Swimming

My shoulder has been fucked for quite some time (since Christmas last year when I thought I could start training for an IM- though in reality it has been bad since I undid the surgery I had in 2003 in 2007). Been going to physio and gym sessions to try and stop it randomly freezing and locking, and trying to build it up a little bit
Today I went for my first swim in 14 months. It was 30 minutes, in the Kings Cross Pond.
I really miss swimming, but I was so weak it made me cry a little inside.
Still- a beginning is a beginning.
Swimathon 2016 looks like it will be the next goal. Hopefully will match the one I did 3 years ago.... but would like 75 minutes.

I keep managing to swim further, and at better pace. Which is the awesome thing about being a beginner.

Did 2525m last night.

So fucking boring though.

Might start using my waterproof headphones. Bet that's unpopular though.

So, I have just started swimming lessons. Only had two so far, but can do half a length front crawl before drowning kicks in already. I feel pretty excited about how well I might be able to swim next summer!
And no, it's not because I want to do triathlons (which all my non-cycling friends who know I cycle keep asking me).

Where/ with whom are the lessons? I am wondering if I'll need them.

Lessons are always a good thing. Technique is of paramout importance in Swimming.
I'll be getting some in due course.

how does a swim session equal 2525m did you get out at the opposite end to the one you got in or did your watch mess up ;)

how does a swim session equal 2525m did you get out at the opposite end to the one you got in or did your watch mess up ;)

It's all about the suffering in Norway; That's just one length of the pool!

...up a 10% incline too.

I swear if they could do that They would.

All the tris I'm entering next year have the same pattern.

Swim in fjord. Ride up mountain Road. Continue by foot up mountain trail.

Except one in which the ride goes over a mountain (900m), down the other side, and back over again.

Negates the need for a proper tri bike. Plus going faster uphill is more simplistic than on the flat. More power less pies.

Been sea swimming out September. But even I have to admit it's too cold now. So many jellyfish :(

I think my watch registers each turn. I do a mini turn at the end before getting out. If I don't I lose a lap. If I do i get an extra one. Meh.

Dulwich Leisure Centre. £27 per month. You get half an hour/an hour of lesson time a week, plus access to the pool whenever you like.

Thanks all for your encouragement and advice. I got in the pool earlier this week and it was great; much more fun than I remembered.

Remembered to do something other than bash long distances out in the pool.

A whole bunch of 100m sets at 10s faster than normal pace. Hardly burning up the pool but enough to get the HR up and show that my technique starts to fall apart when I try and push harder. Interesting trying to concentrate on proper stroke at a faster pace.

I did 2.5k on monday. Eventful too.

Got to the pool early from work.
Pretty empty.
Nice lane to myself out of the way.
After 80 or so mind numbingly boring laps. BOSH!
I punch someone square on the top of their head.
He was fecking shifting it, and I thought I was moving at a descent pace.
I figure I've strayed off my lane, and focus on following my lane line.
I also realise I've slowed and push on.
Then BOSH!, I punch the same guy equally hard.
I stop, he stops. He is fecking massive!
Shouts at me in broken English to swim on my side of the line.
I shout that I'm holding my fucking line, without calling him a big hairy cunt. Which was showed control.
Stood there squaring up to a guy twice my weight, twice my height, With my fucking legs strapped together around a pool bouy.

Idiot.

Plus it turns out the pool had filled up, and we were sharing lanes. So he was right, and I'd just punched him twice.

Epic idiot.

I Guess swimming isnt always boring.

Two months with no thread action - does no-one swim over the winter? Anyway, exciting news, I've just found this:

http://www.theswimmer.org/

A half marathon interspersed with 4 outdoor swims. Even better, it's only held over the winter! Surely better than endlessly ploughing up and down the lanes in your heated pools full of kiddie piss...

There are a couple of swim-runs up in Scotland, I think there is one that zigzags across Loch Lomond. They look excellent fun.

But no, I haven't swam since September, indoor or out.

Went swimming with the missus a few days ago. I've never been the strongest swimmer, but used to do 30-40 lengths (25m pool) as a standard work out. Anyways, I've not swum in any capacity for over a year and after 6 lengths I was wrecked. Did about 24-28 lengths in the end, in small bursts, but it was hard work. I am epically out of shape for swimming.

The LL ones look good, but are probably wetsuit. I've just started swimming again for the first time since last winter - the problem isn't the cold (it's still about 7 degrees), it's the utter lack of fitness - entering these events will force things along, hopefully...

Two months with no thread action - does no-one swim over the winter?

Have been ticking along with ~2k swimming most weeks but had no time over the holidays, did sneak in a nice outdoor swim with wife/daughter on 28th December but that was cheating at the heated Hampton outdoor pool.

MiniGB is back to school and so I'll be back for 90 minute sessions on a Friday morning in the local leisure centre.

Will be up for open water swimming at Shepperton Lake this year when it opens (usually May but maybe earlier if the winter remains mild).

Would love to go swimming two or three times a week to recover from my broken hip.

What is a good way to learn front crawl, who has a good plan please?

A swimming instructor.

Ask at your local pool(s) for any that can coach adults, probably 1:1. Infinitely better than trying to do it all from watching videos.

I watch this video before each swimming session in the hope that some of it sinks (NPI) in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3HhNlysFDs

Until Strava have badges for swimming I'm not interested.

Strava's getting better, not sure about measuring swimming in m's though, surely for weekly/monthly and annual targets Kms would be fine...

Swimtag is good if your pool has it. Kept me interested and motivated before I got my 920xt.

Strava doesn't do swimming stuff well. Uploading a swim to Strava I get one hard to read graph of pace and it doesn't interpret rest periods at all so the overall pace is bollocks; made it "Indoor" and the graph disappears but I get correct lap/rest info in a table. Compare that to Garmin Connect:-

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/465613915
GC: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1007469059

(I'd click the GC link rather that the "View Details" bit of the inline widget that the forum tries to be helpful with.)

(Think you need to be logged in to Strava to see the swim info, but the GC link works in private browsing mode.)

One of my old university friends sort of started that, have always wanted to make it but it usually clashes with a desire to ride a bicycle.
Did 1st actual 1.5k swim the other day without stopping. I'm so shit.
But in my defence, my shoulder is actual fucked.

^Well done him, looking forward to it.

Just back from the seaside. Have now swum 4 times this year, which is already above last year's total. A couple of hardcore lake swimmers have joined our group, capable of 1h10 in 5 degrees! I was in a state after half of that - really got to up my freeze game. Gorgeous day for a swim on the beach, didn't remotely feel like January.