I thought about "Ask Ande", but then I thought this might turn into a long topic depending on who replies.
alot of times when someone says they died in the last 50 of a 200, the responses are overwhelmingly slow down the first 50, or take it out slower to save yourself.
but I plan on taking a different approach to improving my times. Work on being able to finish my race. I have accepted the fact that for me to sprint under :27 or under 1:00 would take lots of speed work. but I only swim freestyle for fun and training for OW. I prefer IM and ***. Here is my currrent situation: 35 yrs old SCM
masters best 50m free 27.53
masters best 100m free 1:00.85
I got my 200 time down from 2:14 in nov 2008 to 2:10 in april 2009. But my split was 1:01.8.
29.44, 1:01.80 (32.36), 1:35.52 (33.72), 2:10.95 (35.43/1:09.15)
the first response I got from my teammates was you took it out too fast since I came back 7 sec slower. But did I go out too fast, or did I just not swim the last 100 or 75 to my best ability?
I felt I took it out nice and easy with long strokes. I started to pick up the arm speed for the 3rd 50, but maybe that was a mistake, maybe since I can't sprint I should have just increased the depth of my pull instead of the speed of my stroke.
I won't be swimming SCM again until sept/oct but I plan to try to swim it :
29.5 + 32.00 + 32.5 + 32.5 --> 2:06.5 (1:01.5 + 1:04 )
one of the 17 yr olds on our team swims the 50 and 100 around my times, 27.3 and 1:00.25 but he manages to swim the 200 in 2:07.61.
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Former Member
So you actually don't use your legs at all in the first 50? You only use you arms?
Hey flippergirl, there is a difference between what I am telling my body and what my body is actually doing. My kick is pretty weak the first 50, but it does exist.
I will give you an example.
First 50, go slow, no kick.
Second 50, build, no kick.
Third 50, strong, start kicking.
Fourth 50, all out, hammer the kick.
That pattern used to result in the last 3 50s being evenly split, and the first 50 being about 2 seconds faster than the others. The first half of my race, my kick is just strong enough to provide balance and rotation, not aide in speed.
At the beginning of the year, I started working on my kick seriously. My kick is now strong enough that I need to replan my 200, because my splits look like a pyramid. It is a good problem to have in my book.
So you actually don't use your legs at all in the first 50? You only use you arms?
Hey flippergirl, there is a difference between what I am telling my body and what my body is actually doing. My kick is pretty weak the first 50, but it does exist.
I will give you an example.
First 50, go slow, no kick.
Second 50, build, no kick.
Third 50, strong, start kicking.
Fourth 50, all out, hammer the kick.
That pattern used to result in the last 3 50s being evenly split, and the first 50 being about 2 seconds faster than the others. The first half of my race, my kick is just strong enough to provide balance and rotation, not aide in speed.
At the beginning of the year, I started working on my kick seriously. My kick is now strong enough that I need to replan my 200, because my splits look like a pyramid. It is a good problem to have in my book.
