What is the key to flying distance?

some distance fly links just google to get to: www.penguinscanfly.ca/index.cfm about Vicki Keith another favorite of mine is: www.thomasboettcher.org/.../default.htm about Tom Boettcher here are a few fly threads here that are worth a look: USMS Forum Threads Training For Butterfly, esp. 200m forums.usms.org/showthread.php Improving Butterfly forums.usms.org/showthread.php 200 Butterfly Strategy Advice? forums.usms.org/showthread.php How Much Difference Does A Good Coach Make??? forums.usms.org/showthread.php these are some pretty decent articles: Slip-Slid’n’ Away, by Coach Emmett Hines www.h2oustonswims.org/article...ding_away.html Vive le Papillon! by Coach Emmett Hines www.h2oustonswims.org/article..._papillon.html USMS Coaches Committee Quarterly - Summer/Fall 2000 (pg2) www.usms.org/.../ccq00sufa.pdf Question #2: What do you find to be the greatest stroke flaw for butterfly swimmers that you coach, and what do you do to help correct it? This back page article in the 1st issue of USMS Swimmer is a very interesting history lesson: www.usmsswimmer.com/.../splashback.pdf As always, there are a host of links and resources at USMS, starting with Technique Articles: www.usms.org/.../articledisplay.php

All this stuff about distance fly??? I think Newdady would just like to swim 100 or 200. It is about a good kick, a clean recovery and clean entry work it up one length at a time.

All this stuff about distance fly??? I think Newdady would just like to swim 100 or 200.... I understand. I just thought I'd offer those up because I used to think a 200 was impossible. Then I read the stuff about Vicki and Tom and was able to adopt a slightly different perspective, which helped me a lot towards achieving my goal. It is indeed mostly in the mind. Conditioning is necessary, but you can't escape the importance of getting your head in the right place. ...

Bud I am sorry I did not mean to offend it is just that I get tired of seeing something that is not even sensible. Swimming the English channel doing butterfly. It is in the same relm as Jack Lalanne swimming with hand cuffs on pulling a boat. I can barely do a 50 fly now and have only done a 200m fly once in the 1956 Olympics and I am ashamed of that swim.

...It is in the same relm as Jack Lalanne swimming with hand cuffs on pulling a boat.... What a wimp! Now if he’d done it for a mile holding his breath, THEN I’d be impressed. :”> No offense taken George. I think you are one of the more practical and sensible posters on this board. Even if you are getting to be a crotchety old guy. (Don’t worry, I’m not far behind you there, and I’m a fair bit younger than you.) I realized that some of those links may have seemed a bit off topic and I just wanted to clarify. I absolutely cannot fathom being ashamed of anything done in the Olympics. It seems like such an honor just to get there. There is a 3x gold Olympic swimmer at my facility, and even though I’ve been there over a year I still feel compelled to bow down before her just about every time I see her. (My money is on the bet that you’ve had a similar effect on a lot of people as well.) I think it is just soooooo cool to be able to have your name be a part of that elite list. Forget the awards, just getting there is enough to make me awestruck. The only 200 fly I’ve done in competition (a few years ago) was nothing to crow about, but by golly I did it and that’s enough for me (plus there is an official record of it to boot!). I’ll never forget that moment in time. I was really hesitant to sign up for it, and trying to do a 200 fly in practice when my team’s coach happened out on the deck (I was swimming alone, as usual, at a different facility, so I definitely took it as a sign from the Gods). I expressed my doubts about being able to do the race without hanging on the wall for at least the last turn (it was LCM). He shrugged and laughed it off, “So what!? Just hang on the wall!” Best advice I ever could’ve gotten for that. And I did have to take a few extra breaths at that last turn. But there was NO WAY I was going to drop out with all those folks watching. (It was an LMSC “championship” meet, so I was somewhat familiar to a lot of the folks there.) I’ll never forget either the first time I saw someone hang on the wall at the turn. It was at some LCM meet previous to when I did my 200 fly. Some REALLY old guy was doing a 100 fly when he hung on the wall at the turn to catch a few breaths before taking off again. I was absolutely stunned. I was sitting next to my coach at the time and I turned to her and asked, “You can do that?” She turned and looked me square in the eye and said: “That was probably the difference between him finishing that race or not.” That event made a lasting impression on me and has been a key factor in making me try things I would not have otherwise tried. Sometimes inspiration can come from the most unlikely places. For me, especially here, I try to keep it all about sharing my experience, strength, and hope. In the pool it is all about breaking down self-imposed barriers and not caring what other people think about what I can and cannot do. I recently heard a celebrity share a favorite quote they got from their grandmother: “What other people say about me is none of my business.” ...

I don't have the answer to being able to swim more distance fly, but philosophically, in addition to all of the other excellent comments (I'm in the relaxed camp too) - remember where you axis is - *** and fly are short axis strokes, meaning that the axis is in your middle area, horizontally if you will (view point of person standing). Back and free are long axis strokes, meaning that the axis goes from the top of your head and cuts you in half. Rotating the long axis is less taxing. Short axis is arms then legs - two major muscle groups. One thing to try to make fly a bit less taxing is to try and breath fly the same as in *** - keep your my neck aligned with your spine as much as possible.