Race Strategies for the MEN'S 200 AND 400 IM

Swimming World Magazine, Jul 2005 by Morales, Tito

As the 2005 collegiate season unfolded, Florida's Ryan Lochte and USC's Ous Mellouli, both juniors, had established themselves as the swimmers to beat in the medley events at men's NCAAs. Both swimmers traveled to Minneapolis last March intent upon capturing IM crowns-Lochte in the sprint medley and Mellouli in the distance.

MEN'S 200 YARD INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY

When Lochte touched the wall at the end of the 200 yard IM at the SEC Championships in February, he was well over two body lengths ahead of a talented field that included Auburn's Eric Shanteau. He had taken the race by the throat, and never eased up on his gripopening with splits of 22.94 and 25.25 in the fly and backstroke, and closing with splits of 29.89 and 23.68 in the breaststroke and freestyle.

Lochte's 1:41.76 shattered both George Bovell's NCAA record (1:42.66) and Nate Dusing's American record (1:42.85).

"My SEC time was really good, and I think the reason why I was able to come back so strong there was because of the atmosphere," says Lochte, who was racing in front of an army of family and friends in Gainesville. "I knew going into NCAAs that if I wanted to break (the record) again, I'd have to go out faster."

In the finals at Minneapolis, Lochte, as planned, again bolted from the field, dropping a 22.50 in the fly and a 24.96 in the back.

"You need to be able to go out fast in the fly but not to the point where you're overworking it," Lochte explains.

For Lochte, the key to the sprint IM has always been the middle 100.

"I just really need to lay down the hammer on the backstroke and breaststroke," he says. "And then, with as much yardage as we do at Florida, I know that no matter what, I'll have the energy to come home."

Lochte credits learning the backstroke-to-breaststroke flip turn toward the end of his sophomore year as being a tremendous boost to his 200 yard IM.

But the biggest reason by far why he's made such enormous gains in the event, he's convinced, is his improved underwater work.

"Before my freshman year, and most of my sophomore year, I couldn't really kick underwater," he says. "My legs have gotten stronger, and I just started working the underwater whenever I had the chance at practice."

Approaching the 150 mark, Lochte admits that he was beginning to pay the price for his ambitious opening 100 yards. His 30.57 breaststroke split was 7-tenths of a second slower than in Gainesville, but he was still so far ahead of the rest of the field that the only question that remained for the large and noisy crowd was whether he had enough left to better his own record.

"Going into the freestyle from the breaststroke-freestyle turn, I usually take four or five dolphin kicks," he explains. "And then, at my flip turn going into the last 25, I usually take eight kicks, and I pop up around 12 or 15 meters."

Lochte roared home with a freestyle split of 23.68 for a masterful 1:41.71, yet another American record. Even after this remarkable performance, though, Lochte believes that there are still faster times ahead.

"There's always room for improvement for whatever race you do," he says. "I know I can go a lot faster next year."

MEN'S 400 YARD INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY

While Lochte basically attacked the 200 IM full throttle from his first 50, there is no way, really, to blast your way through a 400 IM. The event, which many describe as the most challenging in the sport, requires a mixture of proficiency in each of the strokes and, perhaps even more importantly, patience.

Mellouli, who came to USC from Tunisia, coasted to a 3:46.72 in the morning prelims, admitting that he simply wanted to "have a lane in the top 8 and get the job done at night when it counted." His swim resulted in a fifthplace, lane-2 seeding in the finals behind, among others, top-seeded Shanteau. Right beside Shanteau was the University of Georgia's Robert Margalis, who had won the event at the 2003 NCAAs.

For Mellouli, though, it didn't matter who was in the middle of the pool. "My strategy is always the same," he says. "I swim my own event."

When the horn sounded in the finals, Mellouli charged to the lead in the first 25 and slowly built upon his advantage during a 50.82 butterfly leg.

"I went out there and just started hammering it down," he explains. "You always want to keep your stroke smooth, but still fast. You don't want to burn yourself on the first 100. You've got to pace yourself and keep a nice long stroke. You can't rush your stroke."

During his career at USC, Mellouli has made tremendous gains in the middle section of his race. "I've tried to improve a lot in my breaststroke and my backstroke, which is my weakest stroke," he admits. Three years earlier, as a freshman, Mellouli split the middle 200 in 2:00.91 (56.88/1:04.03). In Minneapolis, however, Mellouli blitzed his way to a 1:57.54 (55.35/1:02.19)-an improvement of almost 3.5 seconds.

"I usually push my back and breast splits," says Mellouli. "I try to keep my tempo high in the back, and keep (my stroke) long, and then do the same in the breaststroke."