And now how do I fall in love with the 400IM?

I'd suggest swimming more of those combos that give you grief; let your body get used to them and the transition. Plus, for a lot of people, it is eazy to then rest on the *** because of its design unless it is the power stroke of the IM'er. I was always a back and free person, but decent on fly. So I would try to always be the 2nd or 3rd to touch the wall at the end of fly, then take off on the back and get a lead; hold on to it with ***, and make more ground with my free. Why not consider doing fly/back combos, and back/*** combos, and ***/free combos, and to top it all off, fly/free/fly combos. Break the IM down into sections. And even tho you are flipping between the back/***, do you find that you need more air in this transition? Many people are even now starting to do extremely fast non-flipping transitions between these two strokes and it gives them more air. Just something to think about. You'll fall in love with it when you see improvement!!! Donna

I'd suggest swimming more of those combos that give you grief; let your body get used to them and the transition. Plus, for a lot of people, it is eazy to then rest on the *** because of its design unless it is the power stroke of the IM'er. I was always a back and free person, but decent on fly. So I would try to always be the 2nd or 3rd to touch the wall at the end of fly, then take off on the back and get a lead; hold on to it with ***, and make more ground with my free. Why not consider doing fly/back combos, and back/*** combos, and ***/free combos, and to top it all off, fly/free/fly combos. Break the IM down into sections. And even tho you are flipping between the back/***, do you find that you need more air in this transition? Many people are even now starting to do extremely fast non-flipping transitions between these two strokes and it gives them more air. Just something to think about. You'll fall in love with it when you see improvement!!! Donna