line, or should I say touch pad? Consider some of the following race plans (my own approach): *The "50": Go all out down and back. Hold nothing back. *The "100": Go out strong, but not too hard. Save some energy for finishing that last lap. Keep a swift turnover/ fast tempo. *The "200": Build into this race. Going out too fast could mean a real challenge on the last hundred. Or as they say...go out hard and die like a man. Better to keep a steady tempo than to suffer a melt down on the last fifty. These are just some thoughts coming from someone who favors the shorter distances. (A five hundred is out of the question for me.) You might find an old thread in this forum called "How to split the 100". In any case, the following link had a good perspective on training, and how to best prepare for competitions. (www.swimsmarter.com/Train_to_Race.html)

I am not a very good swimmer, but here are the strategies I take for some events. (These are the events I had some minor success at in an earlier life). 200 Free Swim the first 100 by swimming as fast as you can while holding smooth mechanics, for most masters swimmers this would be about 80-90% effort. On the 3rd 50, build, and the 4th 50 sprint. Here are the splits I got with this approach during a SCM meet. 39.22 40.50 39.57 38.46 (2:37.75) My coach said this was pretty close to ideal, except that I went out too slow, had crappy turns, shouldn't have breathed every stroke and that I was ugly. (Coaches will be coaches). 400/500 Try to swim an even pace for example if you have a goal time of 6:06.24 for a 500 splits like the following are fairly good. 36.12 1:13.13 (37.01) 1:50.14 (37.01) 2:27.13 (36.99) 3:03.89 (36.76) 3:41.16 (37.27) 4:18.72 (37.56) 4:54.60 (35.88) 5:30.52 (35.92) 6:06.24 (35.72) My coach said that this was a pretty good set of splits. How did this feel? Well the first 100 I swam with a comfortable turnover and smooth mechanics, the 2nd 100 I just tried to keep up the momentum, during third hundred I started trying to descend, I started slowly accelerating in the 3rd hundred, (and missed turns on the back half of the third hundred and start of the 4th hundred), and then I built to the finish. I have never been much of a flyer, but there is a feeling of satisfaction of being able to survive it. So here are some survival tips. 100 Fly I think this depends on how good your mechanics are. If you can keep good mechanics while tired do it like a hundred free. If you can't, go out fairly easy and come back hard. The time penalty that you would get from your form falling apart far outweighs the time penalty from going out too slow. I have never had much success in this event, but this is a sound survival tactic. 200 Fly If you just want to finish, the easiest way to do it is to really stretch out your stroke length. In masters you can take a break at the walls too. (I did a 200 fly in under 30 strokes last spring).