I’m really trying to improve my swim speed. I don’t have a triathlon or swim club near me and the nearest pool is 45 mins drive, so I’m at a bit of a training disadvantage.
I have however been on several weekend courses, and just recently a weeks open water course. I’ve had video analysis and know what my main faults are. I’m doing drills to work on those and feel like I’m correcting them.
However I am getting no faster, maybe even a bit slower! It’s so disheartening! What’s wrong with me, is there any hope?? ðŸ˜
I’m not improving anywhere as much as I hoped to. I’m not going backwards, but considering how much I’ve ramped up swimming in the past year, my gains have been utterly pathetic. Like 1-2sec/100. And it’s not like I’m killing the swim - in a local race I’ll be like 60th overall in the swim, but top 10 in bike and run, despite spending up to 50% of my training time swimming as an AOS-swimmer. Even did a bunch of self-video, which helped me correct my stroke some, but honestly it just made it ‘look’ better on camera, but didn’t make me significantly faster. (I look a great swimming with a snorkel on a head-on view, but my pace is 10+sec/100 slower than without the snorkel!)
I move my leading arm too early in the stroke - ie not doing 3/4 catch up. I lift my head a bit too high to breathe (hard to fix as when I try not too I often take on water). Need to work on early vertical forearm in the catch.
But I concentrate on these things and don’t improve at all.
2 of those sessions were a masters group, no magic drills however, but doing an hour of 100s with adequate rest (for me, 20 seconds), once a week, for 3 months seemed to help
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Yep. There IS hope. I’d say in the triathlon off season, make some sacrifices and get in the pool 4 times a week, for about 3 months.
That kind of sacrifice.
It got me from 2:30/100 METRES to 1:55/100.
Agree, though I think what some folks can do in 3 months, others may need 6 to do. We all progress at different paces and in different patterns. Some people gradually improve, others make huge jumps. I am a huge jumper. Weeks of nothing and then 4 or 5 sec/100. With consistency and focus you will improve. Most of the information you need is on this site or on youtube. But integrating all this information is a different matter and that is where a coach comes in for some people.
But I no longer believe any able bodied person is permanently relegated to the 2:00-2:30/100 speed. Not at all.
What has your training looked like? How many times a week are you going to the pool? What’re you doing when you get there?
Swimming is hard to learn like others have said, but’s nearly impossibly to learn without going to the pool frequently over a long period of time.
The rule of thumb I’ve seen before is
1 or 2 times a week, getting slower
2 or 3 times a week, staying the same
3 or 4 times a week, getting faster, but slowly
5+ times a week, getting faster.
And if you want any of those gains to stick, make sure you’re doing for 4-6 months straight.
What has your training looked like? How many times a week are you going to the pool? What’re you doing when you get there?
Swimming is hard to learn like others have said, but’s nearly impossibly to learn without going to the pool frequently over a long period of time.
The rule of thumb I’ve seen before is
1 or 2 times a week, getting slower
2 or 3 times a week, staying the same
3 or 4 times a week, getting faster, but slowly
5+ times a week, getting faster.
And if you want any of those gains to stick, make sure you’re doing for 4-6 months straight.
Well then it’s all for nothing, because I can’t go to the pool 5+ times a week when I live 45 mins away.
What has your training looked like? How many times a week are you going to the pool? What’re you doing when you get there?
Swimming is hard to learn like others have said, but’s nearly impossibly to learn without going to the pool frequently over a long period of time.
The rule of thumb I’ve seen before is
1 or 2 times a week, getting slower
2 or 3 times a week, staying the same
3 or 4 times a week, getting faster, but slowly
5+ times a week, getting faster.
And if you want any of those gains to stick, make sure you’re doing for 4-6 months straight.
Well then it’s all for nothing, because I can’t go to the pool 5+ times a week when I live 45 mins away.
i think mgreer’s rule works for those who’ve already achieved a high level of fitness and technical competence. 3x per week would make you, specifically, a much faster swimmer if you did the right stuff when you were in the water those 3 days.
Well don’t take that as a certainty. Depends on your level to start with. I started swimming 5-6 years ago I think, usually swims once or twice a week and have been improving steadily over the years. There have of course been times where I have plateaued but after a while it gets better again. Started at 2:15 /100 and now I’m at around 1:30/100.
I have a small pool in my apartment building and a tether. But swimming on the tether is so unstable I worry it will do my technique more harm than good.
What has your training looked like? How many times a week are you going to the pool? What’re you doing when you get there?
Swimming is hard to learn like others have said, but’s nearly impossibly to learn without going to the pool frequently over a long period of time.
The rule of thumb I’ve seen before is
1 or 2 times a week, getting slower
2 or 3 times a week, staying the same
3 or 4 times a week, getting faster, but slowly
5+ times a week, getting faster.
And if you want any of those gains to stick, make sure you’re doing for 4-6 months straight.
Well then it’s all for nothing, because I can’t go to the pool 5+ times a week when I live 45 mins away.
Unfortunately I agree with this. Before any athlete says they are not getting faster I would require them to be swimming 3x a week for 3k minimum each time for say 3-6 months. Plus a video analysis (which you have completed, that’s great). The bottom line in endurance training is you need to put in consistent hours of work, every week. There are no shortcuts. If you still see no improvement then look into the details.
That’s a good point on experience. I’m still not sure if the OP is a 2:30/100 swimmer or a 1:30/100 swimmer. If a 2:30/100 swimmer, there is for sure a lot of low-hanging fruit that can be knocked out in 2-3 sessions a week. If he’s a 1:30/100 swimmer and wants to get better, he needs to be ready for a lot of driving to the pool.
You do not hear to much about this - but I like to do a 500yd pull with drag (basically wearing a regular swimsuit over my jammers, or try googling swimming drag suit) this adds resistance, while slowing me down enough so that I can think about my technique, after this I will do a regular 500yd pull without it. I will also do 500yd pull with fist gloves (I love training with these, and will often warm up with them with a 500yd pull especially at the beginning of the season), and then afterwards do another 500yd pull without them.
That’s a good point on experience. I’m still not sure if the OP is a 2:30/100 swimmer or a 1:30/100 swimmer. If a 2:30/100 swimmer, there is for sure a lot of low-hanging fruit that can be knocked out in 2-3 sessions a week. If he’s a 1:30/100 swimmer and wants to get better, he needs to be ready for a lot of driving to the pool.
2:30
That’s why I’m so frustrated. Making changes at that pace should make some difference! But nope!
My first “swim” in decades was in Dec. 2019 - 3:20/100m and I couldn’t go very long.
I swam 2x, and every now and again 3x, since, focusing almost totally on technique and generally 2 to 2.5km per swim. My first tri (70.3) in Nov 2020 I swam 1:45/100m, wetsuit legal. In Sept 2021 I swam 1:15, wetsuit and current at Augusta. I’m 62 years old. In both I was in the top 30% of all participants in the swim.
IMH and novice O, if you are not wanting to be front of the pack, you can improve greatly with 2x a week. As I previously said, I used the Effortless Swimming YT channel and spent a lot of time doing 100m to 200m intervals with the pull buoy, focusing on the catch/pull and breath timing. If you get the timing and catch/pull in relatively good shape, I think you’ll see reasonable results. 4x, 5x and more isn’t in my schedule.
I don’t expect to improve my overall position swimming 2x a week, but I’m satisfied with where I am. I have a lot more work to do in the cycle and run.