Help me train for the 200 free

The 200 free is a new event to me. I never raced it before last year, but I have to say I am hooked on the distance. There is something immensely satisfying about completing a good 200. Perhaps it is because I have always only raced 50's and 100's that I feel this way. It is one of those races that is difficult to classify. Too long to be a flat-out sprint and too short to be be considered a distance event, it seems to fall rather awkwardly somewhere between middle distance and sprint. Last year I did a 2:16.34 LCM 200 free (out in 1:05.07 and back in 1:11.27). Those are awful splits I know, but in my defense I only intended for the 200 to be a warm up for my other events and when I saw I was out in front after the first 100 I held back. I haven't swum it again in competition since then but will have another go at it in October this year. I have been spending a lot of time, recently, on the 200 in training, but I'm not sure that I am going about it in the right fashion and wanted to ask for advice. How have I been training? Well, mostly doing lots of 200's trying to see how close I can get my splits to one another. At least twice a week I do one at race pace to gauge my progress and get race pace practice. Today I went a 2:08.08 SCM from a push off the wall (out in 1:01 high and back in 1:06 something). Still not ideal splits but an improvement. I felt I still had gas left in the tank, even though I was breathing hard at the end and my pulse was 168. Apart from that I also do some broken 200's (4 x 50 with 10 seconds rest between each). I also do a lot of 100's at 1:20 but I am not sure if these help much at all. Most times I am crusing in somewhere between 1:12 and 1:15 getting 5 seconds rest and going off again. I mean they are a good aerobic workout but I don't know if they help me much for the 200. My goal this year. I would love to go under 2:05 LCM but maybe a more realistic goal would be 2:06. Out in a 1:01 and back in a 1:04 or 1:05. The best advice I have heard on the 200 was from Paul Smith who said that you should work the third 50 just a little bit harder than you think you should be working it. This advice has helped me narrow down the difference between those split times. I still feel the difference between my splits is too big. I am not a back halfer and always have to go out hard to do a good time. In fact my best 200's are when I take the first half out so hard that, at the 100m mark, I start trying to convince myself I should stop there and make it a 100 for time. Then I know I have expended the right amount of energy. So my question: apart from doing race pace 200's and broken 200's, how should I be training? What sort of distance should I be doing in a week? Are there any strategies I should be considering? Would really appreciate any advice. Thanks, Syd