The Middle Distance Lane

[ande]

You're not a sprinter and you're not a pure distance swimmer. Your 50's & 1500's aren't as great as your 200's, 400's, & 500's. Your 100's aren't shabby. Let the D Divas take those 800's, 1000's, 1500's & 1650's. You're caught in the middle. You've got OK speed, but you can do those longer sets that make pure sprinters ill. You're well conditioned and tend to do well with back to back events. You're in great company, Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte are middle distance swimmers who have excellent 100's but not so great 50's. Man you can train.
This is the middle distance lane. Don't get lapped.


[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]

[That Guy]

So how many other middle distancers besides me wish there were 400 events for each stroke and a 600 or 800 IM? Yes, even a 400 fly... it would probably be my best chance at a #1 ranking, though I have no idea how I'd complete it in LCM.

[tjrpatt]

So how many other middle distancers besides me wish there were 400 events for each stroke and a 600 or 800 IM? Yes, even a 400 fly... it would probably be my best chance at a #1 ranking, though I have no idea how I'd complete it in LCM.

The day that there is a 800 IM would be happy day for me. I think that I could survive it though. I just wish that they would have the 800 medley relay because I would always have an automatic spot in it.

[That Guy]

You're not a sprinter and you're not a pure distance swimmer. Your 50's & 1500's aren't as great as your 200's, 400's, & 500's. Your 100's aren't shabby. Let the D Divas take those 800's, 1000's, 1500's & 1650's. You're caught in the middle. You've got OK speed, but you can do those longer sets that make pure sprinters ill. You're well conditioned and tend to do well with back to back events. Man you can train.

Geez, looking at that description again, it's freaky-accurate. Here's the complete list of events that I've ever gotten Top-10 in: 100 fly, 200 back, 200 fly, 400 free, 400 IM. There have been years where I looked at the #10 times in some of the distance events and said, "hmmm, I could have beaten that time" but of course I didn't and the distance guys are welcome to do it instead.

[Calvin S]

this was my lane in college. although i was in a group known as the "upper mid-distance" lane. we swam in the lane adjacent to the distance group, and did a lot of the same (or VERY VERY similar) sets as the distance group, but without the emphasis on 1000/1650 training, and more an emphasis on the 200/500. however, we ended up playing host to most of the fastest sprinters on our team too (with a few minor exceptions). when the distance group was shooting for 10k a practice, we were somewhere in the neighborhood of 8.5-9.5k, while the actual "mid-distance group" would be somewhere 1-1.5k behind us.

[Chris Stevenson]

You're not a lazy sprinter and you're not a crazy distance swimmer.

I corrected that for you.

So how many other middle distancers besides me wish there were 400 events for each stroke and a 600 or 800 IM?

That would be great. One of the reasons I am picking up the 400 IM, despite my weak breaststroke, is because I realize that I mostly like to train non-free and the 400 IM was the only option above 200 for strokes.

There have been years where I looked at the #10 times in some of the distance events and said, "hmmm, I could have beaten that time" but of course I didn't and the distance guys are welcome to do it instead.

Part of that -- and this is my opinion only -- is that I think TT in the distance events are a little weaker than in the sprints. Not the top spots, those guys are pretty amazing; I'm talking about spots 5-10. Again, just my opinion (and it is often true of the 200 fly and 400 IM too; many masters avoid those, no idea why.)

this was my lane in college. although i was in a group known as the "upper mid-distance" lane. we swam in the lane adjacent to the distance group, and did a lot of the same (or VERY VERY similar) sets as the distance group,

Unfortunately we didn't have a mid-D group in college: we had the sprinters, the distance guys, and one group for each stroke. Early on I swam almost exclusively with the distance guys, until I noted with alarm that the coach started regularly putting me in distance events in meets. Then I switched to mostly train with the stroke groups with an occasional visit to the D-guys if I wanted to pound out some yardage.

I think one main difference between a distance and mid-distance set is the amount of rest. Distance guys don't mind doing sets with very little rest, while I don't mind doing things repeats of 200-500s in practice, I like to have a decent recovery time between reps.

[ande]

Chris,

that's a somewhat reasonable correction.
though sprinters work in their own way.

We now have all the lanes eddie offers his swimmers.
distance fr, middle distance fr, sprint fr, fly, back, breast, IM, & Taper

I'm curious to see which one will be most active, right now it looks like the breastrokers have a significant lead.
I prefer to live on taper time.

Ande

Originally Posted by ande
You're not a lazy sprinter and you're not a crazy distance swimmer.

I corrected that for you.

[Chris Stevenson]

that's a somewhat reasonable correction.
though sprinters work in their own way.

No, it isn't reasonable at all, I was just making a joke. I don't think sprinters are lazy (well, no lazier than the average bear).

[knelson]

Part of that -- and this is my opinion only -- is that I think TT in the distance events are a little weaker than in the sprints.

I don't think there is any question at all about that. Way more people swim the shorter events, and thus the TT times are stronger. I noticed there are 81 entries in the men's 40-44 100 IM in Atlanta. There are eight entered in the same age group for the 1650 free. Now, part of that is that distance day is on Thursday, but I doubt there'd be a whole lot more takers if Sunday were distance day!

[swimshark]

The way I look at it is that I don't have speed, but I can go for a long time at the speed I have

[That Guy]

Check out this article about recent Australian Masters meets.

http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com...news/24122.asp

There's mention of an 800m IM, and for the sprinters, there's 25m stroke events and 4x25m relays. I wonder if there were 400m stroke events as well.

