With the IMX fast approaching I thought it might be time to go over some strategies for this meet with those of you who will be swimming next weekend.
First off as you begin this meet let's stay in the moment and focus in on the task at hand. Let's not get weird and go bonkers with your next events. Stay in the moment and that goes for each event, take each 25 of your event and work on that, make the turn and move to the next. Remember to get your 2nd warmup done and go warm down immediately after your event.
Coach any suggestions on how I should swim my events? Glad you ask. After talking to 2 former Mako swimmers who went on to swim in college about their strategies for these events, this is what we came up with. I did remind them that we are working with 9-14 year olds who probably will be a little nervous or maybe even a complete wreck.
FLY EVENTS (200-100)-- The best way is fast with a little help. The biggest mistake that I see with swimmers at your level not only in the 200 and 100 fly, but also the IM's is forgetting to breathe that first 25 or 50. You are excited as you step up to the block with your heart beating a little faster, your adrenaline flowing a little faster, you dive in and before you know it your making that first turn, only problem is that you forgot to breathe which means its going to be more painful and that pain is going to start earlier. If nothing else gores right make sure you breathe early and often. Next big tip are your turns and underwater skills. In a 200 you have 7 turns, 7 opportunities to shorten both these races, use them to save your arms. Remember we are breathing often during these races. Keep those hips high with smooth kick so you don't overwork your arms until the end. The 2nd and third 50 should should be equal in time maybe at our yellow pace. The first and last 50 should also be the same, but the difference is that the last 25/50 need to be red to accomplish that. The first 50 will be a strong blue and the split will be fast already because you get the dive. Hold a good rhythm as long as you can, work the walls and set up the breathing pattern we work on (2up/1 down/). Enjoy this event as Coach Peter would tell you,"Any fly event in swimming is simply the best."
BACK EVENTS (200-100)-- You will see with a lot of these events that the one constant is the work inside the flags. At our level I like to see a big effort underwater off the start while your fresh, and as you move along you might reduce your dolphin by one and then finish with a big effort off the last turn. Find that easy speed on that first 50 in the 200. The second 50 lets's work our core with some good pulling so that we are efficient. The 3rd 50 we are still moving so now we want to start building our effort, increasing our tempo so that we are ready for that last big push to the wall.
The 100 follows the same basic strategy with maybe trying to really work the middle 50 with a good arm speed and putting that big kick in on the last 25. Hey the best part of backstroke is that your face is out of the water.
BREAST STROKE (200-100)-- We have spent a lot of time working on our stroke counts, lets focus in on that as we go through the 200/100 races. Don't get lost just spinning your arms, may feel fast, but very inefficient especially in the long run. Let's be careful we are not gliding to much, but their has to be some kind of pause in the arms to let the kick finish and move you forward. As in fly the breathing is critical, and yes you may be thinking, but coach I breathe every stroke. You are correct, but I think some young swimmers hold their glide a little to long which means your not getting your air and so you go into oxygen debt sometime during your race. Breaststroke is a leg driven stroke. Those legs are big muscles and need that oxygen, that's why they hurt so much. Those legs need a little extra warmup for these 2 events, so it would be wise to put some vertical kicking or wall kicking in during warmups. Again work the walls and focus on strong pullouts to decrease your stroke counts. Build that 3rd 50/25 and then put the hammer down and go red. Like we said enjoy that breath on every stroke.
FREE EVENTS (500-200)-- First off don't let these races get in your heads. Understand the race and realize that we have been doing more than this with our warmups for the past month. Let's talk 200 free first. Is it a sprint or do you need to conserve energy for big finish. Different strategies for different folks. For our purposes and at our level we are going to find an easy speed off the dive and settle into a good rhythm while always maintaining that forward motion. Next 50 let's bear down and hold that speed, and as you approach that turn for the 3rd 50 start ramping it up (looking for those 2 middle 50's to be similar) it will take a big effort on your part, and then hammer out that last 50. Do what is needed to be even with most of the other lanes in your heart especially if your in the middle of the pool. Up that tempo at 125-150 yards so you don't lose the rest of the pack.
As for the 500 the strategy is somewhat different, but it still is FAST. This race has 9 turns in it so needless to say your turns are very important during this race. Don't slow down into your turns feet over the top fast and get a good streamline off those walls. Do not circle swim and tell your counter to put the lap counter off to the side. These 2 swimmers liked it in the righthand corner and angled a little. This allowed them to focus on getting their feet to the target on turn and helping to stay in the center of the lane. As for the swim don't overthink this event, back in your head that little person know this is a long race, so all you have to do is swim it. Start strong, but control it. First 50 should be about 2-3 seconds off your best 50, your second may drop off 2 more seconds and your 3rd 1 more second. At this point you should be in a good rhythm and pace until we get to 350-375 when you need to start dropping that hammer for a big finish. Don't get wrapped up in. numbers, just go out and set out on a strong (yellow/blue) pace that you can maintain over the first 400.
IM EVENTS (200-400)-- The decathlon for swimmers where you can put all four strokes together. Looking at the 200 these 2 swimmers always looked at it as 1 dive and 7 turns period. Off the dive and turns they liked to relax but hold good streamlines and go a little longer than normal and explode off those first 3 strokes. In the breaststroke they like to push their pullouts a little longer. All 50's should be set up 25 yellow/25 blue and the free is all red.
Moving on to the 400IM, calm down you can do this. The fly should be strong and controlled, lots of air. You can't win this race during this 100 but you can most certainly lose it. During the back ease off that kick with maybe the 2 beat kick working strong arms and good body position, even splitting this 100 would be great. As you move into the breaststroke leg think long powerful arm strokes (your stroke count matters here) combined with a powerful kick. Be careful not to spin your arms here, let the kick finish before you move into that next cycle. Again negative split here would be good. If you've done the work up to this point your ready to go during the free leg with confidence, looking to catching anyone near you or increasing your lead on others.
In closing, try to enjoy this meet and all your teammates.
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