Distance Butterfly

This is a response to Matt Shirley's post in the thread 'A sad backstroke story': After reading this post, I have three thoughts: 1) I'd dearly love to hear you expound on swimming distance fly. I have just worked myself up (or learned how to gear myself down) to do a 200 fly without dying at the end. The idea of learning fly well enough to swim it continuously, like say freestyle or backstroke, is tantalizing. However, 2) After doing a fly workout, TWICE, which has a primary objective of piling up "garbage yards" (your term, I'm just repeating it back to you), I have to wonder if maybe we need to find you a hobby (or a job, or a girlfriend,...) 3) After reading my first two thoughts, I'm beginning to wonder if the 8 hours I spent in the blazing sun today at my kids' Conference Championship meet is beginning to affect me. OK, I'm going to take my nap now. Hi Matt! My distance fly is not my normal fly, though my stroke is developing and I am working on a style that I can use in all my events. Briefly, while I learned fly as a youth, my form was an object of derision and laughter. I was only able to swim a 'good' fly when I was about 19 years old (and swimming for a summer on my first AAU team) and that was by letting my timing be determined by my arms, rather than my kick, and having no kick at all in any stroke that included a breath. While I was able to do a :52 100 y fly and a 1:58 200 y fly, I was young and strong and really fit. I am now neither young nor strong, and 20 years of indolence have taken their toll. A 200 fly is an object of fear for me (I swam a 200 LCM for the first time in my life a couple of weeks ago). When my arms shut down at the end, I realize that I can no longer afford to just *pull* my body through the water. I still find a simultaneous two beat kick and breathing very difficult (is this like rubbing your tummy and patting your head?) but 'distance fly' may be my ticket to an improved stroke. By slowing my tempo down, adding a significant glide with my arms forward, and mentally 'prepping' for a kick, I can actually get the kick in - more important, my feet aren't three feet under water when I take my breath. And I don't get tired. It is still very slow compared to my 'no breath' stroke (now sub 25 s for a 50 y), but the hope is that after a year of swimming it, I will no longer have to 'prep' for the kick and I can speed up the tempo. So this spring I swam a 1650 fly in 22+ minutes. That is not as fast as I hope to swim it later, but I was pretty pleased, and it was not nearly as hard as a 200 fly (but more boring). If you're interested, it was about 6 strokes/length and quite legal. No, it is not like swimming freestyle or backstoke (yet). But you should ask the woman who finished the 1650 about 2 minutes ahead of me, maybe it is for her. :) And Matt, it is not 'garbage yards' but 'garbage yardage.' I'm sure a poet like you can hear the difference! So the purpose for me is stroke improvement, and while I appreciate your concern and willingness to help me, I have a job and a wife and a couple of kids, and my hobby is . . . . well, swimming. (and posting here). And, you know, I like challenging workouts!