Swimming

Yeah Dooks, I'm in... I'm not seeing any benefit from doing my standard 100 laps of a 25m pool and would love to do some club training. I basically need someone to tell me what to do, otherwise like yourself I'm a creature of habit which means a big fat plateau.
So Thus nights, where?

Heyhey! lfgss Cally Master's invasion! Excellent.

It's at Caledonian Rd pool on Caledonian Road. Thursday nights 8-9:30 pm. You're suppose dto join the Anaconda swimming club for £10 a year if you want to become a regular which i'm sure I will do.

Like many of you guys staving off boredom was my main reason for trying this. That and as my daily cycle commute practically vanished last year my regular exercise regime has massivley dwindled and as a result i'm getting thick round the middle again (love beer, love!).

After several years of plodding up and down on my own and occasionally ramping up the training for my annual 5k I didn't feel like i was really pushing myself. It's so hard to stay motivated to beat a time or whatever when you're just dodging splashy nodders in a public session. I usually get bored or frustrated after half an hour and get out so this has been a real eye opener. I'm amazed how much fun i'm having with it. They're a nice bunch too.

Can't make next week but will be back with knobs on the following week.

I finished and regretted it, my fingers went numb, and my shoulder felt like death.
fucking surgery.

Ouch. Take it easy there dude!

managed my abridged set:
400 free warm up
300 pull
200 kick
100 sprint

100 drill- golf- count your strokes and beat it each time
50 backstroke sprint
100 drill- rhythm- 2 pull on one arm, then 2 on other, repeat, trying to keep natural feel
50 free sprint
100 drill- single arm (50L, 50R)
50 breast stroke sprint
100 drill- 'glide'- elongated glide section
50 free sprint
100 drill- Fist
50 Breast sprint
100 drill- Drag fingers- the up the side and high elbows
50 back sprint
100 drill- Open Water Practice- head up 50/ 'blind' 50
50 free sprint

3/4 IM- no fly
100 breast
3/4 IM- no fly.
100 Open Water Practice (as above)

200 free warm down.
Stretch.

Feel fucking fantastic.
Going again tomorrow- I love the solitude that only swimming gives. it's just awesome.

where'd you do all that dude?

I'm terrible in the pool .. can't go for more than 10 minutes without feeling completely exhausted, I just don't have the stamina.

The pool in Swiss cottage is always crowded too, school classes take up half the pool most evenings, which sucks. Think i'll stick to football and cycling for cardio:)

I'm terrible in the pool .. can't go for more than 10 minutes without feeling completely exhausted, I just don't have the stamina.

The pool in Swiss cottage** is always crowded too, school classes take up half the pool most evenings, which sucks. Think i'll stick to football and cycling for cardio:)

go slower. swim at a pace that fits your breathing rather than vice versa. then edge it up. that was my big breakthough when i started actually thinking about swimming a few years back. same with running too come to think of it*, just accepting that you're slow, then gradually, gradually speeding up.

i think a lot of people panic when they get in the pool and think they have to sprint/thrash to stay afloat. once you get comfortable and realise you can cruise/float/glide as slowly as you want then it becomes like any other workout. except it's the only freely available one where you can move in three dimensions. and swim like a fish. and master a whole alien element. and feel totaly free. and move in ways you can't on land and and and... i just really like swimming.

**swiss cottage is hot, dirty and crowded. i dislike it intensely.

*this makes me sound like some sort of fitness guru. i'm not. i'm mostly fat and drunk. i've just been swimming a lot lately and doing the odd run. to stave off the fat.

this club thing has been a roood awakening. i haven't done backstroke or fly in years. this is sick:

YouTube- Michael Phelps - Butterfly 01

i think you're right, i need to try and pace myself better, but even try to, I find it really hard to get enough oxygen in my lungs when i'm doing front crawl. i mean, i want to put some effort into it and get my heart rate up, but I can't help tiring fast, i usually end up doing 2 lengths, then resting for a minute at the shallow end.

the fact that i can't go the distance means it ends up being quite a poor workout, nothing compared to how sweat-drenched I can make myself get if I push myself and really hack it on the bike.

i will try swimming next week, pacing myself and timing myself, see how that runs.

as an aside, if you're ever thinking about killing yourself but lack the courage to go through with it, just read the comments on some footage of an international sports event featuring america on youtube. it'll tip you over the edge. guaranteed.

we're all doomed.

ha, righto.

i think you're right, i need to try and pace myself better, but even try to, I find it really hard to get enough oxygen in my lungs when i'm doing front crawl. i mean, i want to put some effort into it and get my heart rate up, but I can't help tiring fast, i usually end up doing 2 lengths, then resting for a minute at the shallow end.

the fact that i can't go the distance means it ends up being quite a poor workout, nothing compared to how sweat-drenched I can make myself get if I push myself and really hack it on the bike.

i will try swimming next week, pacing myself and timing myself, see how that runs.

waffle waffle waffle. don't drink and post kidz.

that's my advice anyway.

where'd you do all that dude?

the usual place.
it was empty so made it easier to do.

@lpg, on the previous page dooks has posted some excellent technique tips with vids.

On my technique note- i now know I have to work on my lower back alot out of the pool, as i was occasionally getting out of a streamline shape with my legs moving off to one side- esp, when doing the drills.
I also really have to work on using my legs in the warm up and anytime I do a general swim- my normal ratio is very low- one/two kick/ stroke sometimes

Quick Q - how long does it take most to swim 1.5km crawl? I'm doing it in 27 min (25m pool) atm. I know swimming in a pool is WAY easier than open water... do the turns generally add time, or actually provide a rest? What's a decent time for 1.5km open water with wetsuit?

Don't know about times for open water but that's not too shabby at all!

Turns* do speed things up though. They provide rest/recovery time and all that energy off the wall so yep, your open water times are going to be slower than that.

You going to come down to cally masters on thursday? we did a backstroke set last week. I'm still acheing from it now!

*in theory. my flip turns are still woeful.

tough set tonight. well, it was for me and the middle aged ladies in lane 3.

free warm up (20 mins, so probs about 800m)

400m backstroke kick, half length easy, half sprint
400m fly drill (own choice)
8x50m breaststroke sprints with fly kick + fins. 10 second rest between 50s.
10x25m crawl sprints on 60 seconds.

main set: medley
6x200m medley timed (so 50m fly, 50m back, 50m breast, 50m crawl) x 6
plus 50 "easy" between sets.

my fly is coming on slowly. after a few tips from some of the more experienced peeps there i managed to ease off on the brute force, keep more horizontal, head lower etc. my timing and coordination still suck though. don't feel like i'm getting the whole snakey dolphin body thing right yet. by the end I could barely lift my arms out of the water. thought i was going to spew.

fun, in a brutally sadistic sort of way.

heh, i was just purchasing some training fins and came across this:

want!

Where are you swimming now Iron monger is closed. I need to find a place for Autumn when my swimming starts up again

well, there's the rub.

cally road for the master's sessions on thursdays and sundays (can't be getting up for 8 on a saturday). i need something in between coached sessions though. might try lane swimming at london fields lido tonight? shall report back on my findings.

don't mind cally road as it happens. plus i's free with my iz card so that or highbury are the obvious choices. the main problem with cally is rampant bike theft outside. i was advised not to cycle there when i started as a lot of bikes had been nicked during the evening sessions. a fellow swimmer had his wheels nicked last week too. at the moment i'm braving (arf!) it on the girlfriend's beater and using two chunky locks. bit of a pain though really. i'd rather not be worrying about it for the whole time i'm in there. some people even bring wheels into the poolside.

good old london eh?

yeah
I always felt my bike was (relatively) safe outside Ironmonger Row before work. A bit too early for the theiving cunts to be up and about,. I never felt quite as safe leaving it there after work though. I have to cycle there so Cally Road is definitely out.
My friend goes to Gospel Oak but it is cold and you need a wet suit. Unless you like being cold. Which I dont

london fields lido is great man. outdoors, heated, 50m, 6 double width lanes, lockers and cubicles by the pool as well as segregated indoor changing. seems very well run and clean. can't believe i didn't go there earlier really. *facepalm.

i'm sure they have early morning lane swimming. give it ago. they have bike racks within the fence now. not foolproof i grant you but better than most places.

chekkitout

LFL is ace.

Oh yeah I forgot about London Fields. It sounds amazing. Trouble is it is way out of my way and I never go to Hackney, it brings me out in shivers.

Moving offices to Marylebone in the late summer so I reckon I will be going to Parliment Hill lido in the mornings. Not sure how good that will be in the winter though as it is a 60metre unheated pool

anyone else up for some cally masters training tonight? cally pool at 8.

Im off to the Hampstead Lido tonight at about 7ish
60 metre pool. 22degrees at the moment. Nice