I’ve been back in the pool for a month after about 6 months out (mostly marathon training) and a recent fractured pelvis (hit and run driver). I spent some time this winter doing noting but drill work so my form and technique are decent. Now that I’m starting to swim actual workouts again I’ve found a limiter that I need to address. Unless I am swimming very easy or short intervals (<200m) my tris and shoulders begin to burn which limits my catch and pull. The more I focus on my technique being correct, the more (or sooner) the muscles burn and tire. So keeping a nice high elbow requires the shoulders to work harder to keep that upper arm high and then the tris get recruited to straighten the arm at the end of the stroke. I don’t push all the way through to my thigh but there is still a good bit of tri being used to finish at my hip. Sometimes when I’m in a longer interval I’ll intentionally let my stroke get “lazy” for 25m which lets the muscles recover a bit but obvio0usly I’m swimming less efficiently for the moment. Okay, long lead-in for the question: what should I be doing to basically increase the conditioning of my shoulders and tris so that I can maintain the proper stroke technique at a decent pace for long swims? There is definitely a pace that I can’t access for more than 2-3min because of the muscle burning even though my breathing is completely under control and relaxed. Once I hit my ventilatory threshold it’s a different story.
I’m no swim coach and you definitely would not want to swim as slow as me. (13 year old girl beat me in the swim leg of a 500M pool swim tri last Sunday), very disheartening…
But I would say that some light weight/hi rep strength training of your shoulders, upper back, tri and rotator cuff would help a bit with the fatigue you are feeling.
Something like 3 sets of 15-20 reps with about 1.5 minutes in between sets. And when you are swimming keep your sets short so that you can hold proper form. No use in training a lazy stroke. Then slowly build the distance of your sets so that you can hold your form for longer.
Like I said TIFWIW but what ever you do don’t swim as slow as me.
Thanks. I have been working in the weight room for a while…although nothing really swim-specific. I can maintain proper form but at a pace that is something less than my aerobic potential. I’m definitely not a fast swimmer but I know it’s my shoulder/tri conditioning that is limiting the speed of my longer swims. My LT pace is currently about 1:30/100 (per the Gale Bernhardt 3X300m test protocol) and I can comfortably maintain ~1:45 pace for 1000m+. I did a 1000m TT the other day in 15:52 (1:35/100). I was limited in the middle 600m by the muscle burning. It wasn’t till the final 200m when I started to bring it home stronger that my breathing became a factor. So I know I have some potential speed waiting to be tapped if I can just get my muscles better conditioned.
IMHO, you probably just need more time in the pool. 6 months off, and being just in your first month back or there abouts, you probably havent spent enough time in the water to get much fitness. How many days a week do you swim? what type of distance is your typical workout?
I took 8 years out of the pool and the first 6 months back sucked. You can gain lots of fitness and focus on technique by doing sets like 20-50x50 drill/build or drill swim with :05-:10 rest. or 10-40x100 doing drills, kicks, swims, builds, sprints (mix it up per 25 or 50) on :10 rest. or 4-20x75 kds :10. I still do these types of sets and give them to the athletes I coach as well.
If you can bend 90 degrees at the waist, using resistance bands to simulate the swim stroke can help, especially with the triceps. Technique-wise, I’ve been working on using a wider hand entry and pull, which, for me, makes my catch quicker and incorporates the lats more than the smaller muscles like the triceps.
Swim more, it will get better.
Lifting and cords would help too - tricep extensions, tricep dips, bicep curls, and dumbell flies are good to target your swimming muscles 
I understand I need to swim more. My question is more in terms of how to most effectively target my training sessions to work on the particular limiter I’ve identified. For the last ~4 weeks I’ve been swimming 5x per week on average typically 2-3k per session and always include at least a few 100m of technique drills. My workouts are fairly short because I’m limited to 50-75min by the lap swim session at my pool. I could easily go 4k+ in a workout without being exhasted, I just don’t have that much time available right now. I’m checking out some other options for pools though…hoping to switch to a local 50m pool. Intuitively I think I know what to do…swim relatively short intervals (3-400m) right around my 1000m TT pace with short recoveries. At TT pace I’ll get the shoulder/tri burning starting to kick in around 250m but I’ll be able to maintain and push through to the end of the interval, recover for 15sec, then do it again. I’m interested in the stretch cords…anyone have a website that specifically shows some swim-specific exercises?
okay, so your question is how to structure your swims. I’d say warmup, 300-400m repeats first and then the drills once your arms get tired. Good drill sets: ___ x 1oom, middle 50m is drill. catchup, one arm, finger tip drag, fists, open hand…
Thanks - that’s what I was guessing…400m repeats wiht short rest intervals…no need to get complex. I usually just pull one of the "endurance workouts out of Gale Bernhardt’s swim workout binder and add a few 100m forth of 50m TI drills before the main set. Not a bad idea doing some drills after the main set though.
I do drills almost every workout, particularly in recovery swim workouts, as you don’t have to push it but still get the nice benefit of the technique work while “resting.” We also do them before long sets (like repeat 1000s) - I think doing that helps me think about good technique while I’m doing the longer intervals. Today was a lot of drills and some sprint IM work. I’m in really good shape for freestyle, but the other strokes are killing me right now.