The Butterfly Lane

Here is an interesting video about the Spitz/Russell 100 fly duel at the 68 Olympics: www.tsdhof.org/video-doug russell.html Thanks for posting- very interesting

I will go on a tangent here with a similar scenario...medication/drugs. At the first onset of a headache (and I'm talking of a simple head ache, not a deper migrain progblem), do you immediatelyl pop a couple extra-strength pain relievers or do you wait it out to see if the head ache goes away and then maybe take one? If you want to swim in the butterfly lane, you need to be able to ignore stuff like this. The other day I tweaked my neck somehow, but swam right through it, and then lifted, and then biked to work. The tweak figured out that it wasn't welcome, and went away on its own.

I will go on a tangent here with a similar scenario...medication/drugs. At the first onset of a headache (and I'm talking of a simple head ache, not a deper migrain progblem), do you immediatelyl pop a couple extra-strength pain relievers or do you wait it out to see if the head ache goes away and then maybe take one? When you say, "I need fins in order to swim fly," you are no longer using fins as a tool but an aid. Now, I'm not saying if you disagree with my "conventional wisdom" then you have a drug problem! :) Good luck to everyone swimming this weekend. I'm flying up tonight and will (only) be swimming the 50 Fly on Saturday morning. -Rob

here is a good/short fly set that I do solo and I have the room to do it. Yards 4 x 50s fly on :40

Tough set today. It wasn't super-tough physically since it's not very dissimilar from what I do regularly, but tough mentally. 150 fly on 4:00 (went 1:44) 125 fly on 3:30 (went 1:26) 100 fly on 3:00 (went 1:07) 75 fly on 2:30 (went 48) 50 fly on 2:00 (went 30-high or 31-low) 25 fly AFAP (went 13-high or 14-low from a push. 12 SDK's, 7 strokes, no breaths) Mentally, it was tough to sprint at the end of the 100 and the 75, with the 150 and 125 already weighing on my shoulders. Internal dialogue, minus expletives: "The intervals are long so you can go fast, NOW GO FAST!" I should have been quicker on that 50 too. I see lots of room for improvement the next time I do this set. I think I can and should finish 46-29-13. Then again, the next time I try something like this, I might start at 175 or 200...

...I have taken a :05 - :10 break at the 3rd turn on my first 100 fly as a master - and finished 2nd and got the team points I was going for.... My first real "Ah-Ha!" moment for fly came before I was bold (or healthy) enough to really even try it (in my 40's). It certainly was one of the sparks. It came during a local USMS LMSC LCM championship (my first LCM meet ever). There was this guy who looked to be in his 70's, possibly older, rather frail, and did not move too fast anywhere, even on deck. I was stunned to see him start the 100 fly. It was nothing spectacular at all to look at, but it was legal. When he reached the turn he clung to the wall a bit, and pushed off for the finish. I turned to my coach at the time and asked quite surprised, "Can you do that?" she calmly looked me square in the eye and said, "Yes. And that was probably the difference between him finishing that event, or not." I bet he scored a 1st, and a bunch of points for his team. Definitely got me to thinking.

I'm at peak training until it's time to taper for NW LCM Zones July 10-11. Here's the set I did this morning: 3x100 fly on 2:30 @ 200 pace (went 1:09, 1:08, 1:08) 4x75 fly on 2:00 @ 200 pace (went 51, 50, 50, 50) 5x50 fly on 1:30 sprint 2nd 25 (went 33, 32, 32, 31, 31, 31) OOPS I did an extra 50 :blush: 6x25 fly on 1:00 sprint (went 14's and 15's) The first three 50's, I wasn't really sprinting the 2nd 25 like I was supposed to. But I eventually got there. I was happy to be able to sprint at all at the end of such a long fly set, especially after doing similar-length sets on Sunday and Monday. So the set was supposed to be 1000 fly total but I did 1050. Didn't realize it until I was walking out of the building.

I'm at peak training until it's time to taper for NW LCM Zones July 10-11. Here's the set I did this morning: 3x100 fly on 2:30 @ 200 pace (went 1:09, 1:08, 1:08) 4x75 fly on 2:00 @ 200 pace (went 51, 50, 50, 50) 5x50 fly on 1:30 sprint 2nd 25 (went 33, 32, 32, 31, 31, 31) OOPS I did an extra 50 :blush: 6x25 fly on 1:00 sprint (went 14's and 15's) The first three 50's, I wasn't really sprinting the 2nd 25 like I was supposed to. But I eventually got there. I was happy to be able to sprint at all at the end of such a long fly set, especially after doing similar-length sets on Sunday and Monday. So the set was supposed to be 1000 fly total but I did 1050. Didn't realize it until I was walking out of the building. Okay, and I was feeling like I had a good day going 650 meters of fly, mixed up with free and in a 400 IM. I bow to the north and am impressed.:banana:

I had a good day going 650 meters of fly, mixed up with free and in a 400 IM:banana: Great job swimmj!

When I do the 50 fly I feel like I am going really fast, but I am actually going slow. I finally have the endurance to go all out (and put my head down for 3 or 4 strokes - I am faster that way) yet my time is only 31. My kick is very weak - is it possible that could be four seconds or so? This was by far my best stroke as a kid and I can't believe I suck so bad now. My other theory is that most of butterfly development occurs in high school or beyond after more muscle development? Keep working on that kick. It's the locomotive in fly. I do see some people swim fly seemingly with nothing but their arms. I once watched in amazement as an Olympian swam the fly leg of a 400 LCM IM that way. His DPS was terrible and his stroke count was astronomical, but nevertheless he was moving reasonably fast. I have no desire to swim fly that way though. Dolphin kick!!!