Eek!!

Hey Kyra! The 200 is one of my favorite races! It is what I call a "controlled sprint"!;) I used to always go out too fast until my coach told me to pace it this way....control the first 50, build the next 50, maintain the speed on the 3rd 50 and race the last 50. It is a challenging race and the only way to get better at it is to just do it. You will learn how you need to pace it the more you do it. GOOD LUCK and remember....you are only racing yourself. Anything you do will be your best! :D

I finally have my seed times, some of which I'm not to happy with but this is my first meet so I'll live. And then I realized, I have completely spaced the rules. I read a rule book a while back, and for the life of me I can't remember some rules that I know are important. So here's my questions: 1) In an IM, going from back to ***, do you turn over on your stomach, flip and then go, or do I have to touch the wall while I'm still on my back? 2) During ***, how strict are they are on turning out your toes? I think I do this already, but just in case I want to be sure I don't get DQ'd. 3) How about the underwater portion, on all strokes. My breath capacity is alright, but not great, so how what are the rules for underwater swimming, in terms of kicks and pulls? 4) Is there a rule on when you breathe? I tend to breath at the T before I turn, but I know you're supposed to breathe at the flags, does that get you a DQ? Also, can you get DQ'd for taking a breath on your first stroke out? I'm trying to work on not doing this because I know it slows you down, but sometimes you just gotta! Thanks for all your help everybody!! You are such awesome people and you have made this whole experience much less frightening knowing that I have people to answer my questions!!! ~Kyra p.s. Any ideas on how to pace a 200 free? I generally try to start out slow and work up to an all out sprint the last 50...is that a good idea?

Hey Kyra, I'll tell you what I can, the rest I'm sure everyone else can fill in. Definitely, for sure, touch the wall on your back for the back to *** turn. I know of several different ways to accomplish this turn, but I'm not sure any of them are legal in USMS. So, for safety, I'd just touch the wall. As for DQ'ing, there were no officials at the meet I was at, though I'm not sure how different it is out west. We had a guy do a 100 backstroke by doing breaststroke kick on his back, and rotating both arms at the same time. No DQ, though he was in the last heat. As far as underwater, usually, there is a 15 yard limit on underwater swimming, but again, no officials, so they didn't get picky about it at our meet. Just make sure you don't switch strokes, like I've seen people do when they're under too long. There are no rules for breathing, as far as I know. Breath at the turn, breath coming out of it, breathe while you're doing it, I have never come across a rule for it. However, I would recommend this: without making yourself pass out, it's good practice, and faster turns, to take a breath two or three strokes before your turn, and then take two strokes out of your turn before you breathe again. Easier to do in shorter races, gets harder as the race yardage extends. As for pacing your 200, I've asked that question for years, and I think I've literally gotten a different answer each time. I've been told to treat it as an all out sprint, I've been told to go out slow and save my energy, I've been told to go out fast, I've even been told to alternate fast/slow by 50's. Very complex stuff. What usually works for me, since I'm terrible at pacing things, is I'll go out at a pretty good clip, just short of being all out, on my first 50. Then I back it off a little on the second (depending on how bad my judgement was on the first) and I'll build up the last two 50's until I'm at a dead sprint finishing the race (or as close to a sprint as I can manage). As a result, I tend to enjoy my second 50 of each 200 just a little more than the rest of the event. Good Luck, I'm sure you'll be great! Go Kyra! Steph

The rules are available online: http://fina.org/swimrules.html fina.org/mastersrules.html USMS rules are at: http://www.usms.org/rules/ There are no rules on breathing. You need to break the surface by 15 meters in free, back and fly, you are allowed one pull and one kick before surfacing in ***. Steph, backstroke is not necessarily back crawl, almost anything you swim on your back is legal backstroke.

Originally posted by Seagurl51 1) In an IM, going from back to ***, do you turn over on your stomach, flip and then go, or do I have to touch the wall while I'm still on my back? IM is really 4 heats swum in succession. You have to finish each of the 4 legs according to the rules for finishing a heat in that stroke. So when you're finishing the backstroke leg, you have to touch while you're on your back, just as you would if you were finishing a backstroke heat. 2) During ***, how strict are they are on turning out your toes? I think I do this already, but just in case I want to be sure I don't get DQ'd. There usually isn't a they. There's a he or a she. The strictness varies depending on what that one person feels confidently that he or she saw. For example, I saw an IM heat last year in which a swimmer violated the rule we talked about in the previous question by flipping onto his stomach before he touched when finishing the backstroke leg. But he wasn't DQed because the ref didn't happen to see it. Not pointing your toes out is a valid reason for a DQ in breaststroke, though. So you could be DQed if you don't do it. 3) How about the underwater portion, on all strokes. My breath capacity is alright, but not great, so how what are the rules for underwater swimming, in terms of kicks and pulls? For back, fly, and free, you have to surface within 15 meters (16.4 yards) after your start and after each turn and remain at the surface for the rest of that length. For breaststroke, you're allowed one underwater pull and one underwater kick. After that, your head has to surface during each cycle of one arm pull and one kick. 4) Is there a rule on when you breathe? I tend to breath at the T before I turn, but I know you're supposed to breathe at the flags, does that get you a DQ? Also, can you get DQ'd for taking a breath on your first stroke out? I'm trying to work on not doing this because I know it slows you down, but sometimes you just gotta! There are no rules regarding breathing. What you "know" is incorrect.

I was practicing my 200 today and just for fun decided to time it. When I finished and looked at the clock it said 2:54 and a few odd hundreths!! That was down 8 seconds from the last time I timed myself!!:eek: Now my question is, when I plugged this time into the converter, it showed a seed time that is almost 10 seconds off what I have on my form. Should I change the time in hopes that I will swim that good at the meet, or leave it to cover my back? ~Kyra

I would leave your time on the 200. What I have always heard on the 200 is that the third 50 is the most important. (I know someone else already said that). The third 50 is where people start losing focus and start trying to save their energy for the last 50. The first 50 will take care of itself. The second 50 try and keep your tempo up. The third 50 build. Concentrate on this one. And the last 50 treat like an all out sprint. Good luck! Let us know how it goes!

You know, in the 11 years I've been swimming.....I didn't know that. Ooh, maybe I'll try that double arm thing at the next meet. It looked so relaxing, I envied the guy doing it.

So now that I know for sure that I need to stay on my back before I go to breaststroke in my IM, I've been working on my turns. I think the word terrible is an understatment. A while back I had an awesome turn going, but now I can't seem to find that rythm again. Any ideas on how to make the transition smooth with losing momentum? Right now, I pull to the way and on my last pull I turn to almost 90 (into my "sweet spot") then touch and go, but I don't feel like this is getting me a very good push...and it feels awkward. Thanks soooooo much for all your help everyone!! YOU GUYS ROCK!!! ~Kyra p.s. 2 weeks till the meet!!!

Kyra, how I learned to do the back to *** turn (it totally sucks) is go into the wall like you always do finishing backstroke. One arm straight behind you slightly turning onto that side. I like to go in with my left arm behind me. Then I kind of let my body curl into the wall keeping my right arm pointing toward the opposite end of the pool then I reach my left arm up and over and have it meet my right arm in front of me. Does that make sense? You also can touch the wall with one hand and then flip turn - once you touch the wall legally you can do just about anything ... This turn is the trickiest one.