200 Challenge: Goal time, roadmap and status updates

I would like to swim a really good 200 - and next season 09-10 is as good a time as any. Although for me it is a "stretch target", in business jargon, qbrain has inspired me to shoot for 1:50 scy/2.03 scm, about 3.5 seconds faster than I have swum as a masters swimmer. I intend to try to get there by diligently reading all the good advice on the forums from the many classy swimmers who are generous with their contributions, and following as much of it as I have time to do. (Oh yes, I also have to keep my fingers crossed that they don't ban the tech suits - at least until after next season.)

Goal: 200 fly 2:18.99 SCM (1:07 + 1:11), 2:24.99 LCM (1:10 + 1:14) The SCM goal should be attainable provided that I taper and shave. Last time I swam 200 SCM fly, I went 2:22 unshaven and untapered. A 4 second drop for a 200 should not be a problem. LCM... I was well on my way to a 2:24 in Portland last summer, but the piano dropped at 175 meters and cost me about 4 seconds over the last 25. Result: 2:28. To deflect future pianos: - always breathe every other stroke. One mistake in Portland was that I allowed myself some extra breaths starting at around the 85 meter mark. Bad idea. - roughly a week before my next LCM 200 fly, do a 300 SCY fly in practice. (Or longer, even.) A few days before a short course 200 fly, doing a 200 fly in practice is good for my mental well-being. But 200 SCY is not enough before LCM. I need to be standing there behind the blocks thinking "ah, this will be easy compared to what I did a few days ago!" - as discussed in another thread, I banned sets of 25 flys, e.g. 20x25 fly on :30. It was too easy to fall back on those relatively lightweight sets. Now if I feel really tired, I can't go any lower than 50's. I do 75's several times a week now, and go longer than that much more than I used to.

Goal: 1:49.99 200fr scy Current: 2:02.33 I finished my scy season pretty far off my goal time, but I am still dropping time at every meet. For the 2010 scy season, I do think I will be ready to hit my goal. Roadmap: - increase sprint endurance by racing 200 free more often, and training fast 200s in practice - incorporate my kick into my 200. Currently, I save my kick for the end of my 200, which used to be necessary. My kick is much stronger than it was, and will continue to improve, so I need to work my kick into my 200 strategy from the beginning of the race. - walls! My biggest easy time drop will come from being faster inside the flags. I am doing something wrong here in practice and it is carrying over into the races. I have not put my finger on how to correct this, but I know the problem exists and before the end of the summer should understand how it can be resolved. - increase my yardage. My old team disbanded, and I am getting less yardage in with my new team. I need to get more yards in solo, working sprint endurance specifically. - work sprinting when training with the team. The new team has lots of short distance sets (50s, 100s, 200s) with lots of rest. This is ideal for working on my sprinting, if I can keep from lazily going through the motions. I don't have a LCM goal for the 200, since I think I have only swam it twice in my life, and will probably only swim it once during the LCM season this year. SCM goal: 2:04.99 unshaved, untapered at DAM Fall SCM Meet

Goal: 200 SCY backstroke 2:03.99. (Lifetime best from college: 2:04.11) Timeline: next year :sad: My backstroke technique has markedly improved over the last 3 years. I've also slowly increased the number of SDK's that I can take off every wall. When I swam 2:07.32 unshaven and untapered in March, I thought I had a lifetime best in my sights. But I ran into a bad allergy cold last month, and dropped less than half a second to 2:06.96 to end the SCY season. As a new protocol for this training cycle, I've been swimming backstroke "to the nines" - 9 or more SDK's off every wall and no more than 9 strokes per length.* I'm still adapting to it. Any time I'm tempted to surface early for some dumb reason, you know, like needing air or some crap, I just remember my battle cry - TO THE NINES!!!!!! A good battle cry gets me through the suffocation. Once I complete the 1000 and 1650 backstrokes to the nines, I'll know I'm good to go. Now that I think about it, within a year I might be following the "this one goes to 11" protocol! How's that supposed to work, if I'm cracking up laughing underwater every 25?!? :rofl: * except during IM's of 200 yards or more. I typically lose 2 kicks and gain 2 strokes due to being a bit winded from fly... and I'm OK with that...

