The IM Lane

working on even splitting a 200 IM - so yesterday featured 6 times thru 200 IM 1-3, broken :10 at the 100, 4-6 broken :10 at the 50 100 easy I'm trying to not use my legs much in the first half, so that I'm stronger for the 2nd half. Was able to neg split or even split all but 1 of these.

On Friday, the one day of my meet I had no events, I swam a 400 IM for the heck of it in the warm-up/down area. It was interesting! I didn't get my time or anything like that, but I didn't feel too bad doing it. I think a lot of it depends on not making the rookie mistake of going out too fast on the fly.

Long live the 100 IM! It's the reason I got into Masters.

TUESDAY & THURSDAY workouts are devoted to stroke specialty and IM. DEVOTED! Plenty of other time to swim freestyle and ridiculous yardage to make the triathletes and grinder freestylers happy. Coaches need to schedule stroke sets - and present stroke clinics so their athletes know how to swim strokes correctly. There is a reason so many age-group development coaches train kids to swim IM events - it builds overall fitness and athleticism. For masters, that IM training philosophy helps swimmers stay young, flexible, open minded, and less set in their ways like little old men and women! Project 85% of readers will disagree with me, but I still think I'm pretty close to right! :)

TUESDAY & THURSDAY workouts are devoted to stroke specialty and IM. DEVOTED! Plenty of other time to swim freestyle and ridiculous yardage to make the triathletes and grinder freestylers happy. Coaches need to schedule stroke sets - and present stroke clinics so their athletes know how to swim strokes correctly. There is a reason so many age-group development coaches train kids to swim IM events - it builds overall fitness and athleticism. For masters, that IM training philosophy helps swimmers stay young, flexible, open minded, and less set in their ways like little old men and women! Project 85% of readers will disagree with me, but I still think I'm pretty close to right! :) I'm in the projected 15% who AGREE with you! :agree: I'm a new Masters swimmer (joined in February) and only focusing on my best stroke (breaststroke) this year in competition, but I'm really looking forward to adding IM to the mix in the future. I am working up to it slowly, because I've had back and shoulder (thoracic outlet syndrome) surgeries in between my high school swimming days and my Masters swimming, 31 years later. But, I've been testing my body by increasing my yardage and speed gradually to the point where I'm up to 4-5 days/wk, 2500 - 3500 yds per workout. And, if I had the time, I know I could do more. On the other days, I dryland train, and that is going well, too. So far, so good! So, I'm heading in the IM direction. BUT, I want to get my breaststroke technique DOWN and continue to improve my times, before I alter my focus to improving other strokes. My ultimate goal is to get the technique DOWN on all of them! If I do that, speed will improve. :D

I think a lot of it depends on not making the rookie mistake of going out too fast on the fly. Nope. You've got to take out the fly fast...and then manage to survive for the next 300! :)

Ahelee you are spot on! At our workouts, we IM-types pretty much have to fill in stroke when the interval allows. Unless you're really fast, and I'm not, I can't do 10 x 50 stroke on :35! So I have to wait until the 40 or 45 to throw in some stroke. It's a bummer : (

I have a long term goal of breaking a minute in the 100y IM. It was always my favorite event. I do what I call "IM Sprint sets" which are simply 25s, on the minute, in IM order, all out until I can't take it anymore. The goal for now is to be able to repeat 15s every length.

added these links to all the first posts in each lane wonder which lane is going to get the most posts & views right now the breastrokers are killing all the other lanes the breastroke lane The Middle Distance Lane The Backstroke Lane The Butterfly Lane The SDK Lane The Taper Lane The Distance Lane The IM Lane The Sprint Free Lane The Pool Deck

Headed to Mission Viejo for Regionals today. Really mixed bag of training going into the meet. And emotionally drained after one of our favorite swimmers suffered a massive heart attack in my early morning workout yesterday. Still critical. But here comes that 400IM on day one of the meet. What event provides a full workout in itself like the 4IM? My swimmer, Tom, thinks its bad ass that I swim it and I agree. I sure don't feel bad ass today. But then, the 4IM is nothing like the battle he is facing right now. So here goes... Oh, Ahelee, so sorry to hear that one of your swimmers had a massive heart attack. How scary for everyone and emotionally draining. You are bad ass for swimming the 400 IM - remember to save your legs for the 2nd half of the IM - use mostly arms for the fly and back and remember to breath. Lots. I'll be thinking of you and Tom and wishing you both well. We also have 1 day a week for IM's and 1 day a week designated stroke day. We also have a mid distance free day and a sprint day and a recovery/technique day. Something for everybody. I love swimming IM's - it's just very fun to work on all strokes. And the distance free helps me build endurance for the 200 and 400 IM, so I try to make every practice.