Broken Swims in Practice

Doing a broken 200 I.M. with 10 seconds rest in-between each 50 and subtracting 30 seconds off the total time (you include the rest in the total time), is a pretty accurate comparison to what you would do in a meet. If you are looking to get an idea on what you would do in a 50, you need to be taking more rest between each one. Try doing 4 x 50 on 4 minutes(be sure you do an easy swim recovery between each). Ideally you want each swim to be at least a 95% effort. If your best time in a meet is 25 seconds, you want to be within 1.25 seconds of that time in practice on an all-out 50 from a dive.

It seems like you took a fair bit of rest between the 50s so it might be a stretch to say that you could go significantly faster than that in a tapered race. I can typically match in a meet what I can swim a broken 200IM in practice, but I have not been able to go significantly faster. I typically would take less rest on my broken swims in practice than what you took. Also, the turns can be a drag on your time in a meet versus timing from a push-off. I suggest that you try the broken IM with less rest in practice and see how that impacts your time. If you can still swim 2:00 with 20 seconds rest between 50s, then you should feel fairly comfortable that you could match the time in a meet. There are not that many masters swimmers that can go 2:00 or under for a 200IM so that is an excellent swim. Tim

Depending on how intense the taper and if the taper was done properly, but you can typically take 1.50 - 2.00 off your average 50 time (race time throughout the year). Again, this varies per individual, coach, pool, time in the pool, etc. Also, that broken practice seems a bit leniant to be thinking about tapering right now...just my opinion! Keep us updated on your progress, though!

How do they relate to race times? I did a broken 200 IM in practice the other day, took a 80 second rest between 50's while swimming and easy 50 free. Swam each 50 as i wold in the race. Fly was long and rythmic. Back was mostly arms breathing as much as possible. *** was all out, free all out. Went in order:(push starts on all) 27 32 35 26 Any guesses how that might translate to tapered, shaved, race suited, etc...? Good question. That would give you an accumulated 200 IM time of 2:00. What is your best 200 IM time? In my experience, I can go 10 - 15 seconds faster on a broken 200 than I can when I swim 200 continuously. That probably has a lot to do with my aerobic capacity not being where it should be. How is your aerobic fitness? A suggestion: for a more realistic idea of what your 200 time might be try to cut down on the rest interval. I think 80 seconds is too long. That gives you time to do a nice, long relaxed 50 at 40 and still gives you another 40 seconds rest. Try 10 second intervals and report those times.

That is too much time between 50's. Only take 15 maybe and that will give you a better representation of where you'll be. We used to do a lot of broken stuff during tapers when I was at Dynamo in HS and in college. I was alway right on where I was in my big meet for 400 FR or 500 FR.

I knew it was too much rest. Just doing the workout assigned though. I honestly would be happy if I could get it down to 2:05 in a race. Lifetime best was a 2:08, but that was 15 years ago, haven't swum the 200Im since. I came back to swimming in Feb and have swum mostly lifetime bests since (went from 23.3 to 22.6 in the free, 25.4 to 24.6 in the fly, 1:00 to 58 in the 100 IM, 1:56 to 1:54 in he 200 Free) and have decided to shoot for a sub 2:05 200 IM in California next May. Aerobically....eh....nothing special. Turns have always been a strength for me. Thanks for the input guys. As coaches, when and why do you assign brokens in practice? Close to a taper, during a taper?

I knew it was too much rest. Just doing the workout assigned though. I honestly would be happy if I could get it down to 2:05 in a race. Lifetime best was a 2:08, but that was 15 years ago, haven't swum the 200Im since. I came back to swimming in Feb and have swum mostly lifetime bests since (went from 23.3 to 22.6 in the free, 25.4 to 24.6 in the fly, 1:00 to 58 in the 100 IM, 1:56 to 1:54 in he 200 Free) and have decided to shoot for a sub 2:05 200 IM in California next May. Aerobically....eh....nothing special. Turns have always been a strength for me. Thanks for the input guys. As coaches, when and why do you assign brokens in practice? Close to a taper, during a taper? I would consider doing the broken 200 swim right before a taper, and do the broken 100s during the very early part of a taper: Broken 200s: break at 50 and take 10 seconds rest between each 50 Broken 100s: break at 50 for 10 seconds and 75 for 5 seconds I coached groups that did distances up to 200s. I really can't speak for the timing (taper or close to taper) on distance broken swims. I do recall, however, that the distance coaches had swimmers take 15 seconds rest between each 100 if they were doing a broken 500.

Doing a broken 200 I.M. with 10 seconds rest in-between each 50 and subtracting 30 seconds off the total time (you include the rest in the total time), is a pretty accurate comparison to what you would do in a meet. What elise said, for the amount of rest between 50s. If you are doing repeats (like 5x200 broken on 3:30), then your time should be within 5-10 seconds of your race time. During taper, with more time between repeats (and fewer of them), you should be at race speed.

As coaches, when and why do you assign brokens in practice? Close to a taper, during a taper? I am not a coach, but we do them throughout the year. Good for developing a feel for race pace, although not necessary always a good lactate tolerance set (IMO). For myself, broken 200s with 10 sec at each 50 tends to over-predict my race times -- ie, I recover too much during those 10 seconds. Especially true in butterfly/backstroke, less true in freestyle.

At my age group club, we would do broken 200s this way: Swim a 100, ten seconds rest Swim a 50, 5 seconds rest Swim a 50.