Swimming

I've entered the Great North Swim 2 mile distance. My only swimming achievement to date is 750m open water in a wetsuit as part of a sprint tri. I built up to the distance in a 30m pool, so i could do 750m FC, but pushed off either end making it somewhat easier. In the actual event, i panicked, and ended up doing more than half BS.

I go swimming about once a week (will increase this) with my pool regime being something along the lines of one length BS, one FC, then after 5 mins, switch to one BS, two FC, building up to about 5 mins crawl to finish off with. Whole thing lasts 30 mins max before i'm pooped.

I'd like to bring a bit more structure to this / have a program to follow to achieve the 2 mile distance. Any tips / websites you can point me in the direction of that have training plans?

A lot of good tips in the previous pages, a crucial one seeming to be slow down! Let breathing dictate pace.

Will be spending the train ride up to Newcastle perusing the rest of these pages and looking at swimsmooth (although i couldn't find the training plan below listed on there).

Cheers!

I would avoid just ploughing up and down.

Swimsmooth.com has a load of set you could try.

An easy set to follow would be

4 x 100 warm up (4th length anything but fc)
4 x 100 drill sets of choice - catch one day, roll the next, recovery etc...
8 - 12 x 100 or 4 - 6 x 200 off whatever your threshold pace is - I'll do 100 off 2 minutes, my threshold pace being 1:25
2 x 100 warm down

So having read this thread, and feeling enthusiastic, I pootled along to the peckham pulse last night. Sufficient to say, the first two lenghts happened at the speed of light, and the rest..... didn't. It were embarissing. More work needed.

Ironmonger row - what a great pool! Only been to Putney, Golden Lane and Hampton, but that was a great swim this morning. Having looked through these posts, also slowed it down and let breathing dictate pace to the point that when i thought i should take a breather and do breaststroke, it felt better to quickly go back to front crawl. Also used the legs a lot less, and tried to do longer glides. Early days, but actually thinking about what i'm doing seems like it might pay off.

Ok, Am facing the Swimathon head on.

Thurs morning swim - 3.2k
Sat morning swim - 3.2k
Sun evening swim - 4.2k

Last night's session; (face the non-stopping side of the swimathon!)

1500 - free
1000 - free/pull
500 - free
500 - back
250 - free
250 - one arm drills/swimdown (collapse)

Then proceed to eat everything in the house, washed down with a beer.

Irritated sinuses then.

I was entirely new to swimming as of January this year. I currently swim four days a week, on consecutive days, for only forty five minutes at a time (including a good few pauses for thought), and until very recently it was all front crawl.

I've mostly been swimming in a Poolsan pool; though my lessons (currently one a week) are in a chlorinated pool, and this doesn't make for the clearest memories. The temperature of each? I don't know, unfortunately; though the Poolsan pool is noticeably cooler than the chlorinated pool.

Keeping water from nose is always a consideration. I'm sure this will improve alongside swimming overall; though I've a hunch that my sinuses might also be on the sensitive side. The general consensus is that the significance of my symptoms is slightly surprising, given that all I'm doing is swimming.

On the whole? I need to be more organised in my exploration of the symptoms that I'm currently experiencing. I've memories of symptoms from the past few months, but I can't always remember which pool I was in at the time, and everything tends to run together into a big memory soup.

That said, I'm pretty confident that improving the separation of nose and water will help no end, it's just a case of keeping track of each swim, any symptoms that result, and anything I try in order to limit water ingress. Again, noseclips. I've already had a lesson whilst plugged, and I'm going to stick with them for now.

It's dented my mojo, is what it's done. I started swimming for a bit of straightforward fun, but it's very quickly developed into a confusing preoccupation.

Anyway, fingers crossed, nostrils closed, and cheers for the input.

Yep, try the nose clips, and stick with if you can.

I always give up on them, as I mostly exhale through my nose.
I suffer from cold symptoms from the pool, and have down for years, I just put up with it.

Basically putting bleach up ones nose, may cause certain symptoms.

The longer and more often i swim, the worse it gets, like today. I am sniffing away, much to my colleagues annoyance, meh.

also offered my pull buoy to a chap on saturday who had really bad body position; in a polite way, but you could tell he basically wanted to tell me to pee off.

Must remember to not offer tips anymore.

It's just the triathletes that don't need any help! ;-)

Before Christmas I did some arms-only drills with a float held (oh so glamourously between my legs), and found that I didn't run out of breath then.

This led me to the possibly false conclusion that it is powering my legs that is costing me more oxygen than I have on board- therefore I need to simply swim more and become more efficient.

Also, all my other training (well, running and cycling) does not involve holding my breath, so my body simply isn't used to having to deal with things as-is for three strokes.

I have this exact problem - just wondered if you'd got anywhere with it, Dammit, or if anyone else had any advice? Essentially, can swim crawl relatively ok with a float between my legs, but when I have to kick I get out of breath and panicky within a length, pretty much. Am a capable swimming generally and can happily swim 2k of reasonably bs, but something is going badly with the crawl...

Legs add a maximum of 8% of the overall forward propulsion.

Swimming is everything you do all put together. But it starts from the core.
Power comes from the core, hip rotation. piercing the water and causing the least amount if drag.

The leg kick is more of a flutter with floppy ankles. The kick starts from the hip Flexors. Again an awesome core stabilty aid.

