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Swim Training
gaterz1981
Posts: 233
in General Chat
I can run (to a fashion) and i can cycle. But its the swim! I can do one about 50 metres front crawl and then i'm spent. Yet i see people in the lanes churning up and down non stop???
Can anyone advise me on something to improve my swim?? i need to aim for 200m in six minutes as thats what i put on the entry form.
Can anyone advise me on something to improve my swim?? i need to aim for 200m in six minutes as thats what i put on the entry form.
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I did some ono on one coaching three years ago, which really helped me on the way. I just went to the pool, talked to a guy who was giving swimming lessons to a group andjust asked him if he wanted to help me. He gave me 3 private lessons, one a month, so he could check progress and/or flaws. This was a really cheap way of improvement for me.
Hope this may help you out a bit.
I'd have to say that the big difference between your apparent fitness and your ability to swim only 50m means that you are probably making some really big (and easily fixed) mistakes in your stroke.
For what it's worth, the list of common mistakes made by beginners includes:
1) Head too high: Often caused by breathing to the front rather than the side. In basic terms imagine a line extending from your spine out of the top of your head. Rotate around this line to breathe, turning your head slightly.
2) Legs too low: Often caused by 'pedalling' instead of kicking. Flexing your knees too much causes your legs to sink, your shoulders come up and it is 'all ahead stop' from then on. You can work out if this is your problem by getting a pull-bouy (big bit of foam) and gripping it between your thighs: if you find it much eaier to swim then you have probably been letting your legs sink too much.
3) Overkicking: Kicking adds about 10% of your speed, but doing it wrong will use up half of your oxygen as you mobilise some of the biggest muscles in your body - bum and thighs - and also slow you down. It is usually best to kick just enough to get your legs out level behind you and no more. Save the big kick for another lesson.
4) Under-reaching: your hand moving through the water is what pulls you along. The longer your sroke the more productive it is. Stretch for the end of the pool and make your power stroke last all the way down your body until about your mid-thigh. This also encourages rotation of the shoulders.
5) Splashing like a fool! Don't whack your outstretched arm into the water ahead of you - your arm should 'spear' the water 20-40cm in front of your head then drive forwards towards the end of the pool in a smooth glide. THEN you start pulling the water. To help this, make sure your ELBOW is the highest point of your arm, not your hand. Try to think of dragging your fingertips in the water as your arm moves through the air.
Summary: legs up, head down, think about staying level, stretch for the end of the pool and use a small kick.
Hopefully just doing this will improve things for you, even if it feels funny at first. Like I said, if you are struggling to do 50m, just ONE of these improvements could make a massive difference in my humble (and utterly unqualified) experience.
The lessons were great, focusing mainly on technique but also bringing in speed work etc as we developed. They also made you go to the pool on a regular basis which is something you easily talk yourself out of if you have no routine and you don't enjoy it.
In the end my mate did his first competative 1500m open water in about 34Mins.
Richard
I used this afternoon to swim for hour then run 2 miles to my sisters where my bike was waiting for my 7 mile ride home. Busy eating now.
Remember: consistency is one of the most important things.
I think my main problem is my head is to high in the water and breathing is erratic. Any tips would be great. Is it wise to get some one on one tuition or will a group session do? Last question, do you think a 750M swim triathlon is a bit ambitious for the summer.
You can always use breastsroke for the odd few meters if your not quite ready!
At first i could swim fast but over very short distance but after coaching with my breathing and over the last few weeks of regular practice its started to get a whole lot better. Even swam my first non stop mile in 32 min last week so something must be working.
Good luck with it .[:D]
dont worry; 750 metres will be easy once you get the technique sorted out. 2 or three private sessions, with a little time between them so you can work on it, will do wonders for ya.
Actually, its public secret that swimming speed comes from good technique primary. Swimming fitness is a factor, but not the main one. By the way, working on technique is also improving swim fitness, so its a double win[8D][8D]
My girlfriend is a keen swimmer and has given me pointers to help me start front crawl. At first the 33m length was a challenge. Now, 6wks on I can do 1000m with 10-15s break between each length.
Just keep at it is my advice. I found that swim fitness is almost seperate from one's normal running/riding fitness. I was a little worried at first cause I'm entering a Sprint Tri in June and 400m was almost an impossible task. All of a sudden it doesn't seem so dawnting!
Im in the pool again tomorrow morning. Good luck with the training!
Gareth
I do a fair bit with a pull bouy to help me concentrate on my arms without worrying about sinking- but don't get too reliant on one - and I use some drills to improve my technique - catch up with a baton is good to lengthen your stroke.
just keep at it cos the that feeling I mentioned earlier is just so worth it![8D]
Do you know of any good training plans?
Try this one - it's a 750m session in total
50m, 75m, 100m, 150m, 150m, 100m, 75m, 50m take 10 -15 secs rest between each set.
As you get stronger, try and go faster on the second half.
Another one I use is
10 x 10 lengths - alternate sets with a pull bouy and 10 -15 secs rest between sets - try and keep every set the same pace, with the pull bouy sets being faster than the straight sets. If 10 x 10 is too long, you can just shorten the number of sets.
Hope they help!
ooh all this swim talk makes me want to get to the pool not sit here working!
Glad to hear that the swimming is going well! I try and do different sessions each time I go, some based on drills, others lengths to keep my stamina up.
This is a typical week for me - hope it gives you an idea
Sunday 80 lengths as 4 sets of 20 concentrating on drills, and strength (ie paddles, pull bouy and kick board)
Tuesday 100 lengths - straight swim, aiming not to stop - this depends on how knackered I am and how many recreational swimmers are doing widths in our tiny 20m pool!
Thursday - coached swim session - we are doing a lot of pace work at the moment - which makes me think there's a time trial looming! It will be about 80 - 100 lengths broken down into sets of anywhere from 2 to 10 lengths