I did a 50 fly in my first swim meet in 20+ years with minimal training so I thought I would have no problem doing a 100 three months later. Since then I have trained harder and improved significantly in the freestyle with speed and endurance yet I still die after 50 yards of butterfly. 95% of my training is free as the fly takes everything out of me. At the end of a 2000 yard workout I might do one 50. That might not sound like much to you all but I can do a set of like 15 x 100 which is well beyond what i have been capable in years.
Once a week I might do 10X25 fly or I might just see how far I can go. I always die after the 2nd turn. Complete breakdown. Yet I could do a 50 months ago without any concern at all of just completing the distance.
My stroke may be fundamentally flawed. Maybe I just got by as a youth on raw power. The only form I have is all out until the momentum is lost and then it is complete breakdown withing 3 strokes. I don't know if there is some kind of hesitation stroke I can use to get through, but at this point I think I need sets and strategies to build up to it on the stroke I have.
Parents
Former Member
- 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.
- 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.
