Help, I've got 4 weeks to do a 100 fly

I am curious to see what people tell you, because I am in the same boat! You might want to move this post to the general swimming questions. Those threads get a lot more traffic.

Yeah, I am running out of time. I never would have guessed that this goal would end up being as hard or harder than my first triathlon. I can barely run yet the 100 fly was my event as a kid (even the 200 I did a couple times). It would suck to have to admit defeat and back out but it is almost getting to that point. Unless I make significant progress quickly I am not at all confident I can even finish the race. My best hope seems to be a fresh, rested body for the race and finding some magic. And/or just gutting it out - but I feel like I could be close to heart attack level if I tried to swim that last 25 yards with nothing left.

not sure this is the best advice, but it has helped me go from not being able to swim 100m fly in practice and a race time of 1:15.16 in Dec 2007 to 1:10.60 in march 2008 to 1:08.87 Dec 2008 and my goal time for mar 2009 is 1:06. when I last swam the 100fly it was just after swimming the 200 IM, 100br and 100 back with less than 90 minutes from the start of the IM to the start of the fly. so i was tired. next time I race the 100fly I am hoping for a minimim of 90 minutes rest! anyways, I do a lot of 50 fly where I swim 25, then i do one arm fly 12.5 right and 12.5 left, or 3 right 3 left 1-3 double. I also work on my distance off the walls, since I die at the last 25 I figured every stroke I can save on my turns will help in the end. I also work on not breathing every stroke. I noticed that if I can manage to breathe 2 strokes, then 1 stroke, 2 stroke....it hurts my lungs, but it saves my shoulders and I can actually swim faster and longer. it just takes getting use to holding my breath. I also swim alot of 100 IMs where I swim the 25 fly all out, and then maintain a good speed the rest of the swim.

If you are serious about that last point, then skip it. Seriously, it is not worth it. There will be many more meets down the line where you can swim a 100 fly. It is not an event that I would want to swim inadequately prepared. It is not like the other strokes. When you are tired, you can't just slow down. At that point it is a fight to stay afloat. With fly: if you're spent, you're spent. Not sure what you can do in 4 weeks. Fly is such a whole body stroke and it requires such good conditioning. Then of course there is timing and rhythm. If I were you, after each warm up over the next four weeks, I would swim a 100 fly. Just go to complete the distance. Look at it as getting yourself psychologically prepared. Take out the first 50 as slow and as RELAXED as possible. On the second 50 bring in your legs, keep your head down and "think forward, not up" (great tip given to me by someone on this forum). Remember to kick from the hips. Stay low in the water. Long arms. RELAX. If you can do it every time you practice over the next four weeks, you will have all the confidence you need to complete the distance at the meet. Really good advice from Syd! Here's a thread I started awhile ago about training for the 100 fly. forums.usms.org/showthread.php When I tried to do the longer sets in that thread, my shoulder broke down. However, I do loads of 25s and quite a few 50s. The thing that has helped my fly the most is weights. Try doing easy speed fly as well, which should help you break out of the one speed fly and increase your DPS.

I'm not sure why you think you HAVE TO swim this event. You can scratch yourself when you arrive at the meet. I have already deciced to scratch the 200 Fly in our state meet(end of March) due to the fact my shoulders have been a little tweaky lately and I have not done my normal preparation for fly. If you must swim just know you can hang onto the wall and catch your breath for as long as you like, just keep both hands paralell and on the wall. I know an 89 yr. old man who does the 200 fly in 12minutes or so and he uses this strategy very well. Good luck....remember we are doing this for fun and fitness. :angel:

- but I feel like I could be close to heart attack level if I tried to swim that last 25 yards with nothing left. If you are serious about that last point, then skip it. Seriously, it is not worth it. There will be many more meets down the line where you can swim a 100 fly. It is not an event that I would want to swim inadequately prepared. It is not like the other strokes. When you are tired, you can't just slow down. At that point it is a fight to stay afloat. With fly: if you're spent, you're spent. Not sure what you can do in 4 weeks. Fly is such a whole body stroke and it requires such good conditioning. Then of course there is timing and rhythm. If I were you, after each warm up over the next four weeks, I would swim a 100 fly. Just go to complete the distance. Look at it as getting yourself psychologically prepared. Take out the first 50 as slow and as RELAXED as possible. On the second 50 bring in your legs, keep your head down and "think forward, not up" (great tip given to me by someone on this forum). Remember to kick from the hips. Stay low in the water. Long arms. RELAX. If you can do it every time you practice over the next four weeks, you will have all the confidence you need to complete the distance at the meet.

I am reasonably quick in a 50 fly, but far slower in a 100. A few years ago I could swim a 27-high 50 but when I raced a 100 I finished with a painful and ugly 1:12. I have not raced a 100 fly since. But I think I could now just because I can feel that a 50 is much easier in practice. I can actually swim a clean 100 fly in practice although I rarely do. Last week I swam a very unusual 2x400IM set and the fly was not awful. I would try some broken 100s to help you determine what kind of pace to follow. Normally broken swims are done at or close to race pace. Instead I would try a slower pace. Swim 4x25 fly with 5 secs rest between each 25. The short rest should help you commit to swim each 25 as cleanly as you can. I think the goal should be to swim the last 25 without being miserable. Maybe do the broken 100s 2-3 times with a rest freestyle swim between each one.

I'm not sure why you think you HAVE TO swim this event. You can scratch yourself when you arrive at the meet. I have already deciced to scratch the 200 Fly in our state meet(end of March) due to the fact my shoulders have been a little tweaky lately and I have not done my normal preparation for fly. If you must swim just know you can hang onto the wall and catch your breath for as long as you like, just keep both hands paralell and on the wall. I know an 89 yr. old man who does the 200 fly in 12minutes or so and he uses this strategy very well. Good luck....remember we are doing this for fun and fitness. :angel: I'm afraid this is what I am looking at. Stubborness towards this goal is the only thing that hasn't made me admit defeat yet. I really do just do it for fun and fitness, but for me that requires these kinds of goals. If I can't start completing 100s consistently in practice I guess I will just have to scratch. Hanging on the wall is an option but I don't know if I can deal with that. :frustrated:

I'm afraid this is what I am looking at. Stubborness towards this goal is the only thing that hasn't made me admit defeat yet. I really do just do it for fun and fitness, but for me that requires these kinds of goals. If I can't start completing 100s consistently in practice I guess I will just have to scratch. Hanging on the wall is an option but I don't know if I can deal with that. :frustrated: Herb, I'm with Fortress here. You don't need to swim 100 flys in practice. Concentrate on 25s and maybe 50s where you really focus on keeping good technique. When I was training for my 100 fly, I would do the following (in 25m pool) 1-2x week usually at the end of practice. 4x50 Fly on 2:00 8x25 Fly on 1:00 Where I would concentrate on a strong kick and staying low. As soon as I started to break down, I would finish that one free and put my fins on and swim the remaining repeats with fins. At first I would make only the first 50 and maybe the first 3 25s before I would have to put my fins on. But the secret here is do not keep swimming fly if your technique has totally broken down.

Well, seven days to go and I've made some progress at long last. Thanks for the tips as I incorporated some. I've done a handful of 100s - always ending up in breakdown mode for the last 10 or 15 yards, but at least I can complete it. I finally found that short butterfly only workouts were the key - partly because of a vacation that had me swimming in hotel pools and the ocean and mainly because my body couldn't handle it in a normal full workout. I'll do a 200 yard warm-up and then just do 4X50 or 1x100 and that's it and I can squeeze it in on a lunch. I turned in a seed time of 1:20 and I've done 1:25s from the wall. Hopefully I can go a little faster if I can keep up the momentum. 15 more yards and I would be swimming a real race, but I will be more than happy just to finish this time and then we'll see.