Analysis of March 2022 Annapolis 200 IM and 100 breast

The results from the Annapolis meet last weekend got sent out and my splits in the 200 IM were interesting, so I thought I'd do a quick analysis comparing it to several other 200 IMs I've swum, primarily my 2019 Tropical Splash race, which was my last in-season 200 IM prior to this one, and was the leadup to my MPR at 2019 Nats. I'll also do an analysis on my troubling 100 breast splits.

Here are the splits from this and several other 200 IMs, all ones that went around the same time plus my two fastest Masters 200 IMs, from Zones 2017 and Nats 2019. The splits from this meet are on the left, with the rest of the splits going slowest to fastest left to right.

Meet	2022 Annapolis	2021 Nats	2013 Zones	2017 Tropical Splash	2012 Zones	2019 Tropical Splash	2017 Zones	2019 Nats
Fly	29.84	30.03	29.28	29.41	27.89	30.17	29.34	28.05
Back	35.54	35.77	34.66	34.78	35.26	35.99	35.01	34.57
Breast	41.86	42.59	42.06	41.54	42.11	40.38	38.75	40.03
Free	32.82	34.06	34.25	34.21	34.36	33.00	32.17	32.22
Total Time	2:20.06	2:22.45	2:20.25	2:19.94	2:19.62	2:19.54	2:15.27	2:14.87

Analysis of the splits:

• Fly: Meh, it's ok. I consciously didn't push it that hard on the fly and think I probably had a 28 mid/low in me if I'd pushed it. That said, it's within the range of my normal post-2012 splits. Of note, it compares well to my 2019 Tropical Splash split of 30.17, so I hope come Nats I'll be able to drop it below a 28.05.
• Back: I dropped a few butterfly kicks off both walls due to not enough oxygen, so I'm not surprised it's firmly average. I'd like to think I'd have had a high 34 with better underwaters and more oxygen, but it again tracks well compared to my 2019 TS split.
• Breast: Yeah, I expected this one to be slow. The majority of my breast speed comes from my underwater pullout and I shortened that way down (I think almost 2 body lengths less than normal off both walls) due to the whole lack of oxygen thing. Frankly, I expected this split to be closer to 43 seconds given how much I shortened the underwaters, so I'll count it as a win!
• Free: Surprisingly good! Again, really short underwaters, but that's my 3rd fastest closing split after my two fastest shaved/tapered swims at 2017 Zones and 2019 Nats, and is faster than my 2019 TS closing split, so I'll definitely take it. That's a great sign of my conditioning and I'd be very happy if I'm able to close in the :31 range at Nats.

All in all, it was a surprisingly well split race given the water inhalation and corresponding lack of underwaters. Breast was the key leg that was slower than 2019 TS, which makes sense since that's the one that is most affected by my underwaters, but the rest was better split than that race. If I'd been able to replicate my breast split from that meet here, I'd have been a 2:18.5, which would have been an in season PR, and honestly wouldn't have been out of the question given my other splits.

My goal time for the 200 IM at Nats is a 2:13, and if I can have a drop at Nats similar to my drop from 2019 TS to 2019 Nats, I think that's within reach! 😁

For the 100 breast, the splits were nowhere near as promising as the splits for the 200 IM. Here's an analysis of the splits, with the splits from this meet on the left, the splits for the first 100 of my 200 at Tropical Splash in January, and then going down to my fastest in season splits on the right.

Meet	2022 Annapolis	2022 Tropical Splash 200	2022 Severna Park	2015 Sprint Classic	2018 Tropical Splash	2021 Spring Nats	2017 Sprint Classic	2019 Annapolis
1st 50	33.85	36.02	34.12	33.33	33.79	32.22	32.44	32.27
2nd 50	39.15	39.34	39.00	39.51	38.79	38.88	38.13	37.65
Total Time	1:13.00	1:15.36	1:13.12	1:12.84	1:12.58	1:11.10	1:10.57	1:09.92

Two key comparisons, to Severna Park last month (which was an utter dumpster fire of a race) and to the first 100 of my 200 at Tropical Splash in January:

• Severna Park: Annapolis *felt* like a much faster race. No goggle issues, no bottoming out in the 2.5' turn end on the underwaters, and my stroke just felt faster, yet the race was just a smidge faster. I really don't know why!
• Tropical Splash: The fact that my cruise 2nd 50 of my 200 at TS, and while not wearing a tech suit, is nearly the same speed as the 2nd 50 of my sprint 100 is concerning. I didn't swim that 2nd 50 too fast at TS, I paced it appropriately (in season I tend to split between :3-:40 on that 2nd 50), which means it's just a bit faster than cruise tempo. I guess I really do have some sort of a breakdown between my cruise tempo and my sprint tempo, cuz I took 8 and 9 strokes per lap on the 2nd 50 at Annapolis vs 6 and 7 at Tropical Splash, yet nearly went the same time.
• The rest of the compared races: With the exception of 2019 Annapolis' 2nd 50, my 2nd 50 wasn't *that* far out of ordinary in comparison, but my 1st 50 was quite a bit off the mark.

I really don't know what's going on with my sprint breast, but suffice it to say I don't have "it" this year. The 2nd 50 at this meet wasn't too terrible, but I just flat out don't have the speed to go out. Heck, in 2019 at this same meet, my opening splits in the *200* breast were 33.58 and 37.94, so clearly something is wrong this year. On the flip side, I'm quite happy with the 2:39 I swam in the 200 at Tropical Splash, so it seems the problem is with my sprint speed, not my 200 endurance.