I am still relatively new to swimming (this is my second year). I would like to get my 750m (825y) time under 11 minutes (1:20/100y) by mid-Summer. I am currently at 15 minutes with little training (3 times per week, 2000y per session)
I have a couple of questions:
Assuming I drop off my running and cycling a bit, would it be a good idea to start swimming six (if not seven) times per week?
Which is more important: frequency or volume? I am willing to double-up a few times (to get in 8 or 9 sessions a week) if it will be benefitial. This is what I do during my run focus, but I’m not sure if it is the same for swimming. Which is better: 9x2000y (18k per week) or 6x4000y (24k per week)?
Should I go hard every day? In my first year, I pretty much did long, slow sets. I realize this won’t get me faster. Now that I am swimming three times a week, I go hard in each workout. If I start swimming six (or even nine) times a week, should I be doing “easy” days in between (like I do in my run training)? Or should I be pounding out intervals every day?
Is this goal reasonable? I can physically swim 25yards in 20 seconds (1:20/100y pace), but I can not hold it for very long. I do not have access to a coach to help me with my form, so I am hoping to get there on endurance alone.
What kind of sets should I be doing? I was thinking of stuff like 40x50y, 20x100y, 10x200y, and doing a 750m (825y) TT each week.
I just spent the last 5-6 months working on my swim… 5 days a week, maybe one two-a-day. Ive gone down 10/secs per 100m but nowhere near 1;20, im at about 1;32ish. the more you can swim the better. I was about a 12;45 to 13;00 750m, and hoping to be 11;45 by race season. lots of 100m sets, 15x100 on 10secs rest, lots of threshold swimming, some race pace, a couple 50x50’s…Thats all I got.
Seems like a loaded question of course if we assume your swim is hurting your overall time most than certainly put more time into it.
Frequency. ESPECIALLY for a newer swimmer. One of the biggest hurdles is getting used to the water, its a different environment (for one, you don’t get to breath whenever you feel like it) and fairly unnatural. Even as a long term swimmer I can tell when I have taken more than one day off I loose my feeling for the water. However doubles will likely be less effective for you than just getting in longer practices, being an endurance athlete (therefore 6x4000 is better than 9X2000).
For starters, you gotta see how much your shoulders can handle. If your getting shoulder pains then you need to take some more recovery. However, swimming is a fairly low injury sport (compared to running). That being said, it probably isn’t a good idea to “pound it out” every day otherwise you may burn out and/or get sloppy. I would say doing short-medium length hard set (hitting at least 90% max hr at some point) almost every day is good, and having at least one swim technique focused (with some builds/fast efforts to warm up) and one “get after it” day is a good idea. - hope that isn’t too confusing.
Keep in mind 4min is a pretty big drop over 750m… although the newer you are the more likely you are to drop large chunks of time. If your struggling to hit 1:20 pace for a 25, this is going to take a lot of time and effort, to the point where you may need to pretend your a swimmer for awhile. Good news is technique can drop minutes… but that is pretty hard to do without someone on deck. Any master’s programs around you?
You should have a fairly consistent warm-up every day (swim until your warm, do a couple 50-100s on medium rest, 10-15s rest, and do some builds 25-50s on double the time it takes for the swim rest. You should feel pretty primed. For reference: I always do a 400, 4x100s on :15s rest, 4X50s on 30s rest building to all out, even on easy days you should get after it in warm-up). Sets you should do should have “tight” intervals (100s-400s where you are getting very little rest and have a high heart rate), pace work (50s-100s hitting at or above race pace with enough rest to “calm down” but not enough to fully), hypoxic (breath control) and some speed work (high rest, everything you got intensity for 50s-100s). It is also not bad to mix these sets up so you are working on more than one thing in a day. Also, a TT every week is pretty high stress (mentally) and might make you burn out if times don’t consistently drop.
Andy Potts (I believe) and Amanda Beard have set out some good sets on their websites/Twitter accounts that are good starts for novice swimmers.
Great advice from RFreds1 and I’ll give it a crack as well.
1 - you should always be doing more swimming
2 - agree less longer sessions is probably better but depends a bit on age I think, the older you get the longer recovery takes in the shoulders so less but longer is better. if you’re younger then more might help improve on the flexibility you need in your shoulders
3 - if you’re doing 5-6 sessions a week then you will need to do 2 of those at least as recovery, 1-2 on speed, 1-2 on aerobic threshold and 1 aerobic rest recovery
4 - as RFreds1 said, that’s going to be a long hard journey, don’t underestimate how hard it will be
5 - no way you should do a TT each week at most every 3-4 weeks, always some great sets posted on the swim thread to use for ideas but get into a squad if you can with a coach that can give some structure to workouts over each week and over a number of weeks of months
Definitely frequency over volume for now. I admire the attempt to improve your endurance, but honestly you will make things MUCH easier on yourself by focusing on technique first, and if nothing else, at least body position. 15 minutes to 11 minutes is a big chunk of change, and the fastest, easiest (physically easiest, not necessarily mentally easiest…) way to drop that much time will be to clean up your stroke rather than waste energy fighting your way through the water. I know you said you don’t have access to a coach, but even finding a friend with a good swim background who can look at you for half an hour a week for a few weeks could work wonders. Often what we think we’re doing in the water and what we’re actually doing are very different. Get someone to take a look at you, identify your major limiters, and help you learn what it feels like to do it correctly. Maybe get some drill suggestions. Then you can take a couple swim sessions on your own to work on developing that muscle memory before having someone check in on you again. Frequency will be key. If you ramp up your swim volume before fixing your stroke, you’ll only be ingraining bad habits and making your stroke much harder to fix later. Better to focus on learning to swim well first, then developing the endurance to hold that stroke at higher speeds.
I would take 14 times 1000 SCY over 6 times 4000 SCY every day…
You have the endurance from biking and running, and swimming for a beginner is all about the feel for the water. You should never be tired when you’re swimming, always fresh so you can work on your stroke… When you have a better stroke you can start by adding “real” training in the pool. It’s easy for me to say because coming from a swimming background I have perfected my stroke, but right now I would stile take 14 times with less total volume, than 6 times with more volume - if I only had the time! My 750 meters back in the days would be around 8.20 SCM, now 8 years later more like 9.20, but it’s much easier to get my times down with many small trips to the pool. And the positive side effect - if you have the time to top it with biking and running, you will be much fresher for the rest of your training.
of course if we assume your swim is hurting your overall time most than certainly put more time into it.