Right now I can swim at 2:00 per 100m for a workout. If I could get my 100m down to 1:30 I know I can be competitive for my races with my bike and run. If I stay consistent and get coaching once a week, what kind of time frame am I looking at? I’ve never had any real swim coaching, just tips I get from my fish friends.
The true answer is it depends. But 1:30’s for a workout should be IMO very doable (im figuring you are talking about 2,000 -3,000 a workout not 20,000 ) in two-three months TOPS. 5-6 days a week 10,000-15,000 yards a week and a coach to help with form. Now its just a matter of if you want to swim fast or not. That coach thing is kinda a biggie thu, for example just last week I meet up with my swim couch after a few months break from seeking him and my head was to low in the water. Lifted it up a little and my 100’s improved 3-4 secs a 100.
Getting coaching is very good, it’s best just to follow the advice in Jack Mott’s sig.
I think I was (am) in the same boat as you. In Feb 2007 at 36, I started swimming for the first time since I was a teenager at summer camp, which meant I wasn’t actively drowning when I started. After 3 weeks of swimming, I did a timed 500m in 11:20, so that’s 2:16/100m. I did a timed 100m a few days later in 1:58.
My first two years of swimming, I swam a consistent 3x/week. This past year, it’s been more like 4x/week.
Now I could do a timed 100m in about 1:10. My Oly swim time has gone from 29 min to 22-23 min, which is still a little above a 1:30/100m pace. Hopefully this year I’ll get there.
The gains happened in spurts. So for me, the answer is: less than 4 years.
I’ve seen guys get faster without swimming as much, but not many. I’ve seen lots of people not get faster, but ALL of those people don’t swim enough per week or or don’t swim consistently week to week.
But the coaching thing is key. Swim technique is free speed, too bad my technique is still pretty bad.
Good luck!
Jeff
That may depend on if you have a very bad position/stroke and are in good shape or have a good position/stroke and are in bad shape.
jaretj
welcome to the mendoza line!
the nice thing abuot 2:00/100m is that it doesn’t seem to go away.
Some people will never get there. Just wait and see.
BTW, you are only talking about having the coach with you once per week, not swimming only once per week right?
well, it s not a very realistic answer. To go from 2:00 to 1:30 isnt a matter of a few months or wanting to swim fast. We are talking most likely a time frame of 2-3 years to get to 1:30 pace or 22:30/1500m when you come from a 30min 1500m.
There is no sorth cut around swimming, it cant be done in a few months, it s years of consistant work that will bring results.
For me, i started at 2:00/100m. Took about 2.5 year to get to 1:30, another 3 years to get to 1:20s and probably another 4 years to get to 1:15ish. No easy way.
Coaching is important, but as you swim more and more, you realise it s a game of developping specific strenght and feeling of the water and no coach can help for that… it s a matter of logging lots hours in the pool.
So to the OP… if you are consistant, a few years and you should be there…
Coaching and a group to swim with is a start
and listen to your coach.
well, it s not a very realistic answer. To go from 2:00 to 1:30 isnt a matter of a few months or wanting to swim fast. We are talking most likely a time frame of 2-3 years to get to 1:30 pace or 22:30/1500m when you come from a 30min 1500m.
Agreed. 1:30 in meters is a 57 Ironman swim, in Kona that put you in the top 150 out of the water last year. If it is so simple not sure why everyone doesn’t do it in 5 months.
well, it s not a very realistic answer. To go from 2:00 to 1:30 isnt a matter of a few months or wanting to swim fast. We are talking most likely a time frame of 2-3 years to get to 1:30 pace or 22:30/1500m when you come from a 30min 1500m.
There is no sorth cut around swimming, it cant be done in a few months, it s years of consistant work that will bring results.
For me, i started at 2:00/100m. Took about 2.5 year to get to 1:30, another 3 years to get to 1:20s and probably another 4 years to get to 1:15ish. No easy way.
Coaching is important, but as you swim more and more, you realise it s a game of developping specific strenght and feeling of the water and no coach can help for that… it s a matter of logging lots hours in the pool.
So to the OP… if you are consistant, a few years and you should be there…
Or… It could happen overnight too. I have a friend who went to masters 3-4 days a week and a year later he was a really strong swimmer with the same stroke flaws. He actually swam SLOWER.
While drinking beer one night we were trying to figure out where his faults were. We came up with one thing to try at his Oly distance tri that weekend and he went from a 45min to 35 min. The result of drinking beer, not time in the pool.
Stick with a good swim coach, video your stroke if you can (PVC periscope with a video camera works well), and do your drills. With swimming, form trumps laps.
well, it s not a very realistic answer. To go from 2:00 to 1:30 isnt a matter of a few months or wanting to swim fast. We are talking most likely a time frame of 2-3 years to get to 1:30 pace or 22:30/1500m when you come from a 30min 1500m.
There is no sorth cut around swimming, it cant be done in a few months, it s years of consistant work that will bring results.
For me, i started at 2:00/100m. Took about 2.5 year to get to 1:30, another 3 years to get to 1:20s and probably another 4 years to get to 1:15ish. No easy way.
Coaching is important, but as you swim more and more, you realise it s a game of developping specific strenght and feeling of the water and no coach can help for that… it s a matter of logging lots hours in the pool.
So to the OP… if you are consistant, a few years and you should be there…
This is sound advice and the expectation (2.5 years) is real. Be patient, but persistent.
while some people will be gifted and improve fast… your story dosnt give the guide line. Yes, to improve from 45 to 35 in a olympic distance, even at 35min…it s pretty dam slow so improvement happen relatively quick. I can get anyone near the 2min mark in a few months just by beating the crap out of them… 35min is way over 2min/100m. It s border line swimming…playing in the water/doing dog paddle swimming.
Sorry if i m this honest but working with so many athlete and helping them improve there swim… it s important to realise that it s VERY simple, drills are just there to make it fun and change things like the pull boy and paddles and all the other toys. In the end, it s a matter of how many Meters you are ready to log in and that is when improvement happen and you get someone into a more acceptable swimming (triathlon) speed. Consistancy over a long period of time… no short easy way around it.
It can so be done in months. I am focusing on itu races this year. Started my 4-6 days a week swimming in September. I was 1:45/100 swimmer fast forward to just three days a go and i am a 1:14/100 swimmer. To say it takes years it ST bs.
Well, i would like to go ahead and congratdulate you for that spectacular improvement. You are definitly a rare case and most likely extremely talented.
1;14 will get you right near the feet of Andy potts. No excuses to not be in the lead of the water at ITU this year for you. I m about at that point, 1:14-15 and that get me out in the top 10 guys in hawaii or top 2-3 guys in any other ironman. or a few second (25-30) behind Andy in a half ironman…
Now, as i been part of the national program for perhaps 5 years in canada, we have never seen on person improve like you did, simon whitfield, greg bennett, any up comers, we pretty much had over 20 athlete on the world cup and all of them had to take up to 10 years to get there siwmming where you are right now.
Good luck this season… you definitly have lots of potential in you.
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are we talking 100m flat out here? 100m at race pace? please clarify
personaly, when we talk been a 1:14 swimmer…than mean able to old that pace at race pace for your distance… no a flat out sprint…that is meaningless…almost.
In September 1984 I started swim training for the first time in my life at age 26. By the next spring I was under 1:00 for 100scy off the blocks in a race. I was lucky to have a good coach who pointed out the errors in my stroke. I was even more fortunate to be able to understand what he said I was doing, what I needed to change to get it right, and how to get my body to do those right things.
However, I wouldn’t doubt that my first 100scy that fall, completely untrained, was under 1:30.
If you are talking 2:00 for a single 100m repeat, then you are doing some seriously bad things with your technique. If you are the type of athlete who can pick up technique sports quickly, then you should be able to do the same in swimming. Some people are not that way, unfortunately, and will never “get it” in the water.
It can so be done in months. I am focusing on itu races this year. Started my 4-6 days a week swimming in September. I was 1:45/100 swimmer fast forward to just three days a go and i am a 1:14/100 swimmer. To say it takes years it ST bs.
I think one of the most important factors here is the starting point. If you are starting as a 1:45/100m swimmer, you have some speed built in, and it may be technique or conditioning to get that time down. If you start at 2:00/100m, this usually means not much built in speed. Somebody with a 2:00 time was never a competitive swimmer, and thus lacks the muscle memory for faster swimming.
Because the op is only a 2:00 swimmer, I think it’s going to take years to get that down. Let’s be honest here, you are either a fish or you are not. You can pretend for a little while, but eventually you will hit a wall and times will not improve.
Ok…I see some "no minds’ sets have been suggested in a recent copy of triathlete world. In which after a suitable warm-up, one conducts 5x100 going full bore. The first should be the fastest…so we are not talking about this 100m?
I think the 100m speed is very subjective and needs some context. Take for example a half iron swim in which you go out hard for the first 200m in order to chill in the wake of the big boys. Do we mean this or more of a ‘cruise’ speed which one would adopt for most of the swim?
while some people will be gifted and improve fast… your story dosnt give the guide line. Yes, to improve from 45 to 35 in a olympic distance, even at 35min…it s pretty dam slow so improvement happen relatively quick. I can get anyone near the 2min mark in a few months just by beating the crap out of them… 35min is way over 2min/100m. It s border line swimming…playing in the water/doing dog paddle swimming.
Sorry if i m this honest but working with so many athlete and helping them improve there swim… it s important to realise that it s VERY simple, drills are just there to make it fun and change things like the pull boy and paddles and all the other toys. In the end, it s a matter of how many Meters you are ready to log in and that is when improvement happen and you get someone into a more acceptable swimming (triathlon) speed. Consistancy over a long period of time… no short easy way around it.
I just used an extreme example to prove a point. He was a rower in college and has no flexibility in his shoulders. However meters alone doesn’t lead to “improvement”. Often it leads to getting really good at being really bad.
By the way from one Coach to another, I wouldn’t tell anyone who swims a 35min Oly they “playing” or “doing dog paddle” though.