Did you break 1:50 in the 200yd fr as a Master's swimmer?
Former Member
I would really like to hear if you have broken 1:50 for the first time as a USMS swimmer. What level of training got you there?
I certainly want to hear from anyone who is going fast in the 200.
A little background: I only swam club for two years in HS, and outside of masters, only swam competitively for 3 years total. My best 200yd free time was a 1:50.0x. I am in my early 30s so I think setting PRs are still within easy reach. The season leading up to that time, I was averaging 65k/week iirc.
The Master's team I train with works out 3 times a week, 4-5k/workout, the average being closer to 4k. This is the only team that it is realistic for me to train with at this time.
We are getting a new pool in 2012, and until then I do not believe it is realistic to train with the kids.
There are two other pools in the area that do not have teams that train at them that I can workout on my own at.
It is very realistic that I can work with my MS coach to customize my workouts.
I have gone 2:10 from a push in practice, but I certainly couldn't go 3x200 on 2:10 right now. I am afraid my SCM 200 time actually converts slower than that, so I don't have a good recent race pace time to share.
Given that small book of information: Am I getting enough yardage, and I just need to focus my training on my goal, or do I need to increase yardage and workouts? To what level was successful for you?
If the consensus is a need for significantly more yardage and workouts, I will use this season to ramp up and solve logistics.
The one thing I personally would caution you about, and keep in mind that I am a wimp, is that if you do an all out 200 split on the 500 (then easy 300)
followed by an all out 100
followed by an all out 50
followed by another all out 200 at the end of the meet,
you might be teaching a part of your brain--no doubt a small part of your brain, but a large part of my brain, that is, the pain experiencing lobe--that the 200 swum right is an agonizing event!
I think there is a reason that child birth can't happen again for a minimum of 9 months! The mother needs time to forget the previous ordeal.
I am a little scared your plot here will teach the beaten dog part of your brain that the 200 is a horror to be avoided at all costs.
What about doing the 500 fairly hard as a gauge of your aerobic shape, the 100 all out as a fast-twitch/slow twitch test; the 50 all out as a fast twitch test; and then the 200 as fast as you can do it trying to put all the pieces together?
That's what I would do, though it's really too bad the 500 comes first...
The one thing I personally would caution you about, and keep in mind that I am a wimp, is that if you do an all out 200 split on the 500 (then easy 300)
followed by an all out 100
followed by an all out 50
followed by another all out 200 at the end of the meet,
you might be teaching a part of your brain--no doubt a small part of your brain, but a large part of my brain, that is, the pain experiencing lobe--that the 200 swum right is an agonizing event!
I think there is a reason that child birth can't happen again for a minimum of 9 months! The mother needs time to forget the previous ordeal.
I am a little scared your plot here will teach the beaten dog part of your brain that the 200 is a horror to be avoided at all costs.
What about doing the 500 fairly hard as a gauge of your aerobic shape, the 100 all out as a fast-twitch/slow twitch test; the 50 all out as a fast twitch test; and then the 200 as fast as you can do it trying to put all the pieces together?
That's what I would do, though it's really too bad the 500 comes first...
