The Butterfly Lane

Great job James!

Here's a fly set that I've used different variants of in recent weeks. If you're trying to get in 1000 fly in a workout, this is a good way to do it without allowing your technique to break down. The set by itself is only 900 fly since I get in some fly during warmup and usually some more during an aerobic IM set. :banana: 4 x 75 fly @ cruising pace on 2:00 :banana: 100 easy :banana: 6 x 50 fly cruise down, sprint back w/big amplitude on 1:20 :banana: 100 easy :banana: 12 x 25 fly w/ 12 SDK off every wall, sprint every other 25 on :40 :banana: 100 easy You can tweak the intervals, the number of reps, and the focus of each set to suit your purposes. This set lets me practice different speeds and practice changing speeds during a swim. There's enough recovery that I can complete this set even when feeling lousy, like I did this morning. :badday:

Today I had less time than usual to get in a swimming workout. I decided to get in as much fly as I (reasonably) could. So I dropped my usual backstroke, freestyle, and IM work and just did a fly set after warmup. Without all that other stuff to tire me out before the fly set, I figured I would kick things up a notch. :agree: 3 x 100 fly, sprint the 2nd 50 on 2:30 :agree: 100 easy :agree: 4 x 75 fly, sprint the 3rd 25 on 2:00 :agree: 100 easy :agree: 7 x 50 fly, sprint the 2nd 25 on 1:15 :agree: 100 easy Wow, that seemingly minor change to the set posted above really made a big difference. I found myself loafing the first 25 of each 50. Well... is it possible to loaf above anaerobic threshold? If it is, then I was. :bed:

Why the big amplitude? Seems like too much up and down motion would bad for fly "cruise" for me means horizontal fly, breathing every other stroke, trying to conserve energy. "big amplitude" for me means a more vertical fly, big kick, breathing every stroke. The latter is faster for me, but I can't maintain it for a whole 200. I've tried. Twice. Piano, both times. But what I've figured out since then is that I can use both techniques in a 200. I swam a 200 SCM fly a couple weeks ago where I switched from horizontal to vertical at the 150 mark. My splits were something like 34.0, 37.1, 37.9, 36.1. Clearly went out too slow and should have switched earlier than the 150. Last weekend I swam a 200 SCY fly where I switched at the 125. My splits were 30.41, 33.73, 33.46, 33.15. That's better but I was still out too slow. I'm still figuring this out. I've also been messing around in practice with a horizontal fly combined with a big kick. That might be the ultimate winner, but it's too early to say.

"cruise" for me means horizontal fly, breathing every other stroke, trying to conserve energy. "big amplitude" for me means a more vertical fly, big kick, breathing every stroke. The latter is faster for me, but I can't maintain it for a whole 200. I've tried. Twice. Piano, both times. But what I've figured out since then is that I can use both techniques in a 200. I swam a 200 SCM fly a couple weeks ago where I switched from horizontal to vertical at the 150 mark. My splits were something like 34.0, 37.1, 37.9, 36.1. Clearly went out too slow and should have switched earlier than the 150. Last weekend I swam a 200 SCY fly where I switched at the 125. My splits were 30.41, 33.73, 33.46, 33.15. That's better but I was still out too slow. I'm still figuring this out. I've also been messing around in practice with a horizontal fly combined with a big kick. That might be the ultimate winner, but it's too early to say. I'm still all about the "take it out under a minute and see what you're made of" technique. Last time I didn't quite get under a 1:00, but still finished strong at a 2:07. Hopefully I'll look good again at Lake Wash. meet when you can witness it!! :applaud: Breathing on a 3/1 or 2/1 pattern works well for me.

:banana: 6 x 50 fly cruise down, sprint back w/big amplitude on 1:20 : Why the big amplitude? Seems like too much up and down motion would bad for fly

I'm bravely jumping back into the butterfly lane to start "Project 200 Fly" This will begin on Tuesday and finish towards the end of June at a LCM meet. I would rather do my first one (in years) SCY, but that's the way it goes. Now I've said it, there's no going back :afraid: I had a pretty solid meet the last 2 days and the fly was feeling good (again, at long last!) even on the final length of the random 100IM and lengths 3&4 of the random 200 IM. Over the next few weeks, I'll try and work up to some of That Guy's fly sets:bow: Go Go Go! But work up to it slowly. I hurt myself in 2009 by trying to do too much, and I already had a decent base of fly to work with at that time. One whole training cycle (SCM season) was basically wasted. I've found that the sets I've been posting lately are less likely to cause injury because... uh... I haven't injured myself lately :blush:

I'm bravely jumping back into the butterfly lane to start "Project 200 Fly" This will begin on Tuesday and finish towards the end of June at a LCM meet. I would rather do my first one (in years) SCY, but that's the way it goes. Now I've said it, there's no going back :afraid: I had a pretty solid meet the last 2 days and the fly was feeling good (again, at long last!) even on the final length of the random 100IM and lengths 3&4 of the random 200 IM. Over the next few weeks, I'll try and work up to some of That Guy's fly sets:bow:

Will do :) The idea is to now replace some of that freestyle yardage with fly. Thanks:bump: Following jaadams1 and That Guy's lead, I have started logging fly yards this year. It makes me consciously choose to do fly on some of the stroke sets and the yardage builds up surprisingly fast. I feel a lot stronger in fly sets and I am able to maintain my stroke longer. That being said, two years ago I started working on my breaststroke because I thought my shoulders would keep me from swimming fly any longer. I have a previous shoulder injury and if I do too many yards or too much fly or back, I lose stabilization in my left rotator cuff and get a lot of pain. So I would suggest that you take it easy as you progress. In his butterfly video, Richard Quick suggests that you only do fly sets where you maintain your form. I think this makes a lot of sense. Finally, while I think this is a great goal, I think I will be content to never swim another 200 fly.

I also like to go for more endurance type training with my fly rather than all race-paced stuff. Biggest thing is try not to lose control of your stroke. When you feel like you're falling apart...slow down the interval to get more rest. Nothing like trying to swim with an anchor tied around your waist. :afraid: I take the exact opposite approach of James: I do only race pace fly or perfect technique fly and not that much of it. You can train free for fly to a large extent. But then, like no200fly, I'm not entering the 200 fly. Just contemplating doing 100% of a workout fly, Louise, makes me shudder. Even if you have no shoulder problems, I would still advise building up fly endurance very very gradually. And swimming sloppy fly is just not worth it, as other have pointed out. Maybe instead of focusing so much on full stroke fly yardage, you could also include some dolphin kicking. After all, this is a leg driven stroke.