okay. i’ve been swimming for about 2 months now. like most triathletes, i’m type a and want results now!
i’m doing everything right, swim 5-6 times a week for a total of 5-8000 meters. my 500 meter time at a moderate pace is a very sluggish 10 minutes. i do all the dumbass drills, fists, legs, sides etc.
i can’t seem to swim faster and it’s very frustrating. swimming is not like running where all you have to do is ramp up intensity and you run faster. i hate swimming!!
maybe i need to see a shrink?
any of you guys start out like me, then see results?
okay. i’ve been swimming for about 2 months now. like most triathletes, i’m type a and want results now!
i’m doing everything right, swim 5-6 times a week for a total of 5-8000 meters. my 500 meter time at a moderate pace is a very sluggish 10 minutes. i do all the dumbass drills, fists, legs, sides etc.
i can’t seem to swim faster and it’s very frustrating. swimming is not like running where all you have to do is ramp up intensity and you run faster. i hate swimming!!
maybe i need to see a shrink?
any of you guys start out like me, then see results?
If you are only swimming 1000-1500m per workout, that covers warmup and cooldown. No wonder you aren’t getting faster. Seriously, I’d suggest that your technique is poor, or you aren’t doing any interval sets at enough speed and minimum rest to effect the changes needed to get faster. Get a coach to watch your technique.
Get someone to look at your stroke. Preferebly not some nutcase that likes to watch people swim. A coach or experienced swimmer is probably best. The drills mean nothing if your stroke is off.
i can’t seem to swim faster and it’s very frustrating. swimming is not like running where all you have to do is ramp up intensity and you run faster.
Technique is definitely an issue but you also have to consider the amount of actual “work” you are doing. 1500 yards a day is less than an 8 year old on a swim team would do. To compound things, it sounds like you are doing alot of drills. Drills, if done right, can be very good for learning proper technique but they are generally worthless for building the strength you need to actually execute proper techique. Therefore, in my book they don’t count as actual training. In sum, you are training less than a typical 8 year old so you should not be surprised that you aren’t getting faster.
You are putting in an effort in the pool similar to “run/walking” a mile a day. That wouldn’t do much to get your mile time down and you should not expect anything different in the pool.
I vote we ban all comparison of our swimming to kids swimming. Last time I checked, 99% of 12 year old girls could smoke me in a 400 free. I don’t like to hear that. It hurts my ego and makes me cry.
i hear ya guys…ramp up the daily distance. the thing is…i ramped it up to 1500 with an occasional 2000 meter day and i really hate it. it is brain-numbing to swim that long. i guess i’m not cut out to be a swimmer. on a positive note, my cycling and running is decent enough to make up for it and i seem to pass the faster swimmers in the bike/run.
does anyone actually enjoy swimming? most of the triathletes i’ve spoken with hate it too! even the fast guys…
Ok, I buy that, (even though an 8 year old isn’t balancing 2 other discilines), but then my question is how much do you think you need to swim per session, how many sessions a week, goal total yardage for a week? I can find coaches to watch my stroke to rule out technique but how much do you need to do to get faster? The masters thing doesn’t really fit for me so it is solo pool time and I need to gain some speed before April.
i hear ya guys…ramp up the daily distance. the thing is…i ramped it up to 1500 with an occasional 2000 meter day and i really hate it. it is brain-numbing to swim that long. i guess i’m not cut out to be a swimmer. on a positive note, my cycling and running is decent enough to make up for it and i seem to pass the faster swimmers in the bike/run.
does anyone actually enjoy swimming? most of the triathletes i’ve spoken with hate it too! even the fast guys…
“Ramped it up to 1500”… classic. Just to make 2000 seem shorter, I boosted myself to 4000 and 4500 for awhile. At a 2 min pace, THAT’S mind-numbing.
But mark me down as really enjoying swimming. Not for 2 hours, though. Hell, I don’t like to ride or run that long either. I like the way you have to think about technique, and every now and then a lap will come together and just feel great. Emphasis on “every now and then.”
Ok I realize I’m lame for saying this especially if you have read my dirty secrets but…it’s true IMO. If you find long workouts boring, that is the third thing you will get with masters; more variety in the workouts, people to talk with - It really does make the workouts more fun and go faster. Give it a try. Yeah yeah, practice what you preach. Go ahead flame away.
Let me get this straight. Your daily workout is only 30-35min long? I agree with the others, if you are not wet for at least 45 min of actual swimming, you will not improve.
I like swimming during the season, but I am good at it. Swimming in the off season or at the beginning of the season is tough. I have to go about 25000 yds before I “find my stroke”. Once I am there swimming becomes enjoyable - like riding on level ground with a tailwind.
