For the past month or so, I have been doing distance sets, just for my 500. What I'm asking is if this will help out in the 200 IM. My coach is giving me an opportunity to swim the IM this thursday, to see if I can swim it at leagues.
My IM splits are (from 2 weeks ago):
Fly - 31.8 (not going too hard in my opinion, as I swim 27s in relays)
Back - 39.5 (as you can see, not my strongest stroke)
*** - 40.6 (I guess it's okay, I can go 35s all out)
Free - 35.2
Which is 227.1... My time before that was a 231, which is just okay.
During distance sets, whenever I get the chance, I kick fly back or ***, just for additional help, and I try to work on my transition turns after practice (transitions are my BIGGEST problem in the IM).
My goal splits are:
Fly - 31
Back - 35
*** - 40
Free - 33
That adds up to 219, give or take a few tenths of a second. So, was all of that distance training for nothing? Or do you think that my goal splits are reasonable?
Thanks for the help!
Alex, the distance sets for your 500 should be of some benefit to the last 50 of your 200 IM, but the 200 IM is still more of a controlled sprint than a distance race and the stroke transitions matter a lot. I'm not sure how much IM work you're doing, but I'd recommended IM sets that push your endurance and IM sets that cause you to sprint. I really like
transition IM sets like 8 x 150 "Indiana IMs" (one coach called them that and it's stuck with me) where you go fly-back-***, back-***-free, ***-free-fly, free-fly-back & repeat for building some IM endurance.
Ladder IMs like 1 x 300 IM, 2 x 200 IM, 3 x 100 IM then back down
The hardest part about swimming IMs is the transition from short-axis strokes to long-axis strokes, so you've got to practice those transitions in lots of different ways.
Alex, the distance sets for your 500 should be of some benefit to the last 50 of your 200 IM, but the 200 IM is still more of a controlled sprint than a distance race and the stroke transitions matter a lot. I'm not sure how much IM work you're doing, but I'd recommended IM sets that push your endurance and IM sets that cause you to sprint. I really like
transition IM sets like 8 x 150 "Indiana IMs" (one coach called them that and it's stuck with me) where you go fly-back-***, back-***-free, ***-free-fly, free-fly-back & repeat for building some IM endurance.
Ladder IMs like 1 x 300 IM, 2 x 200 IM, 3 x 100 IM then back down
The hardest part about swimming IMs is the transition from short-axis strokes to long-axis strokes, so you've got to practice those transitions in lots of different ways.
