Help me split my 200y free

Yes, I'm planning on being there. Still deciding which events to swim. You goin? Absolutely. It'll be the 200, 100, and 50 freestyles for me. God help me if I wind up in your 200 heat. :whiteflag:

excellent swim great splitting text book Thank you Ande, I appreciate the comment.

I'd have to say I don't agree with the "pulling the first half" argument. Remember, you don't want to intentionally go slow on the first half. Rather, you want to go fast on the second half. To swim a 200 fast you can't really hold back. You really need to take it out within a few seconds of your fastest 100 time and then have the conditioning to be able to hold on. Try doing negative splitting and build swims in practice, but remember to concentrate on swimming fast on the back half rather than holding back a little on the front half.

I'd have to say I don't agree with the "pulling the first half" argument. Remember, you don't want to intentionally go slow on the first half. Rather, you want to go fast on the second half. To swim a 200 fast you can't really hold back. You really need to take it out within a few seconds of your fastest 100 time and then have the conditioning to be able to hold on. Try doing negative splitting and build swims in practice, but remember to concentrate on swimming fast on the back half rather than holding back a little on the front half. I'm sure you are right about the "pulling the first half", but it personally helps me control my effort in practice. I tend to start fast and then die. Removing the kick from the first half leaves me with legs for the second half when my arms are starting to struggle. This is also the only way that I know to negative split. Do you have any suggestions for producing a negative split in practice (without holding back effort in the first half)?

Do you have any suggestions for producing a negative split in practice (without holding back effort in the first half)? It sounds like you have the opposite problem that I do. Usually I take out my shorter races too slow. For your case it does sound like a good suggestion to back off on the legs. For me, I need to make a conscious effort to go out fast. Different strokes for different folks!

It sounds like you have the opposite problem that I do. Usually I take out my shorter races too slow.... Different strokes for different folks! Aha!...you think of the 200 as a short race while I think of it as an epic.:) No wonder we have such different perspectives on which strategy to follow.

I am by no means an expert, but I have been swimming repeat 200's at practice by treating the first 100 as a pull (both with and without a pull buoy). The second 100, I kick fairly vigorously. My practice times have been coming down without increasing fatigue. I am going to continue this practice over the long haul. I hope to test it out within a month at a meet to see if I can lower my times. I will also follow the same race strategy (only kicking in earnest for the last 75-100 yards). That is exactly how I practice as well...pull the first half of the distance (25 in a 50, 50 in a 100, 100 in a 200, etc) then pick it up the second half. I have never been able to really execute that in a meet though because on one hand I don't like going out too fast with the pack, but I also don't like being behind the pack...I know I have the finishing power...but...i always screw it up anyways and go out too hard my first 100 or whatever. For example in my 500 at metros, in the evening i went out 2 seconds slower in my first 100 then I had in prelims and my coach and parents were like :confused::censor:..thinking i was dead and out of the contention for a good place/time. Ended up going 4 seconds faster then my morning time.

To swim a 200 fast you can't really hold back. You really need to take it out within a few seconds of your fastest 100 time and then have the conditioning to be able to hold on. Does anyone know of any systematic study of how first half speed effects maximum second half speed? And how much this varies between people and level of conditioning and age and total distance? I am thinking that speed relative to the WR definitely drops faster at longer distances as age progresses (which may or may not be largely due to lower level of training and conditioning) so is there an implication that the difference between first half speed and speed in a race of half the distance might differ with age or level of conditioning. I.e. a fifty year old who isn't training like a twenty year old might be better off with a greater difference between their 100m time and the first half of their 200? In a 1500 you swim most of it at your anaerobic threshold, might there be similar energy system effects in the shorter races that dictate pacing by your level of fitness in each of those energy systems?

To me the 200 is the dream event. To win a 200 you cannot go out slowly. Go out hard and finish hard.

excellent swim great splitting text book Had a good one last weekend - thought I'd share with y'all. 50 splits: 27.99 - 29.54 - 29.47 - 29.31 100 splits: 57.53 - 58.78 Total time: 1:56.31 My best time as a master by about a full second. I feel I need to work on first 100 speed and get out a little quicker although this didn't feel all that "comfortable". I'm a 53/54 hundred type. I really brought in the legs for the last 100.