As promised, we did some 200s Backstroke today. Our main set:
12x200 Back
1- (245) strong
3- (230) fast
2- (240) strong
2- (225) fast
3- (235) strong
1- (220) fast
Paolo led the way on this set.
His times were:
1- (245) strong {210}
3- (230) fast {205, 205, 203}
2- (240) strong {209, 207}
2- (225) fast {203, 204}
3- (235) strong {212, 208, 208}
1- (220) fast {159.7}
Paolo's best time in a competition is 1:56. So, his slowest two times here (210, 212) are only 14 and 16 over his PR. He did 6 200s within 9 seconds of his all time best time!
Paolo gets a 4.75 grade for the set. His walls were not quite long enough at the end of the set to warrant a 5.0, but a very nice set overall.
Think about how that would work if you trained like that in 200s of any stroke:
If your best time is 1:40 in the 200 Free, that's 6 200s at 1:49 or better.
If your best time is 1:55 in the 200 Fly, that's 6 200s at 2:04 or better.
If your best time is 2:05 in the 200 Breast, that's 6 200s at 2:14 or better.
My hope is that Paolo considers this too! What if his freestyle training was even close to this? He would do a lot more 1:52-1:48 swims in practice, and a lot more 2:55-2:50 300s, and a lot more 3:59-3:50s.
As a group, we talked about backstroke kicking prior to the set (during the kicking 100s we did after warmup)….and we did a bit better with the back kicking after talking about it. Let's get more people kicking under 1:20 on the back! We should not be a better Freestyle Kicking team when compared to Backstroke Kicking! Backstroke Kick is supposed to be faster than Freestyle kick, and in my experience even the best Flutter kickers I've worked with are faster on their kicking on their back.
We had only a handful of athletes who got under 2:10 today -- and too many athletes on the "A" interval that could not break 2:20. My viewpoint takes two perspectives: first, this is "where we are" and it's ok….we have work to do; but second, we MUST work on Backstroke whenever we have a chance. We can't have 1 guy sub 2:00, 4 people between 204 and 208, and everyone else over 215 on a single backstroke 200 at the end of the set. That's not a training group, that's two training groups!
Here are a few tips for your backstroke training:
1. Work harder on Backstroke swimming and kicking in warmups. If you were an athlete at 2:20 or 2:24 today, make sure your 100s in warmup are 1:09 or faster, and make sure your 50s are 33 or faster. In the warmup, the intervals tend to be easier, and most athletes are pretty fresh -- you have to take advantage of these warmups!
2. Kick past the flags at all times. When doing 25s, kick two full body lengths past the flags. After you can get the distance down, kick faster underwater past the flags. Training like this (using the underwater kick all of the time) simply makes you a tougher aquatic athlete. We want to be great swimmers, and it only makes sense to develop the skills is takes to be FAST underwater!
3. Embrace the Backstroke pulling with a strap. I thought Jacob did a great job today figuring out how to pull better with the strap around his ankles. I mentioned during the set that "you have to teach yourself how to do it better". I know this sounds like the easy way out for your coach! -- but it really is great advice if you take it. Jacob took that advice and instead of waiting for me to give him some TIP that he could implement (a passive approach), he digested my statement to the group and went to work. He took responsibility to put in some work. Sometimes athletes rely too much on the coach -- and in doing so limit themselves to whatever the coach says or doesn't say. It's YOUR sport and YOU are the person that's going to make the most impact on YOUR OWN training.
Each of these points relate to any stroke. Make it happen!
12x200 Back
1- (245) strong
3- (230) fast
2- (240) strong
2- (225) fast
3- (235) strong
1- (220) fast
Paolo led the way on this set.
His times were:
1- (245) strong {210}
3- (230) fast {205, 205, 203}
2- (240) strong {209, 207}
2- (225) fast {203, 204}
3- (235) strong {212, 208, 208}
1- (220) fast {159.7}
Paolo's best time in a competition is 1:56. So, his slowest two times here (210, 212) are only 14 and 16 over his PR. He did 6 200s within 9 seconds of his all time best time!
Paolo gets a 4.75 grade for the set. His walls were not quite long enough at the end of the set to warrant a 5.0, but a very nice set overall.
Think about how that would work if you trained like that in 200s of any stroke:
If your best time is 1:40 in the 200 Free, that's 6 200s at 1:49 or better.
If your best time is 1:55 in the 200 Fly, that's 6 200s at 2:04 or better.
If your best time is 2:05 in the 200 Breast, that's 6 200s at 2:14 or better.
My hope is that Paolo considers this too! What if his freestyle training was even close to this? He would do a lot more 1:52-1:48 swims in practice, and a lot more 2:55-2:50 300s, and a lot more 3:59-3:50s.
As a group, we talked about backstroke kicking prior to the set (during the kicking 100s we did after warmup)….and we did a bit better with the back kicking after talking about it. Let's get more people kicking under 1:20 on the back! We should not be a better Freestyle Kicking team when compared to Backstroke Kicking! Backstroke Kick is supposed to be faster than Freestyle kick, and in my experience even the best Flutter kickers I've worked with are faster on their kicking on their back.
We had only a handful of athletes who got under 2:10 today -- and too many athletes on the "A" interval that could not break 2:20. My viewpoint takes two perspectives: first, this is "where we are" and it's ok….we have work to do; but second, we MUST work on Backstroke whenever we have a chance. We can't have 1 guy sub 2:00, 4 people between 204 and 208, and everyone else over 215 on a single backstroke 200 at the end of the set. That's not a training group, that's two training groups!
Here are a few tips for your backstroke training:
1. Work harder on Backstroke swimming and kicking in warmups. If you were an athlete at 2:20 or 2:24 today, make sure your 100s in warmup are 1:09 or faster, and make sure your 50s are 33 or faster. In the warmup, the intervals tend to be easier, and most athletes are pretty fresh -- you have to take advantage of these warmups!
2. Kick past the flags at all times. When doing 25s, kick two full body lengths past the flags. After you can get the distance down, kick faster underwater past the flags. Training like this (using the underwater kick all of the time) simply makes you a tougher aquatic athlete. We want to be great swimmers, and it only makes sense to develop the skills is takes to be FAST underwater!
3. Embrace the Backstroke pulling with a strap. I thought Jacob did a great job today figuring out how to pull better with the strap around his ankles. I mentioned during the set that "you have to teach yourself how to do it better". I know this sounds like the easy way out for your coach! -- but it really is great advice if you take it. Jacob took that advice and instead of waiting for me to give him some TIP that he could implement (a passive approach), he digested my statement to the group and went to work. He took responsibility to put in some work. Sometimes athletes rely too much on the coach -- and in doing so limit themselves to whatever the coach says or doesn't say. It's YOUR sport and YOU are the person that's going to make the most impact on YOUR OWN training.
Each of these points relate to any stroke. Make it happen!
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