I swam my entire HS career with only kick boards and pull buoys. No other toys or gear (although our coach was highly creative in finding ways to create drag). In college, it was more of the same with but adding paddles. And we didn't use that stuff daily. Most of the improvements were done by swimming a lot and hard.

Reading these swim threads. Sheesh. Mono-fins, pull buoys, ankle bands, core this, psoas that.

Just suck all the enjoyment out of the sport, why don't you?

Reading these swim threads. Sheesh. Mono-fins, pull buoys, ankle bands, core this, psoas that.

Just suck all the enjoyment out of the sport, why don't you?

Lately I am swimming 24-35K per week (like every week all year coming up on 2 years). 75% of the swimming is with nothing but my goggles, cap and jammers. 10% with paddles (could be finger paddles, could be medium, could be large....so 75% + 10% is just swimming with a small hand or large hand), 15% kicking with fins without board or board without fins). When I swam in the same pool with the Santa Clara swim club last year as they were preparing for Olympic Trials (note, I was in the same pool at the same time and that was it), they did a ton with fins and a ton of kicking with board and there was a ton of paddle working going on. I don't know the proportions, but they seemed to have that stuff on for an entire week. Maybe at that point they were sharpening and wanted to be up at full speed with fins and paddles without full cardio effort all the time.

I think once you are swimming enough working all strokes and having some variety of the toys and drills makes it more exciting. If you are the typical triathlete, swimming 2x per week for maybe 2K, then warmup for 400m, 16x100m hard, or 8x200 or 4x400 and just work your free as hard as humanly possible and call it done. All the beautiful slow technical drills that triathletes do when not in oxygen debt almost never transfers to holding any semblance of form in full oxygen debt.

Just suck all the enjoyment out of the sport, why don't you?

Funnily enough you find no mention of all this crap in proper swimming circles.

A cap? I'd rather be decked out in fins, paddles, snorkels, metronomes, etc. than have any other dude see me swim in a cap.

Reading these swim threads. Sheesh. Mono-fins, pull buoys, ankle bands, core this, psoas that.

Just suck all the enjoyment out of the sport, why don't you?

i always swim with a cap. i get cold quickly in the water and the cap helps. not all of us are sfo worried about whst other 'dudes' think of us.

Hence the pick...

I swim with a cap for the same reason as you.

Dork...

Odd-
I think I qualify as running in proper swim circles, and I seem to remember carrying giant gear bags onto the deck for every practice every day.
In descending order of use:
Board - every workout, sometimes the entirety of workout
Buoy - majority of workouts
Snorkel (& snorkel cap) - 66% of workouts
Twist Tube -50%
X Large Paddles -33% (for freestyle work)
Large Paddles -33% (stroke work)
Large Fins -2x/week (leg strength)
Band (or small tube)-1x/ week
Tiny Paddles- 1x/ week (speed work)
Short Fins- 1x/ week (speed work)
Finger paddles -every other week

Maybe now you see why if you told me to wear TV rabbit ears during my swim sessions and that would improve me, I'd do it in a second.

This week, I had a session where I swam 10x50. My fastest was 0:44. My slowest was 0:47. The 44 wasn't the first repeat and the 47 wasn't the last repeat.

-----------

What was the interval on? 10 x 50 leaving every 60s?

I hate you.

As the self-appointed king of the non-fish, I can answer this with data.

I'm a triathlete who sucks in the water. My last sprint race, I exited the water in 117th and biked/ran myself up to 15th. The 14 people who beat me had an average swim time 1:45 faster than me over a quarter mile. 1:45. The closest I was to any of these 14 was 0:35. The fastest of these 14 beat me by just over 3:00. That "race" is over for me before I even take my goggles off.

Now, let's be clear. I'm not going to Kona and I'm really only an above average local racer. Still, I'm very competitive and take pride in training hard and racing hard.

At 45 and having only started swimming 5 years ago (and swimming just twice a week..at best), I recognize I can not expect to match the guys who have grooved their stroke since they were 5. But they don't have a "started swimming 5 years ago" category in tri. So, I'm left trying to desperately cram 40 years and tens-of-thousands of yards into a 60-hour a week job and a family. And I'm trying to do it with two weekly 2500ish sessions at the YMCA.

Now, I'm also a good athlete. Multisport varsity athlete in HS (sub-2 800M, 4:30 mile, pole vault, kicker, soccer) and played soccer competitively up until a few years ago. In any adult basketball, hockey, or softball league, I would be your first pick.

Don't get all hostile, that stuff is not meant to provide a resume that rivals Ashton Eaton. It's only meant to give insight into my mindset of "Why the hell can I do every other sport but, in the pool, I'm basically an 8&under age grouper?"

This week, I had a session where I swam 10x50. My fastest was 0:44. My slowest was 0:47. The 44 wasn't the first repeat and the 47 wasn't the last repeat. I have moments where something clicks and I go faster but most times I plod along relying on my cardio engine to bail out my awful technique/position.

Many have told me I have a good stroke and just need to swim more. To that point, see the above.

At 45, I recognize my truly competitive days have an end date.

Maybe now you see why if you told me to wear TV rabbit ears during my swim sessions and that would improve me, I'd do it in a second. Given that, I don't feel so strange swimming with a monofin.

Pix or it didn't happen.