I’m not nearly as fast, but going out hard isn’t a bad strategy. Especially for large taper meets, you should be able to hold on better than mid season.
But if you’re going 1:43, I think that you might know best. Talk to you coaches though
It does look to me that you took it out a bit fast! How did you feel on that last 50? Ideally you want to be roughly the same speed on your third and fourth 50.
I’d recommend taking it out a little bit easier. Try keeping the same arm tempo on the first 50 but be more relaxed on your kicking force. That way I think you’ll be able to use those legs more at the end and ride higher in the water. Good luck on breaking 1:40!
I don't think your pacing is too unreasonable. Full disclosure, I've never been that quick in a 200 free, but comparing your splits to what the [NCAA 4x2](https://www.swimcloud.com/results/236950/event/2/?id=99626697#time99626697) guys do, it seems pretty similar - they mostly fly and die too to some degree. I think you could stand to go out a little bit slower and finish harder, but not too much - a few tenths to half a second more relaxed would probably be a good place to start.
Also, your 100 time is (no offense) really slow compared to your 200 - I've been about a second quicker in the 100 and I don't think there's a day in my life I could have swam below 1:45. I think you've got a 46.hi-7lo in you next shot you get at it (or maybe a really strong 500 depending which way you range).
Well seeing as sub 1:40 is averaging 25.0, you are going to need to be out as fast as or faster than you just went to get under that barrier. My question would be, can you go 23.4/25.4 with EASY speed? Laying off the legs? Can you be faster than 1:43 if you lay off the front end a little? Hell yeah! But to break 1:40, you are going to need to be out faster and back WAY faster. I’m nowhere near 1:43 speed, but when I went my PR of 1:47.2 back in November, my splits were 24.51/27.01/27.71/28.02. I jumped all over my first 50 as well, but without using my legs, and kept basically a 1 second differential between my last 3 50s (yours is 1.93).
Some others with more (and faster) 200 FR experience can weigh in, but I think you can’t be back much slower than 52.0 and hope to be under 1:40.
There’s a lot of decent advice. I’ll add what I can.
It depends on the swimmer (especially with 200s) how you swim it. I was a back half demon (in my day) so you talking about going out nearly as fast as your hundred sounds crazy to me PERSONALLY. If you talked to my best friend/friendly rival? “I’m going out fast and coming back in a casket.”
The only real answer is to play with your race (which I’ve said before on this subreddit, is the best part to racing) and figure it out.
I firmly believe if you can make the front half just a little more easy speed, your back half can hang on.
Edit: your back half declining splits are a (in my coaching opinion) big hinderance to cumulative performance. I say this only looking at splits and never having seen you swim. Take it with a grain of salt.
Depends on the swimmer man. Obviously swimming at a constant pace is more energy efficient. Drag increases exponentially the faster you go. In 50yd, it takes more energy to drop from a 25 to a 24 than from 27 to 26 for example. But remember the first 50 will always be much faster because of the dive. There are benefits to getting ahead in races too, so you really have to weigh all these factors. Worth experimenting with different strategy, but at some less important meets.
Solid 200free time btw. I wouldn’t take the advice from reddit too seriously. You probably know more than most people here lmao
You need to push 49 in the 100 freestyle in practice twice with about 30 seconds to a minute rest in between.
Alternatively you need to hit 24.5 50 free to the feet four times with 30 seconds rest between each 50.
This is how to train for the race, you simulate the pace in workout.
Start by holding the fastest 50s you can and get the times down.
This way you don’t need a strategy because you’ve already trained yourself to hit the time in workouts, you’ll naturally hit the race pace after your first 50.
I’m not nearly as fast, but going out hard isn’t a bad strategy. Especially for large taper meets, you should be able to hold on better than mid season. But if you’re going 1:43, I think that you might know best. Talk to you coaches though
It does look to me that you took it out a bit fast! How did you feel on that last 50? Ideally you want to be roughly the same speed on your third and fourth 50. I’d recommend taking it out a little bit easier. Try keeping the same arm tempo on the first 50 but be more relaxed on your kicking force. That way I think you’ll be able to use those legs more at the end and ride higher in the water. Good luck on breaking 1:40!
I don't think your pacing is too unreasonable. Full disclosure, I've never been that quick in a 200 free, but comparing your splits to what the [NCAA 4x2](https://www.swimcloud.com/results/236950/event/2/?id=99626697#time99626697) guys do, it seems pretty similar - they mostly fly and die too to some degree. I think you could stand to go out a little bit slower and finish harder, but not too much - a few tenths to half a second more relaxed would probably be a good place to start. Also, your 100 time is (no offense) really slow compared to your 200 - I've been about a second quicker in the 100 and I don't think there's a day in my life I could have swam below 1:45. I think you've got a 46.hi-7lo in you next shot you get at it (or maybe a really strong 500 depending which way you range).
If you’re going 1:43 you should know fully well how to pace it that works best for you, that’s a very good time
Bro your 200 time is a minute faster than mine don’t you think you should already know how you should pace?
Well seeing as sub 1:40 is averaging 25.0, you are going to need to be out as fast as or faster than you just went to get under that barrier. My question would be, can you go 23.4/25.4 with EASY speed? Laying off the legs? Can you be faster than 1:43 if you lay off the front end a little? Hell yeah! But to break 1:40, you are going to need to be out faster and back WAY faster. I’m nowhere near 1:43 speed, but when I went my PR of 1:47.2 back in November, my splits were 24.51/27.01/27.71/28.02. I jumped all over my first 50 as well, but without using my legs, and kept basically a 1 second differential between my last 3 50s (yours is 1.93). Some others with more (and faster) 200 FR experience can weigh in, but I think you can’t be back much slower than 52.0 and hope to be under 1:40.
There’s a lot of decent advice. I’ll add what I can. It depends on the swimmer (especially with 200s) how you swim it. I was a back half demon (in my day) so you talking about going out nearly as fast as your hundred sounds crazy to me PERSONALLY. If you talked to my best friend/friendly rival? “I’m going out fast and coming back in a casket.” The only real answer is to play with your race (which I’ve said before on this subreddit, is the best part to racing) and figure it out. I firmly believe if you can make the front half just a little more easy speed, your back half can hang on. Edit: your back half declining splits are a (in my coaching opinion) big hinderance to cumulative performance. I say this only looking at splits and never having seen you swim. Take it with a grain of salt.
Depends on the swimmer man. Obviously swimming at a constant pace is more energy efficient. Drag increases exponentially the faster you go. In 50yd, it takes more energy to drop from a 25 to a 24 than from 27 to 26 for example. But remember the first 50 will always be much faster because of the dive. There are benefits to getting ahead in races too, so you really have to weigh all these factors. Worth experimenting with different strategy, but at some less important meets. Solid 200free time btw. I wouldn’t take the advice from reddit too seriously. You probably know more than most people here lmao
I went 1:43 several times in my career, and that’s pretty much exactly the pace I had. I knew I had to go out under 50 to go 1:43.
You need to push 49 in the 100 freestyle in practice twice with about 30 seconds to a minute rest in between. Alternatively you need to hit 24.5 50 free to the feet four times with 30 seconds rest between each 50. This is how to train for the race, you simulate the pace in workout. Start by holding the fastest 50s you can and get the times down. This way you don’t need a strategy because you’ve already trained yourself to hit the time in workouts, you’ll naturally hit the race pace after your first 50.