The 400 IM swim

We have worked for a couple of weeks now to prepare for this race, so what are we looking for?  The first thing is to relax and don’t stress over it and remember the ☀️ will rise from the east in the morning. REALLY it will! Let’s break it up into 4 races shall we!

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The first leg is the fly and the big positive during this leg is that we start from a dive so we really won’t be doing a 100 fly.  The first thing We want you all to remember is to set that breathing patten immediately.  BREATHE-BREATHE-DON’T BEATHE !  It is very important to keep that flow of oxygen to your arms and especially your legs.  It’s a marathon in a way not a sprint.  The other key thing is We want to see your booty out of the water every time your arms enter forward and you press your chest, otherwise you are just dragging yourself through the water. That strong kick in fly takes the pressure off the shoulders saving them for the other legs in the race.

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The second leg is the backstroke and this is not the time to relax and get lazy.  Its actually time to shift our focus from the legs to the arms trying to maintain a good tempo with good rotation.  Don’t spin the arms, but it should not look lazy, keep the head back in the 💦 and let your shoulders roll.  The legs are not that important throughout this leg, let the arms work for you especially you non breaststrokers.

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What we are looking for during this leg is a long stroke, holding that streamline out front until you snap the legs together.  It is during this leg that a lot of breast stroke swimmers make their move, but what we don’t want to see is for them to take the second leg completely off.  If breast is not your strong stroke, this is not the time to panic, stay within yourself and swim your race, keep it long.

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Here we go the last leg, let’s get excited we are 75% finish with the race.  Coming out of the third leg we want you to be aggressive with a fast tempo of the arms and keep it long.  Hold off on that strong kick until that last 50 and then let’s crush it.  You remember all that air we got in fly, this is the leg where your body reaps those awards.  If you followed the plan your arms and legs should not lock up.  During this leg try to match the fly split.

All of you are pretty intelligent and should have noticed a pattern; legs,arms,legs,arms.   Get your air in the fly, keep the hips up with a good kick, backstroke focus on the arms and rotation.  During the breast leg keep it long, finish that kick before your hands move, and during the free keep the arm tempo fast and crush the kick on the last 50.

HAVE FUN WITH IT GUYS