I'm not too worried about the turning aspects...just a little unsure of what to do at the backstroke to *** turn.
Also any good workouts for this?
I'm doing 900 free for warm up (0-1650 in 6 weeks) then trey to do another 1500 per workout.
I've obviously been hitting *** but want to get some fly and back work in as well as turns--obviously I can always go to the wall and touch then turn but that's inefficient.
Is doing a 100 IM then hitting sets of 50 of fly and back or what? I've ordered a couple of books for reference and they should get here shortly.
Any thoughts or articles?
Just remember that at the end of each stroke you need to touch as if you're finishing an individual race in that stroke. 2 hand touch for fly and *** and touch while remaining on the back for the backstroke. The back to *** transition is a hard one for me. Takes me so long that one could go to the restroom and be back in time to see me push off on the ***.
As far as training for a 100 I do a couple things. Will do 100's alternating IM and free, or just do sets of 25's in IM order (16 x 25 on :30). Also will do 50's - 25 fly/25back, 25 back/25 ***, 25 ***/25 free and so on.
And since back and *** are the weakest parts of my IM I as I approach a meet where I'm going to swim an IM I try to spend more time working those strokes than I normally do.
Hope this helps.
poolraat offers good advice . . . just do them. There are lots of opportunities to throw a 100 IM in the middle of a workout. I often do a 200 IM in warmup, and will occasionally do a 100 or 200 IM in the middle of a long set or ladder/pyramid. I'm a beginning flyer (never learned it as a kid), and a crummy backstroker, but it's all getting better, which lets me do more in practice, which makes it all better, which . . . you get the idea.
Overtraining the distances (i.e. swim 50's of each stroke to get ready for the 100) helped me a lot with my confidence, and I have now successfully (read: not DQ'd) 2 100's in competition. As a bonus, they were a whole lot of fun to swim, probably because my weakest strokes were first, and once those were done I was home free.
One caveat: Don't do bad fly. When the stroke falls apart, switch to one arm or something else right away.
If an old dog like me can learn a new trick, anyone can. Give it a shot.
The rule says you have to touch the wall then flip but not go past verticle which I don't even know what means.
Basically it means you have to be "on your back" (i.e., not past the vertical onto your ***) until your hand touches the wall. You can pretty much do what you want from that point until your feet leave the wall at which point you must again be on your back.
Fly is going to be the hardest part of this in technique.
It certainly was (and is) for me. I started with fins, but pretty quickly I discovered that I didn't like what it did to the rhythm. I like to use a pull buoy now and then, especially to warm up. It keeps my hips up nice and high, my head low, and the drive going forward.
Good luck.
". . . at the end of each stroke you need to touch as if you're finishing an individual race in that stroke. 2 hand touch for fly and *** and touch while remaining on the back for the backstroke."
I recently saw a high school meet (first one in years, as I am returning to the sport) and observed, to my amazement, IMers going from backstroke to a rollover one stroke out from the wall; that is, they rotated onto their fronts and flipped as if in freestyle, then came off the wall with a breastroke pull. Nobody got DQ'ed. Did I dream this, or what? Has something changed?
I too am beginning to train for a 100 IM, mostly because it's fun. I have discovered that I have absolutely no rhythm for speed in breaststroke. Relatively fast fly and free, back not so great, but holy cow, I can't get under 45 in a 50 in breaststroke. I think I remember doing it about ten seconds faster when I was 12.
So my secondary question is: how on earth do you get speed in breastroke?
High School rules allow this here in Illinois. I have seen boys forget and do this in club championships and get DQ's.
As far as being on your side in back, be very careful, it is easy to go past vertical. I too did not swim age group, hs, or college, and learned at 39. I do the simple touch on my back and turn and do ***. Slow, but works for this old gal. Since fly will be touch, really try to keep it long, and not push it hard so you have something left for the rest of it.
Another workout thought is to do every 4th lap (the last 25 of the 100, should I say length?) stroke, going in IM order during those really long warmups you are doing. Since your goal of working up to a 1650 doesn't really help a 100 IM, you might as well get some stroke practice out of it.
Are you guys underestimating me? :p
Goal 1a Swim 1650 Frontcrawl. I do this easy pace. It's just a warm up. If it becomes too much I can halt it.
Goal 1b Get better at Fly
Goal 1c Incorporate into a decent execution of the IM100
Goal 2 Improve BreastStroke
Mon I do my Wayne McCauley based workout.
Wed will be the frontcrawl and Fly/IM work.
Fri will be Crawl and 200 event training as per Bowman modified 3.
My goals for Zones are the 3 BR events hopefully some relays and the 100 IM--to participate in it. I'llknow more tomorrow after my workout with Fly/IM...weather permitting.
I'm kind of bummed we can't relay at zone with forum gang. Maybewe need an informal beer n pizza relay challenge??
