Swimming for fitness (part 3). Dive in!

Sorry its DH and DD that are doing it!

Do about 30 lengths breaststroke twice a week. Need to do a bit more maybe! We are entering as family DH is quicker than me . Maybe DH to do 2000m, DS 1000m, me 2000m . I have done Swimathon before but this was when I was a young fit thing.

Frog with your user name I think you're good to go!

Tell us what you all do at the moment and I'm sure we can advise.

You know, I think I might do it too!

DD, DS and I are doing the Swimathon this year. We are a bit out of shape. Any tips on improving our times/distances?

Off you go coffee and please report back!

Go swim coffee! The advantage of an early morning swim us you can put your costume straight on under your clothes. Just remember to pack bra and pants!

That's about my breaststroke rate. My challenge for spring is to try and put a couple of lengths of front crawl in there - I already do backstroke 1 in 10 just to stretch the other way for a minute.

I'm telling myself I'm going to go tomorrow morning...we'll see how enthusiastic I feel about it at 6.30am!

Welcome coffee. Wonderful that you enjoy your swimming. I'm really rubbish at breaststroke so impressed you can do it! My motivation has been spurred on from making 'friends' at the pool – people you start to chat to who notice if you aren't there. And more recently I've been giving a neighbour a lift so can't let him down. Also there are only three (early morning) slots when the pool is at 33m so that is a bit of an incentive to go! Let us know how you are doing!

Oh great, from 0 posts to 3! Good old glitchy internet! I'll ask MNHQ to remove the duplicates...

I love swimming, I'm never going to break any records but I really enjoy it! So hello fellow swimmers!

For the last few weeks I've been trying to do 1km 2-3 times a week, but I can only go early before work, and sometimes I struggle with motivation

Due to an old injury I have to stick to breaststroke, so 1km usually takes me 25-30 mins. If I'm honest I'm not really looking to improve my time or push myself to do loads more distance, I just enjoy what I do. I find myself in an odd place between the head-up swim-in-pairs crew and the very serious types - anyone else find this?

1K done.

Get yea back in the pool then you slacker avo

What stroke are you doing RisingSun?

Hello all,
Have been doing my 1k 4 x a week.
It takes me 40ish mins.
The thing is I would really like to get faster so I can fit more distance in.
Any tips from the speedy among you?

I lost count this morning and did 60 lengths instead of 62. A bit annoying!

I am back on track for my 2 swims a week. I've used the aqua gloves twice now but will skip them today as I can really feel how much effort they are taking which for me isn't my priority for swimming, rather it's a way to relax my muscles from the battering they get from all the road running.

Glad to be in the pool today rather than running in this pissing weather!

Hope you feel better soon nora my folks were floored by the flu virus for 3wks, it’s horrid. I’ve been in bed last couple days with heavy cold missing my exercise fix too I’d had a flying start this year to swim & run training so hoping 7-10d out won’t put me back too much, as my first event is mid Feb.

flaming you will pick it up again quite quickly. For temperature reasons, I swim March to November, and run October to April. The first few session of anything are really tough, and then it's like the muscle memory comes back. Being ill is different, but I'm sure similar will apply.

I've been laid up with the awful flu this last week. I'm not going to be able to swim till at least Friday which will be nearly two weeks since my last swim. I'm feeling miserable and a bit anxious about how much of my fitness I've lost.

Hello swimmers! I was out of the pool over winter as I could only manage once a week, and that wasn’t enough to maintain good swim fitness. Now it’s summer and i’m back and loving it. I’ve got my mojo back and my times are improving nicely. I’ve managed 11.5k this week.

Who wanted advice about a 10k Swim? I swam a 5k lake swim last year after having my first swimming lesson since primary school approx 12 months prior. I may have a few bits of information which might be useful?

Running is my thing.

How about mixing it up a bit, so that you do steady for one lap, push it for the second, steady for the third etc. or even mix it up during one lap, so push East, turn, steady until the next turn.

It makes it varied and will be pretty effective in getting you more fit.

Yes, to improve you really just have to go out and do it! But the good thing with running (and swimming) is that you pretty quickly see an improvement if you are consistent.

Good luck!

You both (avo and sand) run reasonable times, nothing to be scoffed at. Be proud!

Unfortunately, because of where I live, I can only go 2m(eters) south, 250m east or west, and 500m north before I need to turn...... and there is school in that lot that is easier just to avoid at the best time for me to run. It was much more motivating running in the UK where I could go for several km before turning round!

However, you are in a different league to me on the running! My UK target was occasional 10km in less than 65 mins...... i think i just need to overcome the mental block, and get some more kms under my belt. Thankyou for the info.

It has taken me 18 months to get there Flippity! I started in the slow lane and have worked my way up. My neighbour, who I give a lift to the pool, is obsessed by number of strokes per length too. We have a 33m pool and he says he does about 25 and wants to get it down to 23. I'm too busy counting what length I'm on to count strokes too!

Impressed with your running, Rights. My ankle still niggles (the reason I started swimming in the first place) so I haven't gone back to it but the best I used to do was 5km in about 35 mins.

Nope Sand, my running sessions are longer, sometimes much longer.

I run 4 times a week: roughly 5 miles, club intervals/speed, 6 or 7 miles and then a long one at the weekend.

The 5 mile is the quickest and takes around 40 mins. Long run will be anything from about 1hr 15 to 2hrs depending.

I swim 1K twice a week and that takes about 25 mins.

Do you have a 5K loop which doesn't involve going past your door repeatedly? Or go out and back for 2.5K