this Saturday and achieve fame, fortune, the accolades of my peers . . . and my true goal, an NQT. I need a 2:03.
50 PR is 24.79
100 PR is 55.46, split 26.55 28.91
200 PR is 2:04.24, split 30.31 31.50 31.44 30.99
I took that out too slow, but I've been gun-shy after this debacle:
2:06.86, split 29.06 30.79 33.15 33.86
I consoled myself by blaming that race on the altitude (we were at 3,000 or so and I swim at sea level), but it still hurts to look at.
I think the best 200 I ever split was SCM a year and a half ago:
2:19.90, split 33.17 35.46 35.49 35.78
I'm thinking that I need to be just under 1:00 for the 100 and bring it home from there? Can I even get to a 2:03 from my 50/100 times?
Thanks for the help.
My God, man, it is painful just to READ those splits. Nothing worse than that "oh ****" moment when you are just halfway through the 200 fly...
Have you swum it since? :)
I used to love that moment. Now I can't even bring myself to try 100 Fly. Maybe in the fall.
Bill, I am slower than you in the 50 and the 100. Here were my splits last year at age 48:
29.74 31.32 31.39 30.49 2:02.94
On the first 50 I just went for easy speed.
One of the sets that helped me the most was swimming several rounds of 4 x 50 on :40, descending each 50.
There's a certain swimmer in our area who shall remain nameless who is famous for his 200 fly at one national meet with the following splits:
:30
:40
:50
:60
Talk about painful... :cry:
When I was a freshman in college learning to swim the 200 fly, I did a couple races that were sponsored by Steinway, but nothing like THAT... wow... a moment of silence for the Unknown Swimmer...
if a 200 is a distance event to you, i can understand why breathing every two would make sense. to me, the 200 is a sprint. and to me, if you're sprinting, even over 200 y/m, you're supposed to keep your head in the water as much as you can. I'm not saying 1 breath per length for the full 200 - that is excessive. But 8 breaths per length is excessive too.
phelps and thorpe are the best in the world at what they do/did. how they do what they do is a bit unconventional. when we get to that level, we can do whatever we want too.
The 200 is a long/controlled sprint. If a person has to take 8 breaths, then they need too. The number of breaths on takes, depends a lot on how many strokes they are taking to get down the pool.
A tall person, with a good catch, will of course take less strokes, which should in turn allow them to take less breaths.
A shorter person, even with a good catch, will still take more strokes, thus needing more air.
In truth, there is no right answer here. Bills will have to find out what works best for him. In any event lasting over 50 seconds(50's or 100's) it really is not a sprint anymore, so people probably do need to breath more.
you're supposed to keep your head in the water as much as you can. /QUOTE]
You may have hit on something right there that is important. Too many people actually lift their head to breath, instead of rolling it with the body rotation.
If people will ROLL their head and not lift their head, it will stay in the water and not cause a slow down in their speed. If swimmers do LIFT their head in freestyle, then that will cause a major slow down in speed.
I have watched 100 videos or more of Thorpe in 200s. You can barely see him take his breath. He breathes in the trough.
I have seen him not take a breath every stroke and power in at a finish without a breath for ten yards. I have seen him breathe nearly every full cycle.
I have seen him breath every 3strokes during some of his swims when he was watching someone close.
To me I think everyone should breathe when they need it. It varies by how you feel in the water.
re :30, :40, :50, :60 and subsequent "sponsored by Steinway" comment
A great phrase! Unfortunately, I think I'll have many occasions to use it.
I have had so many painful experiences in the 200 fly (though nothing really comparing to this) that I can't really do anything but wince with sympathy when I read these splits. If you take it out too hard, I really believe it is the only event where you there are moments where you SERIOUSLY DOUBT your ability to stay above water.
And yet I keep coming back for more...for reasons that probably don't need too much scrutiny... :frustrated:
Well the results are in, and I came up a little short. 2:04.00.
When I left the pool, the splits weren't yet posted, but I could see the clock and led the heat, so my splits were displayed briefly. I went out very strong, and thought I saw a 28.6 or so. I thought I saw a 59 low at the 100, which is about what I had intended to do. The third fifty hurt, and Goodsmith will be pleased to hear that I felt like puking about three strokes before the 150 turn. The last 50 was a little sloppy and ugly.
I drove an hour and a half through a snowstorm to get there, and there were a lot of no-shows. My heat had only 2 of us -- me in Lane 6 on the wall and another guy in Lane 1 by the other wall. We probably should have asked for a re-seed. He went a 6:24 or so, so I swam it alone. I would have liked to have someone to pace off of. I had a nice 500 later with an evenly matched opponent, and it really helps.
I was wiped out afterward, and felt like I had given it everything I had. I was about a half second off my best 50 free time in my next event, and a second plus off my 100 time at the end of the day, so I felt pretty good about PR'ing the 200 in a swim-through meet. My previous PR was rested and tapered at Nationals.
I think I can hold that first 50/100 time with more experience, and just need to work harder on practicing swimming that hard for 8 lengths.
Thank you again for all the comments, I had lots of them playing in my head on the drive and during the race.
