Training for the 100 fly?

I'm seeking advice on training for the 100 fly. Decided to start swimming it last year. Swam it 7x on the three courses. I can only remember 3x times where I didn't suffer from complete paralysis the last 15 meters or so and worry about a DQ. Gah. So how can I fix this? I've read that you don't need to train fly in practice. I'm not sure I buy this. The muscular fatigue from fly seems unique. And I don't want to substitute freestyle training for it. What are some good sets? How many SDKs per length should I take to prevent oxygen debt? If too much fly hurts the shoulders, is kicking a decent training substitute? I also seem to swim better 100 flys on a week rest. The paralysis seems to be associated with a 2 week taper. Does aerobic fitness drop off that quickly? Is this an age thing? Or is it that I just don't train enough yards for a 2 week taper?
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  • Very interesting point - to train 25s/ 50s/ 75s for the 100 or to train 100s for the 100 fly. As a kid I only did diving well sprints, 25s, 50s and the occasional 75 and hit :58.6 in the 100. Never did 100s full fly sets. However, who knows what my potential really was? I have to say that since I started training more fly (with USS - over the summer season) that my fly times really dropped and are lifetime bests. And that "die" feeling is pretty minimal. Even if someone drops a lot of time, it's still hard to measure if they've reached their full potential. How do you know. . . I'd say that a 1:00.9 for a male is in line with the fly training listed. (S)he, I'm going to guess that your a lot stronger and better conditioned now than you were when you were at your "young" peak. Also, having watched the video you posted of one of your 100 flys it was very apparent that although in excellent shape your technique needed a fair amount of fine tuning and the "details" like turns/breakouts/streamlines/etc. were all in need of work...I think you even pointed out that you could probably be 1-3 seconds faster? So the point being swimming a lot of 100 flys in practice may get you to the next step (or not)...but if you are in generally very good aerobic shape focusing on shorter distances at fast speed and an emphasis on perfect form vs. hammering longer fly sets can do wonders for sprint (50/100 fly).
Reply
  • Very interesting point - to train 25s/ 50s/ 75s for the 100 or to train 100s for the 100 fly. As a kid I only did diving well sprints, 25s, 50s and the occasional 75 and hit :58.6 in the 100. Never did 100s full fly sets. However, who knows what my potential really was? I have to say that since I started training more fly (with USS - over the summer season) that my fly times really dropped and are lifetime bests. And that "die" feeling is pretty minimal. Even if someone drops a lot of time, it's still hard to measure if they've reached their full potential. How do you know. . . I'd say that a 1:00.9 for a male is in line with the fly training listed. (S)he, I'm going to guess that your a lot stronger and better conditioned now than you were when you were at your "young" peak. Also, having watched the video you posted of one of your 100 flys it was very apparent that although in excellent shape your technique needed a fair amount of fine tuning and the "details" like turns/breakouts/streamlines/etc. were all in need of work...I think you even pointed out that you could probably be 1-3 seconds faster? So the point being swimming a lot of 100 flys in practice may get you to the next step (or not)...but if you are in generally very good aerobic shape focusing on shorter distances at fast speed and an emphasis on perfect form vs. hammering longer fly sets can do wonders for sprint (50/100 fly).
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