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  • good stuff man. the tangible progress is another great thing about swimming. where do you swim?

    I go to Ironmonger Row baths just behind the Church on Old Street.

    counting is deadly.
    *learning to let my breathing dictate the pace rather than the other way round. *

    *that was the key. *totally changed the way i thought about swimming and suddenly instead of doing 20 or 30 laps i was doing 100 or 150.

    only then was i really able to start concentrating on efficiency and technique in a way that i couldn't when i was purple-faced thrashing and struggling for air.

    This is very useful information. I have based my level of improvement on counting. I know I am improving if I can swim 2 more lengths tomorrow than today. However, this has got me into a mind set where I am thinking right, only 6 to go, for example, and yes this does seem to have a negative effect as my concentration then wavers.

    How can I tell if I am improving if I do not count laps then?

    Also, the bit about breathing, what do you mean by that? When I get tired I slow down and slow my breathing down. When I have recovered I speed up and my breathing speeds up. Have I got the wrong idea?

    Stick with it and your running fitness will build from there. If you start getting into it get proper trainers - to support your gait - and read around a bit more about training plans for building distances effectively etc.

    Running is higher impact than swim or bike - except crashes! - so be more wary of niggles and the like.

    Good luck if you decide to go for it, sorry to have taken this so far from the swimming topic. Maybe a running thread is needed too!

    A.

    I intend to start running in the new year as its my intention to start doing triathlons once I have a geared bike sorted. But not having run for around 8 years. I am a bit daunted by the task, as I remember how much I used to hate it ( so boring )

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