How to swim the 200 Free?

Most swimmers are a sprinter OR mid-distance . Which do you want to work for ? It seems as if the 100 - 200 - 500 free might be the way to go for you . Did you take in account the drop in time from scm to scy ?

Asking how a sprinter swims the 200 free might not give you the best answer. Some sprinters just can't seem to get the hang of the 200 free. They try to go out too slowly and find that they end up with a slow time and die anyway. Instead, think of the 200 free for what it is. It is body surfing a tidal wave. Get out too fast and the wave will crash down on you and leave you in pain. Get behind the wave and you will have to work much too hard trying to catch up to the wave. It would be good to do some 200 pace sprints from the block or from a push where you feel "long and strong". 200 pace feels powerful, but not out of control. Let's start with the first 50. In a good 200, the legs will kick on the first 50, but the kick is not using a lot of energy. It is more to help keep tempo. If your 50 time is 28.7, then a good first 50 would be about 30.7 (about 2 seconds slower than your best 50). That might be too aggressive for you at this point in your training, though, so try some 50s from a start in workout where you try to hit 33 to the feet, with a relaxed stroke The second 50 is sometimes a challenge. You should feel good on this 50 and that can have one of two effects. You may decide, "I feel too good, I need to slow down". Big mistake. Slowing down on this 50 will let the wave slip past you. You might think "I feel good, I should go faster". This too is a mistake. The wave will certainly crash down on you if you do that. You need to find a zen-like state between these two thoughts. Keep your speed, but don't use up your energy. The split? 35 or so (about 2 seconds slower than the first 50). The third 50 is a build up 50 and in many ways this is a relief. You can begin to let your kick "work" if you have a good kick, without the fear of sapping all of your energy. You should play with building a 50 to get accustomed to bringing the kick into your stroke. If done right, when you hit the final 50, you should have enough energy left to let the kick loose and be able to come home at the same pace as the 3rd 50. If not, you might question why your left arm will not respond to commands anymore. Good luck!

not sure if a crash training program will get you there in just 3 weeks I suggest you train with a team year round, plus being a 14 year old sophomore puts you on the younger end of your class, maturation and strength can make a huge difference at your age. what sort of training have you been doing? what suit do you have to wear for your test swims? using the Time Conversion Utility, a time of: 0:23.29 in short course yards converts to 0:27.08 in long course meters 0:51.99 in short course yards converts to 1:00.24 in long course meters 1:55.99 in short course yards converts to 2:14.09 in long course meters proportionately you're closest in the 50 Read & apply ideas from swim faster faster Okay, here's the situation; im moving to a new city, and their new time standards are really fast to make the high school varsity team. The times in SCY are: 50 Free- 23.29 100 Free- 51.99 200 Free- 1:55.99 Okay, well, after looking at my current speed, my 50 free seems to be my best event, but the thing is, its in LCM I'm 14, going into grade 10, and my times are (again, in LCM) 50 Free - 28.7 100 Free - 1:05.5 200 Free - 2:33 (Yikes!!) Anyways my 200 free seems to be my worst freestyle event, but, it is apparently the only event i have a real chance in making the team. So, how does a sprinter swim the 200 free? Tips pease. Also, the try outs are in 3 weeks or so. And i have a big meet one week before that so i will be tapered but a week off. Like starting today, it goes 1 week of hard training, 1 week of tapering, big meet, ???, Try outs. Thanks for the help :D

Snap5 - are you moving to another city in Texas? If so - which one? Those cutoff times for the high school team seem very fast to me - just to make the team.

How to swim the 200 Free? Swimmers take your mark. Take a deep breath. Dive in. Streamline underwater, feeling the bubbles from your fingertips race past your arms, your chest, your legs. You're looking at the lane line on the bottom, millions of tiles whizzing past you like stars at warp speed. You're going ballistic now, but remain calm, there's still 185 yards/meters to go. The fog's just lifting. Throw off your bow line; throw off your stern. You head out to South channel, past Rocky Neck, Ten Pound Island. Past Niles Pond where I skated as a kid. Blow your air-horn and throw a wave to the lighthouse keeper's kid on Thatcher Island. Then the birds show up: black backs, herring gulls, big dump ducks. The sun hits ya - head North. Open up to 12 - steamin' now. I'm sorry. I don't know why I was thinking about the Perfect Storm when I read your original question. Thougth I'd share. Anyway, the 200 free should be fast, not too fast like a sprint, but moving faster than a 500. Work that 3rd fifty hard so you can give it all you got on the final 50. For me, the last 50 or 25 yards/meters is an all out sprint. I pace myself fast on the first 100, 3-4 seconds off my best 100 time.

Re: How to swim the 200 Free? Swim the 100 free in back to back meets.

Great advice from all, including both the back to back 100s (at different meets) and the homage to The Perfect Storm, where everybody dies. Michael Ross and Ande Rasmussen, in case you don't know, Mr. Snap5, are two of the best masters swimmers in the country. If I am not mistaken, Mr. Ross was the first master in history to go sub 49 in a non freestyle event, or something like that. Whatever it was, it was pretty amazing. Let me offer you an alternative opinion from a non-great: first 100--think Easy Speed. Go as fast as you can while staying smooth and not getting tired. Chances are your adrenaline will be pumped, so you will more likely have to slow yourself down slightly as opposed to laying down the whip. 100-150--the critical "third 50" where some many people recommend working really hard. I say that way lies madness! This 50, you must stay smooth--stretch your stroke out, keep excellent form, don't rest exactly, but do not make the mistake of building too much at this point. If you hit your lactate threshhold at the 150 yard mark, the only people who are going to be entertained are your adversaries and the specatators. You will die a horrible, albeit amusing to watch, death! At the 150 mark, start to build to a sprint. You will know shortly how much you have left. If you feel good, begin the all out sprint early. If you don't, build into it more gradually. By the final 25 yards, give it all you got. I have found that it helps to audibly whimper under water--this helps discharge pain, preserve a sense of humor, and eliminate gaseous toxins and CO2 from the body. Good luck.

If I was you, I wouldn't conclude that the 200 is your best bet. I use my own software for converting times, and I end up with a Short Course Yard time of 24.8 over 50y free given your time of 28.7 (LCM). That's within a 1 second range. On the other hand, your 200 translate to 2:12 (SCY). Cutting down more than 20sec within a month.... hmmm good luck! Within such a small period of times (few weeks), I believe the effect of a taper will be best seen over shorter distances. 200 tends to include a high aerobic component to it, and without a consistent Vo2Max development phase prior the taper, it's kind of hard to believe. So, if you're the kind of swimmer to neglect turns, starts ect, I'd say that focussing on improving the 50m (or y whatever) including all those details that can get you there a full second faster is by far your best bet (for what it is worth of course.) As far as training means, I'd say all technical aspects, a lot of 25m dive, and a lot of 100free 2 weeks before the taper. You may cut on these 100free when entering in taper mode. This 100 regiment should help you finishing your 50 real hard, which is what will be required for you to make the team. At the moment, if you're unable to lower the 50m kick under 40s, I'd say that there might be some .10s of a second to gain there as well, combined with the 100free.

Don't forget that yards are smaller than meters - 0.9144 meters to the yard. So, your 50 meter time translates to about 26.24 seconds in a 50 yard pool. Subtract time for a second wall push-off (maybe 2 seconds? maybe less?) and you're down to about 24 seconds for 50 yards. So, you may be closer to those qualifying times than you think.