In the middle of the year, someone (a fast swimmer) critiqued my form. Ever since that moment, my swimming has gone down hill. And trust me, it was mediocre at best to start with. I can hang with whatever distance is before me, I’m just not going to get there in a hurry. My philosophy has been to get through the swim so I can do the other two things I’m better at.
After taking a couple of months off from swimming and reading Paulo’s Swimming Article, I’ve decided to make a real effort at getting faster. I’ve been hitting the water regularly and I feel good about swimming again. So assuming Paulo is correct, I want to just swim and swim and swim. So how much is too much or is there such a thing? I’m thinking one hour sessions, 4-5 times a week. Does that sound about right?
I say go for it. 12000-15000 will only help you. Of course you are going to get some people saying only drills and do less yardage. I found that I got more into swimming mentally only when I “became a swimmer” and was in the pool for at least an hour a day. You really start to get a true feel for the water. So again, go for it and good luck. Make sure you ease into it though.
Did he just critique your form, or offer suggestions for improvement? I’m guessing the former, as you seem to have been demotivated. Next time you see him riding, jam your frame pump in his spokes and tell him that his bike handling skills suck…
No swimming expert, that’s for sure, so I won’t offer an opinion other than to say I’ve been told that frequency is probably the most important key to swimming success, after good form…
It CAN get boring and dull, a 4 to 5 hours per week itisn’t really something to worry about yet.
You can keep that at bay by 1. swimming with a swim squad of some type or friends, 2. Getting some workouts from somewhere, the usms discussion forum has good ones, so does swim2000.com, 3. Write your wo workouts before you go the pool.
Don’t sweat too much what you do. Swim fast, swim slow,swim drills,swim straight sets, mixed sets long sets. If you’re THAt far away from your swim potential then it isn’t critical what you do, as long as it is swimming.
Yes, but only if your technique is wrong. Lessons are not very expensive. You’ll do soooo much better training 4-5 hrs a week using the correct technique vs incorrect. Your swim stroke is much like a golf swing. Learn the technique, learn the drills then spend hours perfecting them…
You’re not close to too much swimming. Rappstar (jordan) just completed a block of 140km of swimming in just under 3 weeks. He set PBs over 400m, 800m, and 1000m during the block. He didn’t do any traditional drills during this time (other than a minor amount of filler). More is more.
The only issue I’ve had ramping up swim yardage are “swimmer’s shoulders” - enough to sideline me a couple of times. Here’s a link to exercises to prevent them:
It’s a good foundation-building time and distance if you’re relatively new to the sport. (ie. that’s a common amount of time for the swim team 10& unders to put in every week)
You’re not close to too much swimming. Rappstar (jordan) just completed a block of 140km of swimming in just under 3 weeks. He set PBs over 400m, 800m, and 1000m during the block. He didn’t do any traditional drills during this time (other than a minor amount of filler). More is more.
Yep - 1st Masters workout is 2 weeks from Christmas day. I’d better get my ass in the pool at least once or twice before that or I’ll be in real trouble!
Didn’t do the set this time… the block was a bit shorter this year on account of some “holiday” he took with his woman in the Caribbean at the beginning of the month… priorities man!
I suppose if you hurt your shoulder(s) you maybe did too much, or at least too much with poor form. 4-5 hrs in the winter is good. I did 5 hours a week for many weeks in a row last winter and brought up my swim a lot. I will put in 8 weeks of 5 hours a week again in Jan., Feb. I found my feel for the water improved a lot and a good friend and solid swimmer told me come spring that my technique was significantly improved in terms of my catch, body rotation, and high elbow on the recovery. My swim times reflected it as well. I was concious of what I what trying to do, but did not do a lot of drill sets and things improved. As you swim more I think you get a better feel on how to work on the stroke and make improvements. As long as you know the fundamentals of a good stroke you should be able to work on them. I never used toys either with the exception of occasional fins or paddles, no pullbuoys.
Swimming is only %10-15 of any distance Triathlon race.
Based on that you should only dedicate %10-15 of your total training time to swimming. If you are training 30+ hours a week,yes you can do 4-5 times one hour sessions.
Good Luck
There are plenty of ‘swimmers’ doing 4-5 hours a day, so, unless you are talking about 100,000+ yds a week, you aren’t doinhg too much, but you can debate whether it is appropriate for triathletes.
Swimming is only %10-15 of any distance Triathlon race.
Based on that you should only dedicate %10-15 of your total training time to swimming. If you are training 30+ hours a week,yes you can do 4-5 times one hour sessions.
Good Luck
I disagree. You should dedicate most of your time to what you suck at not at how long the race is.
For instance i suck at swimming and running compared to biking so i train over the winter closer to 40percent swimming 20 percent biking and 40 percent running.
Swimming is only %10-15 of any distance Triathlon race.
Based on that you should only dedicate %10-15 of your total training time to swimming. If you are training 30+ hours a week,yes you can do 4-5 times one hour sessions.
Good Luck
I nominate the above post for “Bad Advice of the Year” in '07’s “Estees awards”.
Swimming is only %10-15 of any distance Triathlon race.
Based on that you should only dedicate %10-15 of your total training time to swimming. If you are training 30+ hours a week,yes you can do 4-5 times one hour sessions.
Good Luck
I nominate the above post for “Bad Advice of the Year” in '07’s “Estees awards”.
Thank you very much for your nomination. It is easy to nominate rather than give your valuable opinion.
You are right…One should swim as much or even more than they run or bike. It is so important to bring down your swim time couple minutes.You might even qualify for Master’s nationals rather than Hawai.
