200 Challenge: Goal time, roadmap and status updates

Ande has a pretty accurate rule of thumb for the 200: double your fastest 100 and add 10 seconds. Holy S! Using that rule of thumb I'm 2 hundreths off- uncanny.

I think you are about where I was a year ago. When you start hitting :30 on your 50s, I think you will be able to break 2:10 from a push in practice. You probably have a long stroke, so think about turn over during your sprints. A 3 second drop might be easier than you think. Dead on, and I loved Syd throwing my words back at me :) . I did some technique work recently and now on fast yardage 14 strokes/length with 2-3 SDKs feels great and hits the wall just right. Tonight was too crowded to do any endurance work, so I did some fast 50s and 100s. I hit :29 pretty easily off the wall, which felt good. I did a 1:02 with two terrible turns and a 1:03 without killing myself, and without really utilizing my powerful legs. I'm optimistic :) (I've never broken a minute officially). And sprinting is WAY more fun than trying to get good at long distance. I've never sprinted much, so this is fun! And I look better than I actually am in workouts to all of the college girls, two of which I met last night!

And I look better than I actually am in workouts to all of the college girls, two of which I met last night! Now that is good enough reason as any to learn how to sprint. :D Once you can go under a minute for the 100 you should be able to go under 2:10 for the 200. Ande has a pretty accurate rule of thumb for the 200: double your fastest 100 and add 10 seconds. In order break a minute in the 100 you need to go a 26 high or a 27 low for the 50... Now, if only it were all as easy as doing the math...!

Ande has a pretty accurate rule of thumb for the 200: double your fastest 100 and add 10 seconds. That's very useful. If you combine that with Chris Stevenson's rule: "A typical way to split a 200 is: N-2/N/N/N", then given your best time in the 100, you can figure out what your 200 splits should be. (If H is 1/2 your fastest 100 time, the 200 splits ought to be H+1/H+3/H+3/H+3.) OT, but is there a comparable rule for the 500?

That's very useful. If you combine that with Chris Stevenson's rule: "A typical way to split a 200 is: N-2/N/N/N", then given your best time in the 100, you can figure out what your 200 splits should be. (If H is 1/2 your fastest 100 time, the 200 splits ought to be H+1/H+3/H+3/H+3.) You just gotta love it when racing turns into an algebra problem...may the best mathematician win...:)

Here's My Rule of thumb for 200 times Compared to 100 times based on swimmer type: (assuming swimmers put forth an honest efforts and correctly split both swims) distance swimmers double best 100 time & add 4 to 7 seconds Middle Distance Swimmers double best 100 & add 7 to 10 seconds sprinters double best 100 & add 10 to 14 seconds Drop Dead Sprinters Double best 100 & add 14 or more seconds Some of this is due to poor splitting, sprinters over estimate how fast they can swim their first 100 the right way to split a 200 is even 3 28 30 30 30 a bit worse is add 1 27 29 30 31 much worse is add 2 27 29 31 33 even very well conditioned swimmers need to properly split their swims Ande has a pretty accurate rule of thumb for the 200: double your fastest 100 and add 10 seconds.

Status Update: I turned 53 last week and had the 200 SCY race today. The pool was a small high school pool, 5 lanes, not a particularly fast pool. My goal was to break 2:04. I had worked hard all summer, so I actually tapered for this meet. The result was a 2:02.80. I dropped 6 seconds from the March New England Championships -- (2 of those seconds you can attribute to the Blue70 I wore this time rather than the TYR Aquapel bodysuit in March). Unfortunately it was the first race, and the bugs weren't worked out with the electronic touch pads, so I don't have splits, but I've got some guesses and am pretty good at gauging my relative pace throughout the race. My fastest 50 SCY is 26.19, and I'm betting the splits were pretty close to 28.5, 31.0 31.8 and 31.5. My second 50 felt strong, and I managed to stay close to that zen state Mike Ross suggests for it. I know I slowed a little on the third, and tried to build my kick into it. I could only really let loose the kick in the last 25. I was nauseous at the end, as I expected. Overall I'm really happy with the result. :) Next goal is to break 2:00 with the Blue70 if I can do it before they are banned. If not, then the goal is to break 2:02 without it.

Thank you for the encouragement! Now that I've finished 13 straight months of training after a 24-year layoff, I suspect my "easy" time gains are coming to a close. Isn't that what makes comebacks fun, though? And though I am very happy with a 6-second drop, I feel a little guilty that two of them (I hope not more) are due to the Blue70, but proud of the the 3-4 seconds that were due to hard work.

Way to go, Dale!:applaud: Ditto! That secret swimming science skunk works of yours at Bowdoin is delivering!:)

The result was a 2:02.80. I dropped 6 seconds from the March New England Championships -- (2 of those seconds you can attribute to the Blue70 I wore this time rather than the TYR Aquapel bodysuit in March). Very nice. You have to be pretty happy with a six second drop.