Swimming for fitness (part 3). Dive in!

Had a lovely 2km swim last night. Have actually started proper training workouts rather than just continuous X by 400m blocks of freestyle. Here's my workout:

200m swim warm up
4 x { 50m kick, 50m pull }
3 x { 200m swim on 4:15, 100m swim on 2:15, 50m swim on 1:15 } increasing pace
3 x { 50m back kick/glide, 50m pull }
50m swim cool down

I did the descending main set with 100m paces of 1:52, 1:44, 1:38.

Arsenic I started with videos on Youtube, then found a local session, very lucky to have one at a reasonable distance. Very similar would be Alexander Technique swimming coach, or SwimSmooth coach, I think -

Yes that purple in the face, nigh unto death, feeling is horrible. It's great that you're making progress... just keep going. What was a revelation to me is that leg kicks don't actually propel you, so don't go hard on the kicking, which saves a huge amount of energy. I do a two-kick now and this I think has made the most difference to my ability to get to the end of the pool. That and having a better idea about breathing!

Bucking I’ve just started 1:1 lessons but there’s no TI coaches or sessions local to me. I bought the book a while back but it flummoxed me My swim teacher has showed me how to be long in the water at tonight’s lesson and to breathe out! All so obvious but I never do it. Was still quite tired but slowed everything right down and I wasn’t purple in the face gasping for breath like usual. The TI style is something I absolutely aspire to though!

Total Immersion is very similar to Swim Smooth I think.

Not rushing, being streamlined in the water, using your whole body for propulsion, sort of 'mindful' swimming as it were.

All I know is, after a couple of 'traditional' front crawl lessons, I was still feeling sick after a length, and just hating every moment of it; after one TI lesson I felt marvellous, excited, bouyant, and amazed at myself!

First swim after a cold I did 800m and DD did 400m. I think we are on track for 3 of us doing 5k swimathon. Would have continued but the pool was cold and one lady kept swimming at me so as to cause head on collision. Mind you I had to apologise about DD a couple of times as her backstroke tends to the diagonal!

Ah ha! Then we are kindred spirits. Gosh, my first swim race - loved it! I did it with a friend who does triathlons and she was really nervous, just like I am before running races. I loved not having those nerves and being able to support my friend as I knew how she was feeling.

I think there's space for both in my life.

Orig - Congrats - that sounds like a win all round.

Honestly though, I couldn't care about coming last. Running has always been my "thing" and I always wanted to come in the first half of the field for any races, which I always achieved. However, I couldn't give a flying fart if I'm last for swimming - I just don't want to die! It's quite refreshing really, not having a "time" to aim for, just to finish. I haven't ever had that apart from my first half marathon 15 years ago....

Orig - Congrats - that sounds like a win all round.

Honestly though, I couldn't care about coming last. Running has always been my "thing" and I always wanted to come in the first half of the field for any races, which I always achieved. However, I couldn't give a flying fart if I'm last for swimming - I just don't want to die! It's quite refreshing really, not having a "time" to aim for, just to finish. I haven't ever had that apart from my first half marathon 15 years ago....

Flippety I also had the goal of not dying. I also added 'not coming last'.
Happy to say I achieved both!

I've just entered the 5km swimathon for April. That should give me an idea of whether I can make it or not. Now I'm panicking that 3 months is not long enough to get up to 5km, but I'm sure it will be!!

Corrigans I suppose the worst that could happen is I drown.....

It’s definitely worth a crack! What’s the worst that could happen? You might miss the cut offs and have to withdraw. The current may make a massive difference. Training time is never wasted time if you enjoy it either. And training for the next race will be easier after that too.

Thanks Corrigans - that's all great advice. I'm currently having a lesson a week for technique which I'm really enjoy (with a few other people and am finding it fun swimming with people).

I'm not one for entering things and not doing them but am seriously questioning the wisdom of this now but I will keep on keeping on!

Flippetydip - my top tip for swimming 10k is to get your technique right. In order to be able to swim that distance you will need to swim about 15k a week in training, and that’s a lot of k’s with a bad technique. You risk shoulder injury. I did a 20k open water swim (as a relay) with one other person last year and it took a lot of training.

Can you find a club to swim with? Training with a squad would make it more enjoyable. If you’re doing it alone I can’t recommend Swim Smooth highly enough. If you join the guru as a pro subscription (approx 10GBP per month) you have access to all the stroke correction/fault fixers and training plans. There are videos and tutorials too.

www.swimsmooth.guru

I’ve been following the training plans since Dec in prep for a 3.6k open water swim and i’ve made massive improvements.

I’d advise working on speed. Even if you want to take it cruisey, you’ll get cold, even in a wetsuit. I always get really cold hands in the open water and that can get painful after 3+ hours.

I’d also advise working on your kick. It won’t add much propulsion or speed, but it’s needed for stabilisation. When I did a 5k OW Swim my hip flexors got really fatigued and tight/painful and I kept having to stop towards the end to stop them cramping.

Then you are, certainly relative to me, an undisputed expert orig!

What is the best wetsuit for swimming in? I've never had one - only a shorty surfing one for the beach, which is not at all the same thing! I'm not even sure what I'm looking for!

I'm beginning to regret entering this but I feel I need to do all the training and preparation! I will try and do this 5km swimathon in April and if I don't feel confident to do the 10km river swim in September, which may well be the case, I'm just going to pay the £200 charity donation and not beat myself up.

I started open water swimming last year so now regard myself as an expert !

Loved it. My first wetsuit swim was in an outdoor pool, second was a coached lake session, 3rd was a lake race and 4th a splash and dash race (swim and then run).

Happy to answer questions.

Can someone talk to me about open water swimming and wetsuits please? I'm supposed to be doing this 10k river swim in September - again downstream so am hoping it's not as hideously arduous as it sounds.

bucking can you explain the basics of total immersion? I'm assuming you have you whole body submerged but I don't understand why it's so different. Am I being dim?

You all seem so blasé about swimming 1k and more! I'm in awe of all you super duper swimmers!!! Hoping to go again tonight.

singing swimming in a wetsuit (a swimming one rather than a surfing one) is alright, your legs float so front crawl is easier I think. Breaststroke is definitely harder because there's less flexibility in the legs and they just want to float! The hardest thing about open water swimming (once you've got over the temp and being in with pond weed!) is sighting. No lovely line along the bottom to follow.

Orig not really a work out, but of course you can make it more so, if you go faster! I do breaststroke too, and backstroke, as the workout elements, but I'm working on distance atm, as my dream (and it's a way off!) is to feel confident about going on this trip: (the Kas trip -
see the video!) www.swimsolutions.co.uk/open-water-swim-camps/

Singing I have swum in a wetsuit but it's not my favourite! The Sussex swim is down river, so you have the river itself sweeping you along ,so nowhere near as 'far' as it sounds. So you could float on your back and still move along...

P.S. I forgot to say that when I went swimming on Tuesday I was determined to make up for swimming two lengths too few on Monday (60 instead of 62) so thought I'd do 64. I miscounted ˆagainˆ and ended up doing 66 lengths!

Yes, Hissy is very keen on TI. She seems to have fallen off the thread though … Get well soon Bucking. Thanks for the link. I'm in West Sussex but I've always been a bit frightened of open water swimming so not sure I'll be joining you! 6.5km sounds far when I usually do 2km. Have you swum in a wetsuit before?

Frolicks Is TI a really good work out? It sounds like if you do it well it's not using that much energy.

Not Hissy in disguise! Does she recommend TI too?!

I have a major sore throat and headache and am staying out of the water for a few days, feeling envious of you all clocking up kilometers of lovely swimming.

Any one fancy joining me for this swim?
swimquest.uk.com/river-arun-west-sussex/

5.30am Corrigans? Our pool opens at 6.15am and that is only on three mornings a week. Welcome DrWhy. No snow / ice for us at all MShip but I couldn't go swimming this morning as my husband is away. Well done Coffee. BuckingFrolicks are you Hissy in disguise?

1km breaststroke done this morning, in just over 26 minutes. I was really concentrating on my technique and knocked about 30 seconds off my last 1km, even though I wasn't aiming for speed! It felt great as well, such an enjoyable swim today

Happy swimming everyone!

Didn't go last night, the roads were like a skating rink, wouldn't have been safe. It's better today, everything's been gritted now, so I'll try tonight. Frustrating!