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!
I guess experimenting with increasing my back-half pace, especially in my workouts, especially when fatigued, should help.
This kind of thing might help, but I think good old-fashioned threshold training will pay the most dividends. Try to do sets longer than 30 minutes where you are working close to your threshold with very little rest between repeats. Obviously you'll also need some speed wok, too, because a 200 has a definite speed component.
Another critical element is your kick. You'll see lots of people advocating kicking like crazy the last 50. This is great, but can also cause you to die like a dog on the final 25. You really need your legs to be in great shape to keep that kick going all the way to the end of the race.
I guess experimenting with increasing my back-half pace, especially in my workouts, especially when fatigued, should help.
This kind of thing might help, but I think good old-fashioned threshold training will pay the most dividends. Try to do sets longer than 30 minutes where you are working close to your threshold with very little rest between repeats. Obviously you'll also need some speed wok, too, because a 200 has a definite speed component.
Another critical element is your kick. You'll see lots of people advocating kicking like crazy the last 50. This is great, but can also cause you to die like a dog on the final 25. You really need your legs to be in great shape to keep that kick going all the way to the end of the race.
