I’m new to triathlon this year and although I have raced bikes and done cross country running in the past I have never swam beyond splashing in the local pool as a kid so really starting from scratch. So far, in the pool I’ve brought my 1500m down from around 40 minutes in January to 30 minutes now. I’m fortunate in having a decent lap pool in my apartment so can swim most days and have joined a masters club which is helping a lot but I’ve read a lot about how starting swimming when you are older will always mean you are slower, I’m 47 so I think classified as older 
My question is with good practice how fast could I realistically expect to go in another 6 months or year and what sort of times can I expect to be my limit? I appreciate that answer is different for every individual but ball park thoughts appreciated. I’m referring to pool swims without wetsuit.
I’m new to triathlon this year and although I have raced bikes and done cross country running in the past I have never swam beyond splashing in the local pool as a kid so really starting from scratch. So far, in the pool I’ve brought my 1500m down from around 40 minutes in January to 30 minutes now. I’m fortunate in having a decent lap pool in my apartment so can swim most days and have joined a masters club which is helping a lot but I’ve read a lot about how starting swimming when you are older will always mean you are slower, I’m 47 so I think classified as older My question is with good practice how fast could I realistically expect to go in another 6 months or year and what sort of times can I expect to be my limit? I appreciate that answer is different for every individual but ball park thoughts appreciated. I’m referring to pool swims without wetsuit.
You can improve continuously for many years. Don’t put a timeframe on it, as “I need to be able to swim 1500m in 25 minutes within 6 months” or anything like that. You will just be setting yourself up for disappointment. You might get there, you might not; everyone learns swimming at a different speed. At 30 minutes for 1500m your technique still needs a lot of work. Keep going to master’s swim and ideally have a coach work with you one or two days a week. Train like a swimmer, not like a triathlete swimming endless 400m repeats with a pull buoy. Learn how to kick, swim all four strokes, and most importantly learn to love swimming. When you are at the point when you know that you’ll swim for the rest of your life, when you have fun swimming IM sets and sprints, when you are friends with the people in your swim group, your times will have dropped a lot.
I think this is some of the best advice for a new swimmer that I have ever heard. I would say that joining masters IS a good step, as need4speed recommends, but also note that swimming all 4 strokes is only one way to gain variety.
There is SO MUCH MORE out there in terms of freestyle swimming alone, beyond just strapping on the buoy and paddles and doing mindless repeats. I was privileged enough to swim with a group in Annapolis MD for a couple of years. They probably do 90% freestyle, as their raison d’etre is to prepare themselves for the 4.4 mile Chesapeake Bay swim. The group has rotating “callers” (workout writers) and there is variety a-plenty. The results are high-caliber, as is the comraderie.
There are options out there beyond masters. The key, though, as need4speed said: figure out how to get pure enjoyment.
well said
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You can improve continuously for many years. Don’t put a timeframe on it, as “I need to be able to swim 1500m in 25 minutes within 6 months” or anything like that. You will just be setting yourself up for disappointment. You might get there, you might not; everyone learns swimming at a different speed. At 30 minutes for 1500m your technique still needs a lot of work. Keep going to master’s swim and ideally have a coach work with you one or two days a week. Train like a swimmer, not like a triathlete swimming endless 400m repeats with a pull buoy. Learn how to kick, swim all four strokes, and most importantly learn to love swimming. When you are at the point when you know that you’ll swim for the rest of your life, when you have fun swimming IM sets and sprints, when you are friends with the people in your swim group, your times will have dropped a lot.
Thank you, some good advice here. I did realise about 3 or 4 months ago that I need to learn to enjoy swimming as a sport, at that time I hated my swim training sessions and dreaded the swim in races. My strategy was to start reading some autobiographies (I would recommend Michael Phelps and Dara Torres to anyone in the same position) and start watching as much swimming footage as I could; result is I now thoroughly enjoy the sport and can’t wait for the short course world championships which take place in Dubai in December. I also look forward to my training sessions now and if I miss a couple of days for any reason starto get withdrawel symptoms so on the mental front I’m getting there. The masters is definitely helping my technique but I’m the first to admit there is still along way to go
Re goals, I’m not sure I agree though, as long as they are realistic I think it’s a good way to push yourself, for example I’m aiming for 28 minutes in an Oly triathlon in London and focussing my training on getting there. The point s being realistic in setting your goals in the first place and even if I swim 29 minutes in London I would still be happy so long as the overall trend is faster, I guess I’m old enough not to get knocked by not attaining a goal.
Good point about training like a swimmer, at the moment I think I’m possibly 50:50, the masters is certainly swimmer centric not triathlete focussed.
My basic question though is (and without putting a timescale on it) is generally how fast with proper training (5-6 hours per week) and coaching can I realistically hope to go for say 1500m, for example should 20 minutes be within my reach at some point?
Thank you all
Train safe
If you are into training biographies, you should get a load of “Four Champions One Gold Medal” – a story about the barnstorming days in distance freestyle in the late 70s … really cool stuff.
So, does a person need to be a swimmer all their life to go 20 minutes in a 1500M? Of course not. I would wonder what a show of hands among FOP swimmers in triathlon would reveal in terms of swimming background. I would bet a fair majority came to the water late in life.
best wishes,
r.b.
Do you want to improve in the pool or in open water? Just letting you know, I am a 18 min/ 1500 meter swimmer in the pool (sometimes 17), and my first oly triathlon I did 30 minutes in the open water (yikes!!).
I find that it is better to focus on times for shorter distances when looking at improvement. For example, if you’re swimming a 30m 1500m, I’ll guess that you can swim 100m in 1:45 without too much difficulty. Focus on dropping times for the 100m and even 50m. This will mean getting your timing right, your kick strong, your elbows high and your body position and balance stabilized. Set a goal to be comfortable swimming 1:40 100m 5 times in a row, leaving every 2:00. Then lower that to 1:37 leaving every 2:00. And continue from there. Later start working on times for the 200m. Take a measurement, see where you are at and do something similar. And don’t forget the other strokes, they help you develop feel for the water and keep your freestyle fresh by giving it a rest.
By focusing on “how fast can I swim 1500m” you will be tempted to go to your pool and swim very long distances to try and measure yourself. Unless you have perfected your technique this is exactly the wrong thing to do. As an example, I was 7th in the swim out of 59 in my AG at an olympic race (1500m) earlier this year, yet I rarely swim anything longer than 200y outside of a race. My technique still isn’t very good and I can see plenty of room for improvement. Most of my swim workouts are lots of 100s, 150s, and 200s with some sprints, kicking, IMs, other strokes, the whole gamut.
Do you want to improve in the pool or in open water? Just letting you know, I am a 18 min/ 1500 meter swimmer in the pool (sometimes 17), and my first oly triathlon I did 30 minutes in the open water (yikes!!).
Both ideally, my times for the pool and open water (non wetsuit) are actually pretty similar at the moment although I haven’t swam in really rough conditions when I would expect to be slower
Thanks to all for comments and advise, I’ll certainly be following up on some of it. I do tend to go for longer swims and only do my shorter swims with the Masters so obviously need to change some of my practices. My reasoning has been to get comfortable and confident that I can swim the distance without fear of drowning which I’m not happy with so time to mix it up with need4speed’s advice.
Train safe,
Zing
PS will also be visiting the local bookshop…again!