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.
Hey Red,
Congrats on your improvement in the 200 IM. 6 seconds is a healthy time drop in a 200. Continue to work on improving your backstroke and *** and free legs for the end of the race. One set we do that is hard, but great is:
100 IM drill 2:00
200 IM/free 3:30 (25 fly, 25 free, 25 back, 25 free, ...)
150 3:00 swam as 50 fly, 50 back, 50 ***
4 x 50 1:00 fast free
and cycle through it 3 or 4 times. The times listed above are for SCM, but you should be getting at least 20 seconds after each swim. The goal here is to simulate how tired you will be at the end of a 200 IM and work on sprinting your free.
Hope this helps and congrats again on your improvement!
--mj
Hey Red,
Congrats on your improvement in the 200 IM. 6 seconds is a healthy time drop in a 200. Continue to work on improving your backstroke and *** and free legs for the end of the race. One set we do that is hard, but great is:
100 IM drill 2:00
200 IM/free 3:30 (25 fly, 25 free, 25 back, 25 free, ...)
150 3:00 swam as 50 fly, 50 back, 50 ***
4 x 50 1:00 fast free
and cycle through it 3 or 4 times. The times listed above are for SCM, but you should be getting at least 20 seconds after each swim. The goal here is to simulate how tired you will be at the end of a 200 IM and work on sprinting your free.
Hope this helps and congrats again on your improvement!
--mj