Last meet I swam the 100 and 200 IM, the latter for the first time ever. My best strokes are free and fly. My backstroke is quite lame. My breaststroke is slowly getting better. I have no illusions that I will ever get anywhere near a top ten in anything, least of all an IM event. But I would like to improve, and it give me a sense of accomplishment to swim all four strokes in a race and not drown (though the 200 introduced doubt on that front!)
I went 1:16.80 in the 100 (out in 35.83; back in 40.97)
In the 200, I went 2:51.82
fly 34.65
back 46.81
*** (falling piano) 53.83
free 36.53
The 200 was really a mixed bag--it felt absolutely horrible in the middle (why, oh why did I enter this event??? I am thinking about 20 yards into the breaststroke leg) but exciting to complete.
Any suggestions about IM sets for workouts (I swim alone, for the most part) or ways to think about the 200 race? Split goals, etc?? I'm sort of plateaued elsewhere, so this seems like a good thing to work on for awhile. My zone meet is at the end of this month, and I'd like to get the 200 down around 2:45 if possible.
I would recommend doing 200 IMs in practice, maybe broken (at the 50 or the 100), do them reverse order, etc. You should train for what you will compete and if anything, do some overdistance type training (225 or 250s where you do 200 IMs and add rotate an extra 25 or 50 of each stroke through the set). 300 IMs are fun too (75 of each stroke). Again, you can do them broken and take a short rest in between each stroke.
I would recommend doing 200 IMs in practice, maybe broken (at the 50 or the 100), do them reverse order, etc. You should train for what you will compete and if anything, do some overdistance type training (225 or 250s where you do 200 IMs and add rotate an extra 25 or 50 of each stroke through the set). 300 IMs are fun too (75 of each stroke). Again, you can do them broken and take a short rest in between each stroke.
