I've never raced a 200, or even a 100 FR; my 50 FR SCY is 26.8.
I'm in a USA meet Sept 20th - expecting to get trounced by kids half my age, but still I want to put in a good showing.
How should I race? What should my 50 pace be? How do I not die on the last 50? etc...
I'm 44, male, swimming masters only 2 years, still learning lots, and open to all feedback - thanks!
What bothers me is that I thought I was taking it out slower, trying to heed all the warnings from this thread - only to find out otherwise...
Definitely more practice on longer swims in my future!
Nothing prepares you for 200 race pace quite like swimming actual 200s in practice, with lots of recovery time between repeats. You will learn the hard way how to pace this distance.
Mostly it is a matter of trusting that your "easy speed" really is fast enough. I think when people take out the 200 too fast it is because they are overly worried about taking it out slow.
Another important (and less painful) tool is broken 200s. A reasonable set of splits for your goal time is: 33.5, 35.5, 35.5, 35.5. That means that 35-36 is a good "race pace" for you to target on a set of broken 200s, say with 10 seconds at each 50. You need to know what this pace feels like in your bones.
You should also be able to do "back half" times in 100s (ie, 1:11-1:12) with only moderate rest. For example, in a set of 5 x 100s on 1:40 you should be able to descend, in a controlled manner, down to your 200 pace on your last repeat.
200s are fun, don't give up. It is all about finding (and being confident in) your comfortable "fast pace."
What bothers me is that I thought I was taking it out slower, trying to heed all the warnings from this thread - only to find out otherwise...
Definitely more practice on longer swims in my future!
Nothing prepares you for 200 race pace quite like swimming actual 200s in practice, with lots of recovery time between repeats. You will learn the hard way how to pace this distance.
Mostly it is a matter of trusting that your "easy speed" really is fast enough. I think when people take out the 200 too fast it is because they are overly worried about taking it out slow.
Another important (and less painful) tool is broken 200s. A reasonable set of splits for your goal time is: 33.5, 35.5, 35.5, 35.5. That means that 35-36 is a good "race pace" for you to target on a set of broken 200s, say with 10 seconds at each 50. You need to know what this pace feels like in your bones.
You should also be able to do "back half" times in 100s (ie, 1:11-1:12) with only moderate rest. For example, in a set of 5 x 100s on 1:40 you should be able to descend, in a controlled manner, down to your 200 pace on your last repeat.
200s are fun, don't give up. It is all about finding (and being confident in) your comfortable "fast pace."
