Merry Christmas - or if that's not your bag - general non-denominational winter greetings and warm wishes for happiness and prosperity, everyone!
I'm getting really lazy in the pool and need some structure. I'm racing my 3rd Ironman next year and would like to see how close I can get to the magic 10, and swimming is an area for improvement. I mucked about with the Swim Smooth DVD programme a year or so ago over the winter and found myself pissing about doing too many drills and not enough swimming. I am convinced I need to do more actual swimming.
Can folks recommend what some basic sessions should look like? Here are my capabilities (or lack thereof) and constraints -
30-40mins available in the water, 3x a week. Not great, but it's the most I can get.
No freestyle as a kid, learned from scratch age 33.
Swam 1h 10m last Ironman, in a wetsuit.
400m around 7:00, best 100m 1:35. I can hang on to 1:45/100m at a push. If I do much more than 4-5 intervals I start needing big rests to catch my breath.
Yes, I am much, much faster OW in a wetsuit than I am in the pool. I can't flip turn for shit (working on that) and take really slow open turns, and also tend to be faster with a pull buoy. Certainly it seems a lot easier.
Contrary to the above, I can actually kick when I have to. If I kick hard I can make a 25m length in around 30s, but won't be able to breathe for about a day.
25m pool.
My stroke feels strong for the first couple lengths but then my feel for the stroke disappears in a breathless cloud of lactic acid. God knows how I ever swim 3.8k (but I have done, twice).
Based on that last bit, I think I really need to work on my specific swim fitness. I have decent general aerobic fitness, around 37 min for 10k run.
Additional info - I have just bought a Garmin Swim watch to help me count lengths, time intervals, assess my crapness etc. I have stretch cords in my garage at home and can probably blag the odd quarter of an hour here or there.
So, how should I fill my 30-40 mins?
Appreciate any pointers, I realize I'm not paying anybody here to coach me and am asking for favours. I'm unlikely to afford any coaching in the near future (two kids in nursery) but am trying to figure out a way to join a weekly masters swim.
Thanks all,
Rich.
I'm getting really lazy in the pool and need some structure. I'm racing my 3rd Ironman next year and would like to see how close I can get to the magic 10, and swimming is an area for improvement. I mucked about with the Swim Smooth DVD programme a year or so ago over the winter and found myself pissing about doing too many drills and not enough swimming. I am convinced I need to do more actual swimming.
Can folks recommend what some basic sessions should look like? Here are my capabilities (or lack thereof) and constraints -
30-40mins available in the water, 3x a week. Not great, but it's the most I can get.
No freestyle as a kid, learned from scratch age 33.
Swam 1h 10m last Ironman, in a wetsuit.
400m around 7:00, best 100m 1:35. I can hang on to 1:45/100m at a push. If I do much more than 4-5 intervals I start needing big rests to catch my breath.
Yes, I am much, much faster OW in a wetsuit than I am in the pool. I can't flip turn for shit (working on that) and take really slow open turns, and also tend to be faster with a pull buoy. Certainly it seems a lot easier.
Contrary to the above, I can actually kick when I have to. If I kick hard I can make a 25m length in around 30s, but won't be able to breathe for about a day.
25m pool.
My stroke feels strong for the first couple lengths but then my feel for the stroke disappears in a breathless cloud of lactic acid. God knows how I ever swim 3.8k (but I have done, twice).
Based on that last bit, I think I really need to work on my specific swim fitness. I have decent general aerobic fitness, around 37 min for 10k run.
Additional info - I have just bought a Garmin Swim watch to help me count lengths, time intervals, assess my crapness etc. I have stretch cords in my garage at home and can probably blag the odd quarter of an hour here or there.
So, how should I fill my 30-40 mins?
Appreciate any pointers, I realize I'm not paying anybody here to coach me and am asking for favours. I'm unlikely to afford any coaching in the near future (two kids in nursery) but am trying to figure out a way to join a weekly masters swim.
Thanks all,
Rich.