Pace plans for 200m events

The pacing plans seem to be similar for all 200 m events. Ideally, swimmers should start out at the fastest pace they can maintain throughout the race without losing speed at the end. They should swim the first 50 m of these races 2 to 3 sec slower than their fastest time for 50 m. The first 100 m should also be 2 to 3 sec slower than their best time for that distance. Their drop off times from the first to the second half of freestyle and backstroke events should be between 1 and 2 sec. In butterfly and breakstroke events their drop off times should be 3 to 4.5 sec. There are two main reasons for the larger drop off in those events. First, velocity flunctuations are greater in butterfly and breaststroke than in the other two competitives styles. Thus, more effort is required of breaststroke and butterfly swimmers to accelerate their bodies during every stroke cycle. Second, the split for the first 100 m does not include a turn in these races, whereas the split for the second 100 m includes a turn. 

To distribute their energy evenly over the entire race distance, 200 m swimmers should maintain a constant swimming velocity from start to finish. This is difficult to do in competitive situations , and most will swim faster  in the first three quarters of the race and a little slower in the last quarter. Coaches should tell their swimmers to try to increase their swimming velocity as they approach the finish in the last 50 m of their 200 m race. 

Most 200 m swimmers start out with a stroke rate that is higher than the rate they can maintain for the entire race. Then they decrease the rate in the middle of the race and increase it again at the end. These sudden changes in speed and effort generally increase the energy requirement disproportionately, so swimmers should try and save these efforts for the final sprint. Swimmers would probably be more economical in their use of energy by selecting a combination of stroke rate and stroke length that they can maintain for the first three quarters of the race and still increase their stroke rates by 1 or 2 cycles/min during the final 50 m of the race. Breaststrokers may want to start out even more slowly and increase their stroke rates by 3 to 5 cycles/min during the final 50 m of their races. They may need to pace more carefully than the others because of the high energy cost of their strokes.