How to split a 200 free

Fred, Thanks! My son (Noah) is 17 and a senior this year. He has great age group and HS coaches who have helped him tremendously and I hope he goes on to greater improvements as a college and Masters swimmer! And for the other High School swimmers out there, hard work, dedication and good coaching does pay off. As a freshman, Noah’s best 200 was 2:00.5 and didn’t qualify for state, as a sophomore he went 1:50.5 and made top 16 at state, as a junior he went 1:45.3 for 3rd place and this year he went the 1:39.99 for second place. While your mileage may vary, everyone should set goals and strive to reach them. It’s an amazing feeling when they are achieved.

I have been coached by 50 to do fast, pace, build, sprint. It usually ends up being sprint, slow, build, puke however.

As a Masters swimmer, I fall into the category of fast, pace, fade and disappear. I blame my coach (me). I just feel fortunate I only have to contend (and I use the term loosely) with one Copeland in my age group. Talk about good genes.

Rob, That is a great swim for your son. I have always been taught that a 200 swim should be evenly split. You will always get a two second jump on your first 50 due to the start. 23, 25, 25, 25 with tenths should be a 1:38low to 1:39high. That is what we trained for in college. My high school kids are not All-American yet such as your son, so we just try to get them into the 40's: 25mid, 27mid, 27mid, 27mid = 1:48 with a couple of highs for 1:49. Your son will go high in the draft. Congratulations. To answer the beginning thread question. The 200 is not a sprint, it is a fast pace swim. The start should be two seconds faster than the other three with those three being evenly split. Comfy, attack, legs, get home x 50. Good Luck.

so what does it take to get from 31, 33, 33, 33 (2:10) down to 28, 30, 30, 30 to break 2:00? Intervals with little rest or sprint swims with longer rest?

Originally posted by jbroadri so what does it take to get from 31, 33, 33, 33 (2:10) down to 28, 30, 30, 30 to break 2:00? Intervals with little rest or sprint swims with longer rest? Others will have more insight into this question, but I am willing to bet that "both" is the answer. Intervals longer than 200 with short rest and sprints with longer rest both have a place in training for a 200. As someone said a couple comments back, the 200 isn't a sprint its a fast paced middle distance race. But the first 50 is very fast as you can see from some of the representative times here. But you have to be able to post a fast first 50 and still have something left for the balance. The last 50 is also in essence a sprint to get home. So, that tells me that both of your inclinations are correct. Rob Copeland's son should weigh in on this question, though. He's got the rapid improvement over 3 years to prove what works.

Scissors! Start with the entry:p

If you’ve been out of the pool for 12 or so years, only back 6 months, and already swimming 2:10 200’s it sounds like you are making good improvement already. How fast were you in HS? And what did it take to get those times?

Well, as an adult swimmer in his 30s with a child and a full time job, I'm nowhere near 30k yards per week. I swim 3-4 times a week 3-4k yards per practice (coach makes up the workouts and they are not specific to my goals, but for the all around swimmer). I didn't get in the pool unil Sept of '04 (was a HS swimmer). I know I need to swim more, but my question is how should I swim the additional yards. I can probably get 1 more workout per week in on the weekend. I was thinking of having it be a longer session (5-6k yards), but how to do them to meet my goals of getting my 500 back down to 5:30ish (from 6:10ish) and my 200

Great question. I think you have to train at several different levels--En1, En2, En3 as well as sprints--but how much of each? The answer may depend on the individual. Most Masters swimmers have a limited amount of time, and it's difficult to fit that many sets into 15-20,000 yards/week.