The Butterfly Lane

Last year, I did 2 laps of fly in Long course just training. some woman, "Wow, that is pretty amazing. Did you tightened up at all?" Ah no, it is not that hard to swim two laps of fly when you are in decent swimming shape. the worst is when you tell people that you swim the 200 fly, they act like you are running the Boston Marathon. Seriously, it is just swimming 8 laps, 4 laps in LCM.

Tom, nice fly sets. those 2 x 250 is kinda similar to one of my favorite fly sets. which is 5x300's on 4. 1st hundred fly good pace, 2nd hundred free moderate, 3rd hundred fly faster than the 1st hundred. Definitely helps with the 2fly and bringing it home that last 100! nice set there and a set right up my "weak last 100 of my 200 fly" alley. After seeing some of your 200 flys, you really know how to bring it home. :bow:

So I just finished my first year of competition after two years of solo lap swimming. I'd like to swim more fly since I got 5th at State with a 33 low 50 fly (age 55-59). I know my form has opportunity for improvement & I think my coach can help me with that. Any thought on cross-training or my solo workout swims? I die in the last 10-15 yards. I'm averaging 12-13k per week in practice.

Tom, nice fly sets. those 2 x 250 is kinda similar to one of my favorite fly sets. which is 5x300's on 4. 1st hundred fly good pace, 2nd hundred free moderate, 3rd hundred fly faster than the 1st hundred. Definitely helps with the 2fly and bringing it home that last 100!

On the other hand, fly is the only stroke where you can technically end up not being able to finish the race. If unable to recover the arms after 125m, game over. I think that is what keeps people away from the 200. They fear ending up going under the shame of quitting by the sides, trying to avoid being crashed by those that kept flying. We were only 4 in our age group at the last Provincials. Sad, especially for the one who came last ;-) On the other hand, people are fascinated by the stroke. Paradox. Very nice fly threshold sets BTW. I can't think of any better way to train for this stroke. Kilo long sets with very little rest. Someone got DQed in some fly event at Colonies Zones, "stating arms not moving simultaneously". I never heard that before.

i definitely think it is more beneficial (and less suicidal) doing free/fly mixed sets than doing straight fly. when i was in high school especially, it was all fly (think 12x200 fly LCM at least once a week in the summer). the longer distances (200/300) with fly and free mixed in has really helped improve my fly while also improving my endurance (without sacrificing my shoulders). too bad i didnt sign up for any fly at nationals : (

Seriously, it is just swimming 8 laps, 4 laps in LCM. On the other hand, fly is the only stroke where you can technically end up not being able to finish the race. If unable to recover the arms after 125m, game over. I think that is what keeps people away from the 200. They fear ending up going under the shame of quitting by the sides, trying to avoid being crashed by those that kept flying. We were only 4 in our age group at the last Provincials. Sad, especially for the one who came last ;-) On the other hand, people are fascinated by the stroke. Paradox. Very nice fly threshold sets BTW. I can't think of any better way to train for this stroke. Kilo long sets with very little rest.

So I just finished my first year of competition after two years of solo lap swimming. I'd like to swim more fly since I got 5th at State with a 33 low 50 fly (age 55-59). I know my form has opportunity for improvement & I think my coach can help me with that. Any thought on cross-training or my solo workout swims? I die in the last 10-15 yards. I'm averaging 12-13k per week in practice. 1) work with your coach to work on your form, and then especially, try to hold good form and tempo when tired. 2) sets where you swim some fly/some free are really nice to get stronger. One doesn't want to train fly when your stroke is falling apart - it doesn't help. 3) if the end of a 50 is starting to hurt, do 25's in practice and start with getting at least as much rest as you take to swim it. So, if a 25 of fly takes :15, do them on the :30. If you start to lose your ability to maintain good form, then it's time to rest more or you have done enough repeats. 4) slowly build up to doing more and more fly in practice and then add some 50's in - 25 free/25 fly to start and then 12.5 free/37.5 fly, etc. 5) training alone gives you more space and the ability to swim as much fly as you want - take advantage of it! Have fun!

I've been getting into fly lately. I'm really starting to enjoy swimming it, now that I can still feel strong at the end of the 50, and do repeats along with those swimming free in practice. The other day I did a 1000 continuous warmup, done as 150 free, 50 fly. I enjoy swimming fly as part of a distance set so I can relax and work on technique. I'm still pretty new at swimming fly. This was a difficult set for me. (all done at a fairly hard effort): 4 X 100 fly on 2:00 4 X 50 fly on 1:10 4 X 25 fly on :30 I also once did a ladder that looked something like this: 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 125, 100, 75, 50, 25 .. all fly. That 150 was the longest fly I've swum to date. (There was plenty of rest in between some of those, LOL)

And it IS a beautiful stroke; when it comes together, nothing beats it. (The opposite is also true, as most people know: when you die, nothing hurts quite so badly. "Reach for the sky," and all that.) UGH! The dying part being why the 100 and I are still on hiatus ... :censor: