The Backstroke Lane

OK Elaine, sounds like fun :chug: What seed time should we enter?

O o, June is getting close. I will do a practice run to see if I can make that time in a 100 first, it is outside of my endurance range.

Can she just let go of the wall and drop down and push off the wall? Yes. Look at Rule 101.1.2.B. She has to be facing the block with both hands on the gutter or block grips and her toes under the water's surface at the second long whistle. If she is not, the starter will remind her (e.g., "both hands on the wall, please, Lane 3"). Then she can just do a normal pushoff. No need to jump or throw the arms over if she doesn't want to.

I talked my co-worker into entering a small local LCM meet. :cheerleader: Unfortunately, it's during Nationals so I won't be there with her. She is going to swim the 50 backstroke. Our pool doesn't have blocks and she doesn't know how to do a backstroke start anyway. What are the rules for a legal start? I'm assuming she will need to start in a gutter start position, but does she have to bring her arms back together on the start? Can she just let go of the wall and drop down and push off the wall? Basically, what would be the simplest legal way to teach her to start? She's not worried about speed but she will have a serious case of the butterflies.

O o, June is getting close. I will do a practice run to see if I can make that time in a 100 first, it is outside of my endurance range. Forget the 100 then; let's gridge the 50. :D

OK Elaine, sounds like fun :chug:

What seed time should we enter? If there's a LC pool available for a practice run, would the time done there, - 1 second, be a reasonable seed? I will swim LC this afternoon and check for myself. I think I might go 46 seconds, but we'll see.

If there's a LC pool available for a practice run, would the time done there, - 1 second, be a reasonable seed? I will swim LC this afternoon and check for myself. I think I might go 46 seconds, but we'll see. Sounds reasonable to me. Since my best yards time converts to 46.22 in LC, 46 would be a reasonable seed time for me, as well. If we seed the same, who knows where we'll end up on race day. We could end up on opposite sides of the pool, depending on how other swimmers seed. But, if we end up next to each other with the best times in our heat, that would be cool! :banana:

Yes. Look at Rule 101.1.2.B. She has to be facing the block with both hands on the gutter or block grips and her toes under the water's surface at the second long whistle. If she is not, the starter will remind her (e.g., "both hands on the wall, please, Lane 3"). Then she can just do a normal pushoff. No need to jump or throw the arms over if she doesn't want to. The toes can be out of the water, but they can't be above the lip of the gutter. If there is a touchpad that comes out of the water the feet can be as high as they want on the touchpad as long as the toes are below the top edge.

Chris Stevenson & That Guy: It worked! Thank you! ... repeats of 100's wherein you sprint the 2nd 50 of each 100. Then take low (5-10 seconds) to medium (10-30 seconds) rest before the next 100. Have a mental cue like "ok GO" when it's time to sprint. It'll come in handy in competition. In addition to this sort of set I think you need to work on pacing and lactate tolerance. (These are not independent things but they are not identical either.) One suggestion is to do pace 200s where you decrease the rest as you progress. For example: 4 x 200 back on 4:00, rest 12/10/8 sec at the 50s, try to keep the same time on all 4 50s, and not far from your goal race pace. From March 26 until taper time on May 5, I did lots of sets based on your suggestions. I had to modify the sets in most cases because I couldn't do them exactly as prescribed. But close! My notes include sets like, 4x50 on 1:00 = 34 35 35 34 4x50 on 55 = 35 35 35 35 4x50 on 50 = 35 35 35 35 and4 x 50 on 45 = 35 36 36 35 4 x 50 on 50 = 35 36 36 35 2 x = 31 31 and3 x on 5:00 1:08 1:10 1:10 It worked! At nationals, I did PBs in both the 100 and 200, dropping 1.6 in the 100 and 2.4 in the 200. Splits for the 200 were still not ideal, but much improved! Event 25 Men 55-59 200 Yard Backstroke ================================================================== 7 Jones, Judd 55 GAJA 2:21.02 2:18.64 32.69 1:07.62 (34.93) 1:43.38 (35.76) 2:18.64 (35.26) First time under 2:20! :banana: 7539 The graph (click on it to make it larger) shows my times in the SCY 200 back from Sep. 26, 2009 to May 9, 2013. See that big drop at the end? THANK YOU VERY MUCH! Any more suggestions? :agree: