Swimming full 1500m straight in training - good or bad?
Richard S
Posts: 4
in General Chat
I have just started training for the London Tri and are relatively useless at swimming. I generally detest swimming but as it is currently all I can do I through injury I am loving it! whats more I have judt started swimming the full 1500m and am getting allot out of just swimming it faster to try and beat my PB. I have heard allot of very complicated training regimes for swimming but what really if any is wrong with just bashing out the full distance as fast as you can? Boredom over time maybe but is not beating your PB motivation enough?! It is for me ! - for the moment at least!
Your predictions would also be very much appreciated on what you think my final time for the swim will be in August 07 (given that I will be training) - swum 1500m 3 times in my life so far - current PB last night of 47 minutes....
Your predictions would also be very much appreciated on what you think my final time for the swim will be in August 07 (given that I will be training) - swum 1500m 3 times in my life so far - current PB last night of 47 minutes....
0
Comments
I think you will get stuck in a rut if you keep just plodding the lanes. If you trawl the net you can find plenty of sets/drills to make it more interesting.Good luck and think about technique.
100,200,300,400,300,200,100m Then you are swimming distance but breaking it up you can also go that bit faster doing sets like this as well. Rest for 1 minute between sets.
Last year I managed to throw an extra 500 and 400m in there to make 100 lengths (25m pool) for a 2.5k total.
When it came to London I had my best swim time at 31 minutes dispite my timing chip coming off my ankle and someone on the boat trying to put it back on for me just as they started the countdown form 5. I had to pick my way through the backmarkers as well.
At this time of year I would use it to learn about pacing. Work out you current 100m time from your PB and hold even splits. Just learning to swim it more efficiently should lead to big improvements. Also at this time of year you don't neccessarily want to be breaking your PB or even hitting it week in week out could be tough so maybe go off 100m +2/3 secs.
Variety is very important not only mentally but physically. Doing the same session every week can get a bit soul destroying especially when your times start to plateau. This is why you need to vary your sets. The set recommended by Rew is a good example. Another one would be 20*100 trying to hold you 100m split for 1500m as your coming in time and going off +10/15 secs. This way you build the added endurance necessary to go faster and by breaking it up it gives you more time to concentrate on technique.
As the season draws closer then I would shift the focus more to time trials, both 1500m and shorter distances.
Tom
I started tri just over a year ago and at the beginning i couldn't swim more than 2 lengths without the need for a rest! As my breathing and fitness got better i gradually increased the distance over a period of about 6 months and was than able to swim 1500m with stopping in a time of about 40mins.
After repeating this session after session i realised i wasn't getting any quicker, after a little advice i enrolled on swimming technique course which was run by the head coach of my tri club.This helped massively and i can now swim 1500m in under 30mins with 27mins being my PB.
I now swim 3 per week:-
Session 1. Drills and technique
Session 2. Intervals/ speed work
Session 3. Endurance
these session rarely last any more than 45 mins.
I strongly advise getting some coaching if at all possible rather than beasting yourself and seeing little improvement thus losing motivation.
Hope this helps
Lee