IMer's I need a 200m IM split diagnosis

You see high school boys with little competitive experience who are able to swim 22 second 50 yard freestyles all the time more or less on pure athleticism. Now whether or not you want to call it "muscling through" is merely a question of semantics, but basically we're saying their technique is not great. I don't see these same guys able to swim a fast 200 or 500, though. I think we can all agree that to be a great sprinter you need great technique, but we're not talking about greatness here. edit: I like Al's analogy of a rough diamond in the next post. This is absolutely true. I have seen it many times. These high school boys are very strong, have explosive power, and overcome their deficiencies with turnover and hand speed. The same unskilled kid who goes 22 in the 50 goes 50 in the 100 and 2:00 in the 200. A more skilled swimmer might go 21/46/1:46 instead. I have also seen raw non-year round high school swimmer drop from 24 sec 50 to a 22 just with better technique. As a 49 yr old Masters swimmer - I'd be happy with a 23 sec 50, skilled or unskilled. My approach is through more skill and better fitness. I'm getting closer.

You see high school boys with little competitive experience who are able to swim 22 second 50 yard freestyles all the time more or less on pure athleticism. Now whether or not you want to call it "muscling through" is merely a question of semantics, but basically we're saying their technique is not great. I don't see these same guys able to swim a fast 200 or 500, though. I think we can all agree that to be a great sprinter you need great technique, but we're not talking about greatness here. edit: I like Al's analogy of a rough diamond in the next post. This is absolutely true. I have seen it many times. These high school boys are very strong, have explosive power, and overcome their deficiencies with turnover and hand speed. The same unskilled kid who goes 22 in the 50 goes 50 in the 100 and 2:00 in the 200. A more skilled swimmer might go 21/46/1:46 instead. I have also seen raw non-year round high school swimmer drop from 24 sec 50 to a 22 just with better technique. As a 49 yr old Masters swimmer - I'd be happy with a 23 sec 50, skilled or unskilled. My approach is through more skill and better fitness. I'm getting closer.