[Swimosaur]

There's mention of an 800m IM, and for the sprinters, there's 25m stroke events and 4x25m relays. I wonder if there were 400m stroke events as well.

It's even better ...

Australian Masters Swimming -- Records

You can search for Mens's & Women's records, any age group, SCM or LCM. Records are kept in the following events. (Obviously, 25 events and 100 IM are SCM only). No 1500 fly, alas.

25m Freestyle
50m Freestyle
100m Freestyle
200m Freestyle
400m Freestyle
800m Freestyle
1500m Freestyle

25m Backstroke
50m Backstroke
100m Backstroke
200m Backstroke
400m Backstroke
800m Backstroke
1500m Backstroke

25m Breaststroke
50m Breaststroke
100m Breaststroke
200m Breaststroke
400m Breaststroke
800m Breaststroke
1500m Breaststroke

25m Butterfly
50m Butterfly
100m Butterfly
200m Butterfly
400m Butterfly
800m Butterfly

100m Individual Medley
200m Individual Medley
400m Individual Medley
800m Individual Medley

[That Guy]

I had heard of these non-standard records being kept by the Australian Masters, but I didn't know whether those events were regularly contested. For instance, in USMS we keep records for the 800 free relay, but in my experience it is rarely contested outside Oregon.

[Swimosaur]

I had heard of these non-standard records being kept by the Australian Masters, but I didn't know whether those events were regularly contested ...

Hard to say. On the one hand, casually looking at a few of the 2009 meets, it's clear that not every event is contested in every meet. On the other, many of the records in the longer stroke events were set in 2009, so the events were contested somewhere.

Current National Records: Female - 50-54 - LC
400m Backstroke JENNY WHITELEY NRY 12.12.2009 6:08.03 AUBURN
800m Backstroke JENNY WHITELEY NRY 21.02.2009 12:55.59 CESSNOCK
1500m Backstroke JENNY WHITELEY NRY21.02.2009 24:16.71 CESSNOCK
800m Breaststroke JENNY WHITELEY NRY 12.12.2009 13:28.83 AUBURN
1500m Breaststroke JENNY WHITELEY NRY 12.12.2009 25:44.58 AUBURN

Cessnock Results

Auburn Results

[Karl_S]

1500 M breaststroke!? I'm starting to question the sanity of these Aussies! The 400 back might be a worthy challenge.

[tjrpatt]

800 IM record. I could totally do the 30-34 record in AUS. We need those records in this country so I can finally get a National Record.

[couldbebetterfly]

Wow - I'm new here - been lurking for a bit and I used to train with one of the 800 IM record holders. I thought a 400 IM was madness...and still do. OK back to lurk until I do some more serious swimming

[Swimosaur]

800 IM record. I could totally do the 30-34 record in AUS. We need those records in this country so I can finally get a National Record.

Australian Rules Swimming

Want an unofficial national record? Pick an Aussie event, swim it, and post the time.

SCM & LCM: 400-800-1500 back & breast; 400-800 fly; 800 IM

And I suppose us yanks should add,

SCY: 500-1000-1650 back & breast; 500-1000 fly; 800 IM

I don't think I'll join you in an 800 IM but I could totally see dedicating a workout this summer to a 1500 LCM backstroke. I'm not quick enough to challenge their record, but it would still be a fun swim.

1500 M breaststroke!? I'm starting to question the sanity of these Aussies! The 400 back might be a worthy challenge.

More Aussie Madness

I was curious to see if they have a rankings page, and indeed they do, here. Although apparently they don't keep national records in these events, in addition to the FINA events and the Aussie events above, I found times in the rankings for,

free: 3000m - 5000m - 30min - 45min - 60min
back: 3000m - 5000m - 30min - 45min - 60min
breast: 3000m - 5000m - 30min - 45min - 60min

Needless to say, the 5000 LCM backstroke is not a popular event. As far as I can tell, only one person swam it in 2009.

More Aussie Awesomeness

Ok, I had to look. How old is the oldest Aussie national record holder in the 800 fly? Take a guess, then behold this bit of Aussie Awesomeness:

Current National Records: Female - 80-84 - LC

400m Backstroke MYRTLE WRIGHT WOP 17.09.1989 9:18.92 PERTH
800m Backstroke ANN TODD QTW 29.07.2006 23:36.76 BANORA POINT, NSW
1500m Backstroke OPAL EDDY NET 18.02.2006 48:00.58 CESSNOCK

400m Breaststroke BARBARA VICKERS NML 10.11.2006 10:20.95 GOLD COAST
800m Breaststroke JUSTINE BAMFORD THB 24.11.2007 22:39.65 HOBART
1500m Breaststroke JUSTINE BAMFORD THB 24.11.2007 42:44.06 HOBART

400m Butterfly THELMA BRYAN QCN 30.01.2010 12:01.39 MAREEBA MEMORIAL
800m Butterfly NORMA RUDOLPH QSC 02.08.2003 27:44.98 BANORA POINT

800m IM MARJORIE CHIPPERFIELD QTW 19.10.2003 23:27.66 IPSWICH

Awesome!

[ande]

Since we're at the beginning of a new season
I thought I'd bump all the lanes to see which one is winning

[couldbebetterfly]

Since we're at the beginning of a new season

Oh the season has started already? I'm still on my break until small child goes to pre-school, but think I'm headed for the middle distance lane once I get back in the water. I checked out the fly lane earlier and they swim scary amounts of fly, so am sure I'll be happier here.

So what is the difference between 500 SCY and 400 SCM? .....please don't say 4 lengths or 60 yards - is it a truly different race?