Personally, I have a better feel for the water if I swim 4 days per week at 3k per rather than 3 days per week at 5k. Or any variation of more short days over fewer long ones.
I know I should do more long days but time is what it is.
Personally, I have a better feel for the water if I swim 4 days per week at 3k per rather than 3 days per week at 5k. Or any variation of more short days over fewer long ones.
I know I should do more long days but time is what it is.
not disagreeing as such, but i wonder if Frequency > Volume is actually as true as that.
i suspect it is at least partially that volume of quality swimming is the key driver of improvement. when you do a long swim the last say third is typically poor quality, especially with regard to technique so the 4x3k might be 12k of quality whereas the 3x5k might be only 10k of quality
Hopefully, the thread will live up to the title…
What’s ONE thing that’s made the biggest difference in helping you improve your swimming, that you would recommend someone else try? What improved?
It can be a solution to a specific problem (I was struggling with X, I did Y, and X got much better).
Or it can be something broader (I got faster when I started doing X or when I stopped doing Y).
It’d be great to consolidate everyone’s experiences in one place.
My guess is that everything that’s shared will help someone else.
Feel free share more than one but keep them in separate responses for clarity.
Swimming on the rivet is the best thing to accelerate your swim, swimming with people who are better than you helps you do this with less mental taxation. It isn’t without risk though, the main risk being injury risk. Probably best to do in isolated swim block as well. Too many athletes suffer from their inability to give up the bike/run to truly work on the swim.
Hopefully, the thread will live up to the title…
What’s ONE thing that’s made the biggest difference in helping you improve your swimming, that you would recommend someone else try? What improved?
It can be a solution to a specific problem (I was struggling with X, I did Y, and X got much better).
Or it can be something broader (I got faster when I started doing X or when I stopped doing Y).
It’d be great to consolidate everyone’s experiences in one place.
My guess is that everything that’s shared will help someone else.
Feel free share more than one but keep them in separate responses for clarity.
enjoy swimming
you can not always focus in improve your fitness, your critical speed, your form… you need to swim more volumen, more frequency… but at the end… you shall enjoy swimming.
you are doing it as a hobby, and even more is swim is you weakness, you shall enjoy it.
Because technique is so important in swimming— and because it is so hard to know what you’re doing wrong— you need to seek out assistance. Ideally that would be an experienced coach in a Masters program, but that is not feasible for a lot of us. The next best option to get eyes on your stroke is periodic filming combined with some form of outside assistance (e.g., remote coaching, online instruction).
For me the biggest advantage was moving from swimming 3 to 4 times a week
Secondly having a solid schedule with what I had to do - Not just on training day but also on the months ahead - measuring my improvement or noticing if there was no change at all.
I had spent time watching other people swimming and I have asked to film me while I was swimming - Most of the time what we feel is not exactly what we do so it helps a lot to see ourself swimming.
Understanding the volume that have to be done.
Few private lesson to get an understanding of our problems.
It was that simple for me. I was making steady but slow progress, then I started swimming more frequently, with longer main sets, and more total volume. The results came quick.
ETA: nice post Rideon77 didn’t see your reply yet when typed the exact same thing
(Reflecting how many triathletes would prefer to not have to get in the water. Especially wet water. And trebly ao if its wet water that is below 29 degrees C.).
didn’t see your reply yet when typed the exact same thing