The Butterfly Lane

Butterfly, beautiful to watch, difficult to train.
We SDK off every wall.
We're most likely to smack hands with each other and those beside us.
Fly's fun to sprint but no fun when the piano comes down

What did you do in practice today?


[ame="http://www.usms.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16584"]the breastroke lane[/ame]


[ame="http://www.usms.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16601"]The Middle Distance Lane[/ame]


[ame="http://www.usms.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16587"]The Backstroke Lane[/ame]


[ame="http://www.usms.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16588"]The Butterfly Lane[/ame]


[ame="http://www.usms.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16618"]The SDK Lane[/ame]


[ame="http://www.usms.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16591"]The Taper Lane[/ame]


[ame="http://www.usms.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16586"]The Distance Lane[/ame]


[ame="http://www.usms.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16589"]The IM Lane[/ame]


[ame="http://www.usms.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16585"]The Sprint Free Lane[/ame]


[ame="http://www.usms.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16619"]The Pool Deck[/ame]

Yesterday I did
2x 12x50 butterfly on 1:05
- First block was done with a lot of surface kicking
- Second block full stroke

Yesterday I did a short workout so I could be on time for my son's baseball game. Total workout was only 1600 yards, but 675 of that was full-stroke fly. Main set, all fly, focus on EVF throughout:

4 x 75 on 1:45 @ 200 pace. I think I went 50,51,50,51
4 x 50 on 1:15 25 pace, 25 sprint w/ big kick. 32,31,31,31?
4 x 25 on 0:45 sprint. 14's and 15's.

This is a good fly set because it hits different pace levels, it doesn't break me down too much, and of course it totals 600 fly. If I'm feeling good after the 4th 75, I can always just keep doing 75's instead of the shorter distances. That didn't happen yesterday though.

I log my swim workouts with 3 key numbers: total swim yards, total fly yards, and time of the workout. The fly numbers are more important to me than the others, by far.

I'm working on developing a fast, medium, and slow speed in fly. For slow fly, I don't kick much. My goal is to swim a 200 fly where the piano doesn't fall on the 3rd 50.

So yesterday, working on pacing a 200 IM and saving the legs for the second half of the race, I did 6 x 200 IM SCM and went out in :40, :41, :42, :41, :41, :41. Unbelievable how slow and easy a :41 can feel....

The fun part about the Butterfly Lane is other people's reactions. I had hecklers one time. It was awesome. No really, it was! Here's what happened: a few years ago, I went to my gym at around 8:30 pm, which is a very unusual workout time for me. I didn't recognize any of the people in the pool. In one lane, there were three women circle-swimming a workout together. By the time I finished my warmup, they had finished their workout and adjourned to the warmer therapy pool to shoot the breeze. My main set that night was 20x25 fly on :30. I did the first 25 in 15 seconds and heard cat-calling from the therapy pool: "oooo-OOOO-oooo!!! He did a 25 flyyyy-YYYY-yyyy!!!" I thought, "oh...kay" and continued my set. After the 2nd 25 (another 15), I could see in my peripheral vision that they were still laughing at me. After the 6th, they weren't smiling anymore. After the 12th, I heard one of them ask the others dejectedly, "wanna go in the hot tub?" I did 15's for all 20 25's... I guess they weren't expecting that. :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by That Guy

The fun part about the Butterfly Lane is other people's reactions. I had hecklers one time. It was awesome. No really, it was! Here's what happened: a few years ago, I went to my gym at around 8:30 pm, which is a very unusual workout time for me. I didn't recognize any of the people in the pool. In one lane, there were three women circle-swimming a workout together. By the time I finished my warmup, they had finished their workout and adjourned to the warmer therapy pool to shoot the breeze. My main set that night was 20x25 fly on :30. I did the first 25 in 15 seconds and heard cat-calling from the therapy pool: "oooo-OOOO-oooo!!! He did a 25 flyyyy-YYYY-yyyy!!!" I thought, "oh...kay" and continued my set. After the 2nd 25 (another 15), I could see in my peripheral vision that they were still laughing at me. After the 6th, they weren't smiling anymore. After the 12th, I heard one of them ask the others dejectedly, "wanna go in the hot tub?" I did 15's for all 20 25's... I guess they weren't expecting that. :D

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That is funny. I guess they thought you were showing off for them....

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Originally Posted by swimmj

That is funny. I guess they thought you were showing off for them....

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I guess it slowly dawned on them that "Behold, as I do the exact same thing over and over again, without ever looking in your direction!" is not a typical showoff strategy.

my favorite sets are very similar

it's what we call "add-on" fly.

12x100 @ 1:30
1-75fr/25fly
2-50fr/50fly
3-25fr/75fly
4-100fly
(3x) descend 1-4

or 8x200 @ 2:45
1-150fr/50fly
2-100fr/100fly
3-50fr/150fly
4-200fly
(x2) descend 1-4

sometimes on the 8x200, we will do 12 instead, and stick in 4x200 free @2:20 in between the 2 fly rounds for some extra aerobic swimming

My God. Bllllloody fast, even SCY. Congrats.

Nice little fly set today:
8 x 75 @ 1:30 Evens - fly/free/fly, Odds - free/fly/free
Good effort on 1st & last length, middle ez.

