I did my A race a few days ago, a 5 km open water race, and I got the 17th/17 overall. My time was 1:37:14 and the winning time was 1:03:06.
It has already been many years since I started swimming and I am now 32 years old. I have tried different coaches and clubs but none have got any long lasting improvement to my speed, although my endurance has got better over years. I am just keeping the initial speed longer and longer but I am not getting any faster at all. I had a better result two years ago but lost the improvement afterwards, and now I am consistently tired after work to the extent that I sometimes skip training. (I started working full time two years ago.)
There are no swim clubs near me which provides the training I am looking for, i.e. training for long distance competitive open water swimmers (I only swim freestyle), and I have lost motivation as a result because I don’t see a prospect if I can’t find a team to train me.
I would like to read some stories about how people can bring their times down, for example, from a 1:40 5 km to 1:20.
Well to be honest you sound a little lazy!!! You are only 32! You work full time, so what!!! Get up early. Find someone to beat or just get cracking! I am not a good swimmer but do know that pool training meaning drills drills and more drills is the only way to get faster. How far away is the nearest pool?
This guy got blocked from the old marathon swim forum. He’s a bad news bear. He just complains and complains and complains. Should go over to the cry like a biatch thread. If he doesn’t want to swim don’t it’s simple.
Miklcct, you are a good swimmer! You’ve swum the English Channel!! The problem is, you have unrealistic expectations. You want to become as fast as an elite, in adulthood, which is unrealistic even if you could put much more time into training. You want to become strong and muscular, but you are unwilling to go to the gym.
Of course you can get better. You live in London, where there are many coaching opportunities. You could get a private coach for a few sessions every week and follow their advice. You could get to the gym and get stronger. You’ll improve, but not to elite level.
Or, you can just enjoy swimming and completing challenges and not worry about speed, like your channel swim, which you should be proud of.