I’m curious to know how long it took non swimmers entering tri to get to the level where they could swim 2.4 miles?
I just started swimming about 3 weeks ago, bought TI, currently working on the drills and improving my form. Right now I can only do a lap, but its more due to lack of lung capacity and rhythm than form now. For my workouts I do about 600 meter about 5 days a week, mainly focusing drils and form, only giving a crack at distance once or twice. I’m starting to feel that comfortable rhythm you can get in. I still know there are things I’m doing wrong and dont want to work on distance drills til my form is good. Afterwards I plan on starting up the 0 to 1650 plan and hopefully have that in the bag by the end of summer.
I worry because I’ve read posts about people getting stuck at a certain distance (usually 100-200 meters) for months.
It comes quickly. For me the difference was signing up for a stroke mechanics class whose qualification was: “Must be able to swim one length of the pool uninterrupted”. Barely meeting this requirement I signed up anyway.
After a couple weeks you adapt to the new sensation of breathing on a schedule, start recruiting the muscles you’ve never used before and start getting comfortable with the body position.
if you are otherwise fairly fit and you find a *good *swim technique coach (good ones are not so easy to find) who can work with you one-on-one, you can do it.
hard to estimate exactly how long it would take. it really depends on your motivation and dedication.
I’m curious to know how long it took non swimmers entering tri to get to the level where they could swim 2.4 miles?
I just started swimming about 3 weeks ago, bought TI, currently working on the drills and improving my form. Right now I can only do a lap, but its more due to lack of lung capacity and rhythm than form now.
I think you are wrong here. Your lung capacity is fine, and I don’t know what “rhythm” is in the pool. If your technique is reasonable, you can swim a lot further than one lap, no matter what condition you are in. The problem is that your technique is so poor that you are fighting the water.
And the water is winning.
Take a former swimmer, put him on the couch for 25 years, and drop them in the pool. Said fish will be able to swim multiple laps without issue, despite being 50 pounds overweight and not having exercised in a quarter century. Why? Because his technique allows him to not fight the water, thereby using energy for propulsion as opposed to muscling water out of the way.
You need to find a good swim instructor who will watch you swim and prescribe the appropriate drills to get you to have correct technique.
Despite never having seen you in the water, I’ll state without hesitation: what you are doing in the water is not what you think you are doing. Until you find someone who can tell you what you are actually doing and how to change it to what you should be doing, you will be ingraining incorrect technique.
Despite never having seen you in the water, I’ll state without hesitation: what you are doing in the water is not what you think you are doing. Until you find someone who can tell you what you are actually doing and how to change it to what you should be doing, you will be ingraining incorrect technique.
+1!!!
It is amazing how what a person thinks they are doing in the water is completely different that what is actually happening. And that can be very difficult to overcome without a pair of eyes on deck giving you feedback. Sometimes a coach will actually tell you one thing just to get you to do something else if that makes sense.
It took about 3 months of consistent swim training to go from 0 to the point where I could swim without stopping to catch my breath at the end of every 50 or 100 meters. Once I found that pace and rhythm where I could swim continuously, I was able to up my distance fairly quickly after that. I did a 1/2 IM about 6 months later. I took another couple of years before I swam 2.4 miles, but that was only because I didn’t do an IM right away.
I think you are wrong here. Your lung capacity is fine, and I don’t know what “rhythm” is in the pool. If your technique is reasonable, you can swim a lot further than one lap, no matter what condition you are in. The problem is that your technique is so poor that you are fighting the water.
And the water is winning.
Take a former swimmer, put him on the couch for 25 years, and drop them in the pool. Said fish will be able to swim multiple laps without issue, despite being 50 pounds overweight and not having exercised in a quarter century. Why? Because his technique allows him to not fight the water, thereby using energy for propulsion as opposed to muscling water out of the way.
You need to find a good swim instructor who will watch you swim and prescribe the appropriate drills to get you to have correct technique.
Despite never having seen you in the water, I’ll state without hesitation: what you are doing in the water is not what you think you are doing. Until you find someone who can tell you what you are actually doing and how to change it to what you should be doing, you will be ingraining incorrect technique.
I seemed to have lost my post.
Any way, you are probably right about my form being off. My wife was the only one to watch me swim and she seemed to poke at the flaws but offered no real insight to improvment. When I refer to rhythm, it is being able to breathe comfortably in the water without taking in water and exhaling properly. I feel I’m almost there but not quite. Once I feel I’m there in technique (which like you said I’m probably off) I’ll have someone videotape me; I plan on taping my laps every so weeks for improvement.
I’ve been shopping for a coach but I really don’t want to get a guy who barely knows enough technique to do a few laps. All the swim coaches I’ve found tend to teach non-swimmers to learn to swim a lap or 2.
furious, here’s how it went for me (to address your question of non-swimmers building up to 2.4 miles): First off, my background. Fairly high level cyclist and a long history of off and on running. I did a bit of swimming many years ago when I dabbled in tri, but that’s about it. Coming from that, I signed up for IMFL almost on a lark. I’d always thought about doing an IM in the back of my head, but I have a bunch of amigos that were doing it, so I took the bait. Anyway, that was last October. I started getting in the pool once or twice a week until about December. BTW, my first dip in the pool I could manage a handful of 50s and 100s at around a 2:00/100y pace. In December and January I really started swimming - 3 or 4 times a week and making a study out of it. I looked into the TI program and decided against it. I sort of tried some of the techniques, but instead went to trying to emulate the elite level swimmers that generally seem to use more of a long catch with high elbow focus, not so much focused on the minimilization of strokes and long glides like the TI program teaches. I ramped up my yardage fairly quickly. I did a 3,250 yd. workout in the first week of February, 3,700 in the third week, then on Feb. 23 I swam the full IM distance. I did it as 100s on a 2’ interval (a handful of seconds break between 100s). By the end I had to take a few extra 1’ breaks and drink, etc. It wasn’t speedy, but I got the distance. So that comes out to, roughly 4 months from my first swim to making the 2.4. Since February I have extended my distance to over 5,000 yds. in a workout where I would swim 90+ minutes non-stop except for an occasional swig of drink.
Speed-wise, I have improved a good bit. Now I can comfortably swim 1:40 pace for distance and a 1:35 100 yarder takes about as much out of me as a 2:00 100 when I first set foot in the pool.
I’m still improving. Who knows how long I’ll make gains like that, but it is encouraging to know improvement is really possible. I swear, after the first week or two, I was frustrated and resigned to not ever being much of a swimmer, but it did happen. Just keep at it.
you definitely have a challenging but pretty common problem:
you need find someone who knows how to swim fast, but someone who also has gone through all the learning steps himself (as an adult, not as a 6 year old). you need someone who can carefully observe you, then intelligently analyze what you need to do differently, and (here’s the tricky part) who can *clearly and understandably *communicate to you exactly how to make the changes that will rapidly reduce your drag, improve your efficiency, and correct your breathing.
furious, here’s how it went for me (to address your question of non-swimmers building up to 2.4 miles): First off, my background. Fairly high level cyclist and a long history of off and on running. I did a bit of swimming many years ago when I dabbled in tri, but that’s about it. Coming from that, I signed up for IMFL almost on a lark. I’d always thought about doing an IM in the back of my head, but I have a bunch of amigos that were doing it, so I took the bait. Anyway, that was last October. I started getting in the pool once or twice a week until about December. BTW, my first dip in the pool I could manage a handful of 50s and 100s at around a 2:00/100y pace. In December and January I really started swimming - 3 or 4 times a week and making a study out of it. I looked into the TI program and decided against it. I sort of tried some of the techniques, but instead went to trying to emulate the elite level swimmers that generally seem to use more of a long catch with high elbow focus, not so much focused on the minimilization of strokes and long glides like the TI program teaches. I ramped up my yardage fairly quickly. I did a 3,250 yd. workout in the first week of February, 3,700 in the third week, then on Feb. 23 I swam the full IM distance. I did it as 100s on a 2’ interval (a handful of seconds break between 100s). By the end I had to take a few extra 1’ breaks and drink, etc. It wasn’t speedy, but I got the distance. So that comes out to, roughly 4 months from my first swim to making the 2.4. Since February I have extended my distance to over 5,000 yds. in a workout where I would swim 90+ minutes non-stop except for an occasional swig of drink.
Speed-wise, I have improved a good bit. Now I can comfortably swim 1:40 pace for distance and a 1:35 100 yarder takes about as much out of me as a 2:00 100 when I first set foot in the pool.
I’m still improving. Who knows how long I’ll make gains like that, but it is encouraging to know improvement is really possible. I swear, after the first week or two, I was frustrated and resigned to not ever being much of a swimmer, but it did happen. Just keep at it.
That’s inspiring to hear, there are so many posts here where people are struggling to learn and the experienced swimmers bring up the harsh realities for form and technique which is somewhat discouraging. Most of us newbs then go to a pool without any help, and are on our own. This definately helps.
you definitely have a challenging but pretty common problem:
you need find someone who knows how to swim fast, but someone who also has gone through all the learning steps himself (as an adult, not as a 6 year old). you need someone who can carefully observe you, then intelligently analyze what you need to do differently, and (here’s the tricky part) who can *clearly and understandably *communicate to you exactly how to make the changes that will rapidly reduce your drag, improve your efficiency, and correct your breathing.
I think this sums up what I’m looking for in a coach and why its been hard to find one.
That’s inspiring to hear, there are so many posts here where people are struggling to learn and the experienced swimmers bring up the harsh realities for form and technique which is somewhat discouraging.
well, the “harsh reality” of form is actually some good news: it can be learned. now for the “real” harsh reality: lots of swimmers make every excuse in the world for *not *making the effort to learn.
but if you truly do make the effort to learn, you will be swimming fast. but the effort (and it’s mostly mental effort, not physical effort) is substantial. but the investment will pay off, and pay off handsomely.
I live in Redlands as well and may be able to help you with your swimming. I did not take up swimming until I was in my 20’s but was able to bring my mile time down from 30 minutes to 20 in a couple years swimming with the varsity team at my university. After which I helped out the team as an assistant coach and coached a local masters swim group for a couple years as well before moving to California. I have helped a number of triathletes to improve their swim and have coached a few to significant PB’s in their tri’s as well.
Feel free to PM or call my cell phone: 562-260-8373
to see yourself underwater. Go to costco and purchase an olympus 1050sw (waterproof camera) It is about $199.99 use it for testing purposes. Have some videotape you underwater. if you like the camera works. Go online and purchase a pentax optio 60w. It has better image quality and does HD in 720p.
to see yourself underwater. Go to costco and purchase an olympus 1050sw (waterproof camera) It is about $199.99 use it for testing purposes. Have some videotape you underwater. if you like the camera works. Go online and purchase a pentax optio 60w. It has better image quality and does HD in 720p.
I actually have the Olympus, I’ll have to give it a try.