So I just finished my first year of competition after two years of solo lap swimming. I'd like to swim more fly since I got 5th at State with a 33 low 50 fly (age 55-59). I know my form has opportunity for improvement & I think my coach can help me with that. Any thought on cross-training or my solo workout swims? I die in the last 10-15 yards. I'm averaging 12-13k per week in practice.

Here is some fly sets that I did in the last 6 months, all fly:

2 x 250s on 3:30

this set was 4x, odds free, evens stroke but I did the last round all fly
200 3:00
175 2:40
150 2:15
125 1:55
100 1:30
75 1:10
50 :45
25 :25

Last year, I did 2 laps of fly in Long course just training. some woman, "Wow, that is pretty amazing. Did you tightened up at all?" Ah no, it is not that hard to swim two laps of fly when you are in decent swimming shape.

the worst is when you tell people that you swim the 200 fly, they act like you are running the Boston Marathon. Seriously, it is just swimming 8 laps, 4 laps in LCM.

Tom, nice fly sets. those 2 x 250 is kinda similar to one of my favorite fly sets. which is 5x300's on 4. 1st hundred fly good pace, 2nd hundred free moderate, 3rd hundred fly faster than the 1st hundred. Definitely helps with the 2fly and bringing it home that last 100!

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Originally Posted by born2fly

Tom, nice fly sets. those 2 x 250 is kinda similar to one of my favorite fly sets. which is 5x300's on 4. 1st hundred fly good pace, 2nd hundred free moderate, 3rd hundred fly faster than the 1st hundred. Definitely helps with the 2fly and bringing it home that last 100!

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nice set there and a set right up my "weak last 100 of my 200 fly" alley. After seeing some of your 200 flys, you really know how to bring it home. :bow:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tjrpatt

Seriously, it is just swimming 8 laps, 4 laps in LCM.

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On the other hand, fly is the only stroke where you can technically end up not being able to finish the race. If unable to recover the arms after 125m, game over.

I think that is what keeps people away from the 200. They fear ending up going under the shame of quitting by the sides, trying to avoid being crashed by those that kept flying.

We were only 4 in our age group at the last Provincials. Sad, especially for the one who came last ;-)

On the other hand, people are fascinated by the stroke. Paradox.

Very nice fly threshold sets BTW. I can't think of any better way to train for this stroke. Kilo long sets with very little rest.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SolarEnergy

On the other hand, fly is the only stroke where you can technically end up not being able to finish the race. If unable to recover the arms after 125m, game over.

I think that is what keeps people away from the 200. They fear ending up going under the shame of quitting by the sides, trying to avoid being crashed by those that kept flying.

We were only 4 in our age group at the last Provincials. Sad, especially for the one who came last ;-)

On the other hand, people are fascinated by the stroke. Paradox.

Very nice fly threshold sets BTW. I can't think of any better way to train for this stroke. Kilo long sets with very little rest.

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Someone got DQed in some fly event at Colonies Zones, "stating arms not moving simultaneously". I never heard that before.

i definitely think it is more beneficial (and less suicidal) doing free/fly mixed sets than doing straight fly. when i was in high school especially, it was all fly (think 12x200 fly LCM at least once a week in the summer). the longer distances (200/300) with fly and free mixed in has really helped improve my fly while also improving my endurance (without sacrificing my shoulders).

too bad i didnt sign up for any fly at nationals : (

Quote:

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Originally Posted by michaelreed77

So I just finished my first year of competition after two years of solo lap swimming. I'd like to swim more fly since I got 5th at State with a 33 low 50 fly (age 55-59). I know my form has opportunity for improvement & I think my coach can help me with that. Any thought on cross-training or my solo workout swims? I die in the last 10-15 yards. I'm averaging 12-13k per week in practice.

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1) work with your coach to work on your form, and then especially, try to hold good form and tempo when tired.

2) sets where you swim some fly/some free are really nice to get stronger. One doesn't want to train fly when your stroke is falling apart - it doesn't help.

3) if the end of a 50 is starting to hurt, do 25's in practice and start with getting at least as much rest as you take to swim it. So, if a 25 of fly takes :15, do them on the :30. If you start to lose your ability to maintain good form, then it's time to rest more or you have done enough repeats.

4) slowly build up to doing more and more fly in practice and then add some 50's in - 25 free/25 fly to start and then 12.5 free/37.5 fly, etc.

5) training alone gives you more space and the ability to swim as much fly as you want - take advantage of it!

Have fun!

I've been getting into fly lately. I'm really starting to enjoy swimming it, now that I can still feel strong at the end of the 50, and do repeats along with those swimming free in practice.

The other day I did a 1000 continuous warmup, done as 150 free, 50 fly. I enjoy swimming fly as part of a distance set so I can relax and work on technique.

I'm still pretty new at swimming fly. This was a difficult set for me. (all done at a fairly hard effort):
4 X 100 fly on 2:00
4 X 50 fly on 1:10
4 X 25 fly on :30

I also once did a ladder that looked something like this:
25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 125, 100, 75, 50, 25 .. all fly. That 150 was the longest fly I've swum to date. (There was plenty of rest in between some of those, LOL)