The Middle Distance Lane

So how many other middle distancers besides me wish there were 400 events for each stroke and a 600 or 800 IM? Yes, even a 400 fly... it would probably be my best chance at a #1 ranking, though I have no idea how I'd complete it in LCM.

So how many other middle distancers besides me wish there were 400 events for each stroke and a 600 or 800 IM? Yes, even a 400 fly... it would probably be my best chance at a #1 ranking, though I have no idea how I'd complete it in LCM. The day that there is a 800 IM would be happy day for me. I think that I could survive it though. I just wish that they would have the 800 medley relay because I would always have an automatic spot in it.

You're not a sprinter and you're not a pure distance swimmer. Your 50's & 1500's aren't as great as your 200's, 400's, & 500's. Your 100's aren't shabby. Let the D Divas take those 800's, 1000's, 1500's & 1650's. You're caught in the middle. You've got OK speed, but you can do those longer sets that make pure sprinters ill. You're well conditioned and tend to do well with back to back events. Man you can train. Geez, looking at that description again, it's freaky-accurate. Here's the complete list of events that I've ever gotten Top-10 in: 100 fly, 200 back, 200 fly, 400 free, 400 IM. There have been years where I looked at the #10 times in some of the distance events and said, "hmmm, I could have beaten that time" but of course I didn't and the distance guys are welcome to do it instead.

this was my lane in college. although i was in a group known as the "upper mid-distance" lane. we swam in the lane adjacent to the distance group, and did a lot of the same (or VERY VERY similar) sets as the distance group, but without the emphasis on 1000/1650 training, and more an emphasis on the 200/500. however, we ended up playing host to most of the fastest sprinters on our team too (with a few minor exceptions). when the distance group was shooting for 10k a practice, we were somewhere in the neighborhood of 8.5-9.5k, while the actual "mid-distance group" would be somewhere 1-1.5k behind us.

The way I look at it is that I don't have speed, but I can go for a long time at the speed I have :)

You're not a lazy sprinter and you're not a crazy distance swimmer. I corrected that for you. So how many other middle distancers besides me wish there were 400 events for each stroke and a 600 or 800 IM? That would be great. One of the reasons I am picking up the 400 IM, despite my weak breaststroke, is because I realize that I mostly like to train non-free and the 400 IM was the only option above 200 for strokes. There have been years where I looked at the #10 times in some of the distance events and said, "hmmm, I could have beaten that time" but of course I didn't and the distance guys are welcome to do it instead. Part of that -- and this is my opinion only -- is that I think TT in the distance events are a little weaker than in the sprints. Not the top spots, those guys are pretty amazing; I'm talking about spots 5-10. Again, just my opinion (and it is often true of the 200 fly and 400 IM too; many masters avoid those, no idea why.:)) this was my lane in college. although i was in a group known as the "upper mid-distance" lane. we swam in the lane adjacent to the distance group, and did a lot of the same (or VERY VERY similar) sets as the distance group, Unfortunately we didn't have a mid-D group in college: we had the sprinters, the distance guys, and one group for each stroke. Early on I swam almost exclusively with the distance guys, until I noted with alarm that the coach started regularly putting me in distance events in meets. Then I switched to mostly train with the stroke groups with an occasional visit to the D-guys if I wanted to pound out some yardage. I think one main difference between a distance and mid-distance set is the amount of rest. Distance guys don't mind doing sets with very little rest, while I don't mind doing things repeats of 200-500s in practice, I like to have a decent recovery time between reps.

Chris, that's a somewhat reasonable correction. though sprinters work in their own way. We now have all the lanes eddie offers his swimmers. distance fr, middle distance fr, sprint fr, fly, back, ***, IM, & Taper I'm curious to see which one will be most active, right now it looks like the breastrokers have a significant lead. I prefer to live on taper time. Ande Originally Posted by ande You're not a lazy sprinter and you're not a crazy distance swimmer. I corrected that for you.

that's a somewhat reasonable correction. though sprinters work in their own way. No, it isn't reasonable at all, I was just making a joke. I don't think sprinters are lazy (well, no lazier than the average bear).

Part of that -- and this is my opinion only -- is that I think TT in the distance events are a little weaker than in the sprints. I don't think there is any question at all about that. Way more people swim the shorter events, and thus the TT times are stronger. I noticed there are 81 entries in the men's 40-44 100 IM in Atlanta. There are eight entered in the same age group for the 1650 free. Now, part of that is that distance day is on Thursday, but I doubt there'd be a whole lot more takers if Sunday were distance day!

Check out this article about recent Australian Masters meets. www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/.../24122.asp There's mention of an 800m IM, and for the sprinters, there's 25m stroke events and 4x25m relays. I wonder if there were 400m stroke events as well.