Try swimming fc with no legs. But try and keep the hips high.
Practise floating front and back working on keeping your entire body long and as close to the surface as possible.
Body position is key.

Legs are mainly for balance, your keel if you like. :)

Hola all! Just spotted this thread randomly and thought I'd pop in to say hello. I'm hoping to make a return to tri this Autumn and so tomorrow will be my first swim session. I used to consider myself to be adequately competent but after a couple of years of excessive running I've trained any strength I had out of my shoulders. It's going to be tough getting it back.

Legs add a maximum of 8% of the overall forward propulsion.

Swimming is everything you do all put together. But it starts from the core.
Power comes from the core, hip rotation. piercing the water and causing the least amount if drag.

I tried one of those leg floats at my swim this morning, what a difference. Only yesterday i was trying to kick less, which made a big difference, today i tried not kicking at all. A huge difference! Felt like i could really push my way though the water focusing on moving forwards rather than not sinking. Also helped with getting used to breathing on my left with proper rotation. Not sure how much i should be doing with the float as it actually felt a fair bit easier than without.

Thanks, that's really helpful - I'm going to buy a pull buoy and try exclusively with that to get swimming fitness/technique better (I'm starting from a pretty low base here!) and then try to work out how to swim without it!

Legs add a maximum of 8% of the overall forward propulsion.

Swimming is everything you do all put together. But it starts from the core.
Power comes from the core, hip rotation. piercing the water and causing the least amount if drag.

The leg kick is more of a flutter with floppy ankles. The kick starts from the hip Flexors. Again an awesome core stabilty aid.

Try swimming fc with no legs. But try and keep the hips high.
Practise floating front and back working on keeping your entire body long and as close to the surface as possible.
Body position is key.

Legs are mainly for balance, your keel if you like. :)

I tried one of those leg floats at my swim this morning, what a difference. Only yesterday i was trying to kick less, which made a big difference, today i tried not kicking at all. A huge difference! Felt like i could really push my way though the water focusing on moving forwards rather than not sinking. Also helped with getting used to breathing on my left with proper rotation. Not sure how much i should be doing with the float as it actually felt a fair bit easier than without.

Great !

As a rule of thumb (whatever that means) swimming aids should not be used more than 25% of the overall session.

I would start with full fc, then go onto pull, then back to fc.
The pull is my main swimming kit recommendation.
Pull is great when you start to get tired and technique starts to lack.
and yes it is easier, because it is lifting you hips.
The higher in the water the less drag you are causing. :)

When using it, concentrate on the roll of the hips, and the technique of the arms, body postion and breathing.

Enjoy !

Thanks, that's really helpful - I'm going to buy a pull buoy and try exclusively with that to get swimming fitness/technique better (I'm starting from a pretty low base here!) and then try to work out how to swim without it!

The pull has one side bigger than the other, so basically the bigger side down in the water will be more floaty, the smaller side less floaty.

I use the less, because im a girl and I have a more floaty hip area anyway.
Try both sides and see which you prefer.
It goes in between your thighs, right at the top/crotch. Lower and it can cause back pain.

Have a go. It is weird to start with but just focus on the roll of the hips.

:)

I need to get back into swimming. I haven't been for ages but when I went regularly I absolutely loved it. Would anyone have recommendations for a couple of sets to try to build by shoulder strength back up? Also, any recommendations for pools in/aound NW?

Another 4k done last night. Felt much stronger, despite not being able to tumble because I have done something to my sacroiliac joint. Hoping it recovers soon.
I dont think cycling is helping it though.

@Tenners; What was your old session like ? Just start at 25% of it and work up.
Stretch deltoids and triceps regularly.

Old session was generally back and breast for a bit to warm up and then do 1500m or so FC, then 500 back, 500 breast and then warm down with a few slow lengths of FC.
I didn't really have muh structure, but I just loved being in the water. Never had any issues with sinuses etc etc upthread though.

When using it, concentrate on the roll of the hips, and the technique of the arms, body postion and breathing.

Enjoy !

And timing your stroke with your breath! When you really nail that you glide through the water like a knife through butter (hard to maintain for ages though)

Can anyone suggest a better wetsuit than the Orca TRN on Wiggle for £99? It's for my girlfriend if that makes any difference. The men's ones get pretty solid reviews.

Thanks

No experience of that one but a good brand in general.

Time to return to swim. Just been nowhere near a good pool for ages. Need to get back into it for summer tri and open water swims...
Will be painful, probably.

Yay! welcome back swimming buddy! Bout time! :)

4.5k done.
Pasta and rose recovery....
Still cant maintain the tumbles. Sacroiliac starts screaming at me.

Can anyone suggest a better wetsuit than the Orca TRN on Wiggle for £99? It's for my girlfriend if that makes any difference. The men's ones get pretty solid reviews.

Thanks

Your girlfriend needs to find the right fit.
For me orca is the one.
Each make has its own fit. Orca is suitable for broad shoulders and curves.
Blueseventy is for tall or straight builds.
The more you spend the more flexible it will be.
Also the buoyancy is generally higher on the lower body for the cheaper range.
Send back any that dont feel right. Dont feel bad.
Goodluck.

Cool, cheers Nick-Nack, will pass that on.

Off to test a new pool after work today, either Marshall St or the Porchester Centre - both look pretty snazzy. Right knee killing me from cycling though, hmmm.

Knee should be alright in water....