The thing I hate is flip turns, actually any turns - it throws off my breathing when I get tired and makes it hard to relax.
i went to one master’s session and it was even more boring then swimming alone in open water. also, the ncaa coach from australia said to me after analyzing my stroke, “ya look good mate, just keep it up.”
I try to keep my rest to a max of about 1 min, but usually set my time to a 30 sec or less recovery. Set your pace to keep aerobic and you should not need more than that. Also this will keep your time in the pool down and your yards up.
My distances climb as I get stronger, but I generally try to make sure that I am stroking for 45 min during every workout.
Remember that swimming slow can help you go fast. Focus on gliding and keeping yoru strokes per length to a minimum.
Sorry for making this shameless plug for a friend of mine but if there are any Tampa Bay folks interested in a masters swim program at the University of Tampa, the sessions are M-T-R @ 6:00 -7:00 a.m. and M-W 6:30-7:30 p.m. The monthly cost is a $50. You can contact the coach, Jim, at jkiner@ut.edu or jkswim@hotmail.com.
I saw my real results when we got a new coach. She drilled us into respecting our times, and really pushed us with our intervals.
all I can leave you with is what a guy in masters told me: “sometimes you gain seconds off your time, then plateau for a couple of months - then it hits you again”
As for the smartaleck responses about drills, I learned that they’re a catch22. You need to do them, but unless you really understand the technique/how to swim, you don’t realize how they’re supposed to feel. I’m always noticing new sensations with my drills…
I vote we ban all comparison of our swimming to kids swimming. Last time I checked, 99% of 12 year old girls could smoke me in a 400 free. I don’t like to hear that. It hurts my ego and makes me cry.
Each of three daughters started whipping my butt in the pool once they reached 10 years old. In fact, they wanted to kick my off the family relay race our pool holds each year. Good thing I still held the family purse strings. I always insisted on going 2nd or 3rd so it would not be so obvious that some other kid or parent was smoking me.
**Ok, I buy that, (even though an 8 year old isn’t balancing 2 other discilines), **
Actually, my 12 year old’s cross country and swim seasons overlap for a few months. She runs in the afternoon and swims at night . . . .
but then my question is how much do you think you need to swim per session, how many sessions a week, goal total yardage for a week? I can find coaches to watch my stroke to rule out technique but how much do you need to do to get faster? The masters thing doesn’t really fit for me so it is solo pool time and I need to gain some speed before April.
Technique is huge but so is just plain old work. Personnally, I think you need at least 2000 yards/meters of real swimming per work out done at least 3 times per week to make any significant gains. More is better. For perspective, a “pro” swimmer would do 12,000 to 15,000 per day, 6 days a week for most of the year.
Drills and kicking are good but you can’t count them as more than 10% of that minimum. Working on your techique at speed is way more important than doing slow drills. You’ll probably be better off doing more workouts per week than just making 3 workouts longer.
Time every repeat and just try to go faster. You should be pretty whipped at the end of a workout. Intensity is very important. What you’re trying to do is build up strenght so you can execute good techinque longer and at a higher speed. You should be getting close to muscle failure at times during your workout.
For a new or developing swimmer, a good swimming workout will feel like you have spent an hour in the weighroom doing lat and shoulder exercises. It should not feel like a one hour run. That comes later, much later . . .
I hate to say it, but swim more…
right now i swim 5-8 times a week, with a daily m goal of 7k, (doesn’t happen if we do threshold stuff or i have tons of lab work)…
I started swimming 3 years ago, and come to think of it, have only taken 4 min off my 1500 time… (23 down to 19)… but it takes awhile…
do more swimming, when i swim by myself a good practice is 3k in an hour… you should be shooting for 2.5k min. - I like 1 1/2 hour swims, totalling 4.5-5k - 4/5 times/week when triathlon training.
swim with a team as much as possible.
heres what i usually do when by myself
600-800 warm up…
pre set - i like doing non free - 1275 IM switch, or 25 fly/50 back or variations - usually 750-1000m
kick set - 850 or 5100 or some other variation to bring it to 400-500 m
main set - 1500-2k (i should make them longer)
alternate short repeats with longer easier stuff… 15100 or 10200 or 100’s but varying pace time (i.e. alternate 100 on 1.25, 100 on 1.20, 100 on 1.25 etc)
so day 1 - 15100 on a pace that gives 5-10 sec rest (hard to make last 2)…
day 2 - 400s alternate swim/pull just putting in distance
c/d - 200 ez
total - abit long - 4k… but you’ll build to that - do that 3-4 times a week and you’ll get better