Update 1: The new SC season approaches and I had hoped to have forgotten my 200 goal. Unfortunately it's recorded here in QB's thread. So the outline plan is as follows for the goal meet in December (NESCM championship): Month -4 (now): Regaining training consistency and momentum. Yardage goal 15k/week. Dryland emphasis on core and "prehab" of all the hurty body parts. Some swim bench for strength. Cycling cross training for change of scenery - shortish rides with fartlek to get the HR up (as if cycling isn't enough!) Month -3: Increase training intensity. Lots of IM and kicking to supplement free. Coach will keep shouting at me to work on walls and SDKs, and he will be right. Month -2: Begin lactate work. Progressively try to improve training pace. Mini meets to start racing (hope back doesn't play up OTB). Month -1: Give up the booze (OK, maybe only have a drink every other day). Hammer out some lactate killer sets. Try to do some fast 100s and 150s in training. Try to do enough in the first couple of weeks to deserve a taper! I have no idea of the meet programme yet so we'll have to see where the 200 free is. I want to swim a bunch of other events too, but I want to be fresh enough to give this one a good go. Maybe I'll even seed into a fast heat and forgo my usual conservatism (I think you guys call it "sandbagging" though I'm not sure why.)

Goal in 200 SCY fly-Under 2:00, Current time 2:10.21 SCY, 2:26.55 LCM, 2:33.09 SCM(from a short taper and right after a 1500 free at Rutgers Last December) Step up my training like I have been doing Work on building strength so I can do 2 kicks per stroke and doing it for longer periods Stay consistent with the weight training Try to lose another 10 to 20 lbs by March 2010. My first test will be in late September if I do the DCAC Yards Meet.

200 BR SCM -Goal-2:43.32 Last year-2:46.29 Last year I was not as tight in my pullouts as I want to be and in my breakouts I too often focused on breathing instead of streamlining.I will work more on doing each turn and pullout perfectly even when my body is screaming"OXYGEN".I'll also do more pace work in a tech suit as I have found it harder to split the way I want to in tech suits,i.e. I have a tendency to go out too fast and die.

I think I am going to focus on the 200 and 500 fr this year. This will be my second year competing with masters. We don't have a lot of swim meets around here. I only swam two meets last year and did not swim the 200 in either one. I swam the 100fr in a 54 high. I did not feel like I was killing myself on the first 75 and really worked the last 25. I think I can get under 1:55 in the 200 free, I don't remember what I was swimming the 200 in while in high school, I only swam it mid season never tapered and shaved, but I don't think I ever went under 1:56. To accomplish this I will swim MWF for an hour w/masters usually 3500 yards, Saturday will be 1.5 hours about 5k. Lift weights on TTH.

Goal: 200 fly 2:18.99 SCM (1:07 + 1:11), 2:24.99 LCM (1:10 + 1:14) Progress: Did not hit the LCM goal this year. I went 2:25 which was an improvement over last year's 2:28, but not quite as fast as I'd like. I lost a second on that last 50. :badday: I didn't have a large enough training base. I shaved but did not taper; I did what some would refer to as a mini-taper. So now I'm building a larger fly base for the SCM season, swimming 500-1000 yards of full stroke fly each workout. I have planned out when I will do peak training, when I will do a full taper, and when I will swim that 2:18.

Progress: Did not hit the LCM goal this year. I went 2:25 which was an improvement over last year's 2:28, but not quite as fast as I'd like. I lost a second on that last 50. :badday: I didn't have a large enough training base. I shaved but did not taper; I did what some would refer to as a mini-taper. So now I'm building a larger fly base for the SCM season, swimming 500-1000 yards of full stroke fly each workout. I have planned out when I will do peak training, when I will do a full taper, and when I will swim that 2:18. Those are very ambitious split differences as well. If I am 7 seconds apart, that is a good day for me. Unfortunately at Indy, the 100 differences in my 200 LCM fly were 12 seconds apart.