200 Challenge: Goal time, roadmap and status updates

SCY: 139:99; Slowly, albeit painfully, getting back into shape... 1:55 from a push last week at the end of a grueling set. Didn't feel all THAT bad... ugh. I practice 3x times a week, hopefully more come spring! I am a 200-1650 kind of guy. qbrain: Very smooth, pretty stroke! I'm jealous! That said, you may want to try shortening your stroke length (and thereby increasing the tempo), particularly in the 200. Up until last month, I took around 10-11 strokes per length (I have orangutan arms), and maximized the glide portion of the stroke as much as possible. Now, I take about 13-15, instead focusing on an "instant catch" and minimizing the "dead zone," where deceleration occurs. This really helps me save my legs: In order to keep my momentum steady, I had to kick like a madman. I think I was too focused on the TI philosophy: Long, "effortless" strokes utilizing an exaggerated "catch up" pull. Problem was, I had to do keep up that six-beat kick in order to swim FAST. That sort of swimming was just too taxing for anything over a 500, at least for me, and I now use a two-beat kick to go faster with much less effort. Since this seemed a bit counterintuitive, I decided to investigate and watch a bit of swim vids. I noticed a bunch of successful mid-distance and distance swimmers using a higher turnover with shorter strokes (NCAA champ Troy Prinsloo, olympic champ Kieren Perkins, 1650 record-holder Chris Thompson, Chad LaTourette, Yuri Prilukov, Federico Colbertaldo, Pal Joensen, Laure Manaudou and, of course, Janet Evans). If you take shorter, faster strokes, you breathe more often, too :) Here are a couple of movies: YouTube- Freestyle swimming - 2004 Olympics YouTube- 2 Men's 1500m Freestyle Final European Short Course Championships Rijeka YouTube- 2008-2009 UGA Swimming vs UNC Men's 500 Free Long story short, I think you've got to find a stroke that really helps you maintain a consistent "easy speed." For me, that stroke was a shorter, faster one. It might work for you, too. Either way, I'm positive you'll be able to hit that goal soon... you seem to be on the right track!

SCY: 139:99; Slowly, albeit painfully, getting back into shape... 1:55 from a push last week at the end of a grueling set. Didn't feel all THAT bad... ugh. I practice 3x times a week, hopefully more come spring! I am a 200-1650 kind of guy. qbrain: Very smooth, pretty stroke! I'm jealous! That said, you may want to try shortening your stroke length (and thereby increasing the tempo), particularly in the 200. Up until last month, I took around 10-11 strokes per length (I have orangutan arms), and maximized the glide portion of the stroke as much as possible. Now, I take about 13-15, instead focusing on an "instant catch" and minimizing the "dead zone," where deceleration occurs. This really helps me save my legs: In order to keep my momentum steady, I had to kick like a madman. I think I was too focused on the TI philosophy: Long, "effortless" strokes utilizing an exaggerated "catch up" pull. Problem was, I had to do keep up that six-beat kick in order to swim FAST. That sort of swimming was just too taxing for anything over a 500, at least for me, and I now use a two-beat kick to go faster with much less effort. Since this seemed a bit counterintuitive, I decided to investigate and watch a bit of swim vids. I noticed a bunch of successful mid-distance and distance swimmers using a higher turnover with shorter strokes (NCAA champ Troy Prinsloo, olympic champ Kieren Perkins, 1650 record-holder Chris Thompson, Chad LaTourette, Yuri Prilukov, Federico Colbertaldo, Pal Joensen, Laure Manaudou and, of course, Janet Evans). If you take shorter, faster strokes, you breathe more often, too :) Here are a couple of movies: YouTube- Freestyle swimming - 2004 Olympics YouTube- 2 Men's 1500m Freestyle Final European Short Course Championships Rijeka YouTube- 2008-2009 UGA Swimming vs UNC Men's 500 Free Long story short, I think you've got to find a stroke that really helps you maintain a consistent "easy speed." For me, that stroke was a shorter, faster one. It might work for you, too. Either way, I'm positive you'll be able to hit that goal soon... you seem to be on the right track!