Swimming for fitness (part 3). Dive in!

Thank you CorrigansDoorKnob. So I need a strong kick? Should I be doing my distance in sets then? I tend to do it all in one go.

No chance to swim in the sea until a week before the swim unfortunately. I grew up close to where I'll be doing this swim though, so I'm used to that sea.

It’s been a while fellow swimmers.

It’s racing season here in Oz and I’ve had some great swims and smashed some PB’s.

I’ve been in the ocean lots despite the frequent shark pingings. I got nailed by stingers yesterday, i’m more afraid of them than the sharks tbh.

Minnie gradually increasing your distances is a good idea. Make sure you’re doing some longer intervals with shorter rests, 200-400m with 15-30 secs rest only between intervals. You want to perfect your Diesel engine. You also need to work on your kick for ocean swims, especially if it’s choppy, because you will need your kick for stability. I find that my hip flexors ache after about 3-4K continuous swimming.

I’d also recommend getting out into the ocean if you’re not used to it. It’s very different to swimming in the pool. Practice makes perfect. Also try out the wetsuit lots before race day, if you’re planning on swimming in one.

I live nowhere near the sea now unfortunately SkiMum99 so I'm going to train in lakes once it's warmer.

Sorry no idea minnie that’s beyond me but hissy and doorknob on here both do long seaswims. I live by the sea and there is a local Facebook group which people use to share advice, sea conditions and find swim buddies on. Maybe you have something like that local to you?

Me! I'm dreading it.
I've come on to ask advice about doing a 4km sea swim. Has anyone attempted that?
I regularly do 1.5-2km in the pool and I've worked out a plan to up my distance over 12 weeks.

The pool a few years ago was open air but they built a green house thing over it so it can stay open all year round. They haven’t built any kind of tunnel between main building (which has lovely warm showers) and the pool house thing hence the icy dash at the moment but it’s a small “price” to pay for a lovely quiet pool got another km on Thursday.

Been super quiet on here? Anyone else dread the first couple of weeks in January when everyone starts exercising again pool & gyms get super busy for few weeks.

ski, I’m intrigued by your pool :) I go to a normal leisure centre. Do you swim in an open air one?

Went for a swim yesterday. I’m becoming, albeit slowly, more comfortable in the water. I still absolutely love that first plunge. I’ve got a little routine going, after the new year I’ll start the drills properly, at the moment I am just ‘finding my feet’.
:)

No idea about the elastic 8fencingwire unless it’s part of bra support or a heart rate monitor? Interestingly my DD was asked to do 5 or 6 breathe drills in FC last week and it’s really hard. I tried it out too and found it made me streamline & speed up my arm pull but I couldn’t do whole length I had to stop about 18-20m in, ran out of air. Interesting drill though which I played with at last nights swim as well but I can only do it when I’m super relaxed normally after 30L+ of swimming and zenned into the water I find I’m all tense when I start. Had good 1k last night but boy was it freezing doing the dash from clubhouse to pool last night brrrr as pool is outside the main building.

First time in the pool this week, it was lovely, hardly anyone there at lunch time.
I used to use a technique called ‘total immersion’, I tried to bring some of the elements back in my front crawl, soft hand in, pause between strokes. It’s still all very much all over the place, but I’m getting there.
I’m also used to breathe every 3 strokes, the woman in front of me was doing every 5, I tried, but didn’t like it 😂.

Oh, and I saw someone with what I would describe an elastic under breasts, no gizmo attached, just an elastic band, what’s that all about?

As you can tell my attention span was a bit rubbish today 😂. But I went for a run first, then drove to the pool, made me feel better about vegetating pretty much the whole of last week.

Quick km last night with lane to myself, I need to remember by flip flops too as I have to run from outside to the changing room inside and it’s brrrr now!

Ski :)

I only did Wednesday this week, as I’ve put in an insane amount of overtime. But it felt so good. I am going again tomorrow :) Must remember flip flops, the changing rooms are absolutely disgusting!!

My normal pool now back open again 40min Swim last night.

Enjoying swimming with the club and not having to think too much about what to do, as it's someone else deciding. I'm not swimming any more lengths than I was on my own but it certainly seems like more of a workout.

Recently calculated that I've swum 130km since June. Going to try and do at least that much again before next June.

One of the local pools open again Yah! Both got shut with boiler/mechanical issues. Got in the zone tonight lovely mile /1600m swim really enjoyed just ploughing up/down in my own space. The club had 3L and the other L had public but was masters/off duty lifeguards in it really nice folk but way faster than me! so I swam in the public open bit which was nearly empty so had my own “lane” space

ski, thank you, I bought some today:) ....after my swim 🙄.
Did a few lenghts, but we got moved after a bit because if swimming lessons 🙄, everybody in one lane, it soon turned to chaos. But I ploughed through. My shoulders are painful, I am gaining strenght every time I go, but it’s time I did some physio I think.
It’s cold when you come out, I jumped straight in a hot bath.

8fenchingwire I use zoggs swim ear plugs shaped like “in ear headphones” worked well for me.

My Pool is shut for emergency repairs been a week now and expecting another week. I may try another one locally tonight as think it’s adult only sess as I’m really missing a de-stress Swim

It wasn’t me!!! 😂

At my pool you still have to pay 20p to use the hairdryer, which annoyed me. Everything annoyed me, the lockers don’t work with the new £1 coin, there was only one lane and one bloke thought it was his personal one. I wouldn’t have minded that much, but he was acting like: out of my way, I’m so much faster and better than all of you (when, in fact, his stroke was seriously bad and he was splashing everywhere). Grrrr....
But, I did do my little routine, I’ve noticed my shoulders are a bit better. I’ll go tomorrow night again. Was meant to run today, but we went for a day out instead and we’re shattered.
I need earplugs 🙄.

I swam 1.8km in about 45 minutes today. Very pleased with that

There was a woman blow drying her feet ! Not seen that before.
Off fossil hunting on the beach soon. Glorious weather for November in UK.

Meh...my last swim in the pool in Hong Kong was thwarted by a flipping typhoon warning! Don't get that in my local council run pool!

Back at home now and first swim in normal pool. Always good to just get going somewhere I'm so familiar with. Door to door in an hour.

Accidentally took perished swimsuit (why was it even still in my pile of sports stuff?). It was somewhat too long and baggy for me, but I reckon I styled it out! It's in the bin now - all 8 foot of it!

Well, came to say my first session back in the pool was great. I’ve learnt just how unfit I am at the moment 😂.
Breaststroke is a killer for my shoulders. I can still do a decent crawl, I’ve lost my breathing pattern a bit, but that’ll come back easy enough. My strenght in legs is zero, tried a couple of lenghts just legs, I was barely advancing.
All in all pretty dire. But I so love it. It’ll be fun to get myself back together.
I’ll stick to crawl for warm ups and I’ll do legs and ‘tummy to the wall’ turns for workout, with only one or two lenghts of very very gentle arms, I can hear my shoulders creaking something terrible.

First session back with the club today, went well - 2450m but included a lot more kick and fly than i'd typically do on my own and my fitbit stats support that i worked harder than when I'm plodding along on my own even though distance and time wise there wouldn't appear to be much difference.

theorig, snap!
I have had aquasphere for a long time, I find them the best. I’ve ordered a Kaiman as well. My costume comes from Sports Direct too, £10 boy leg slazenger 😂😂😂.
What are the chances of that?
Sorry about the ‘slang’, yes, medley is different strokes. I’m quite good at backstroke, it’s my favourite, but it’s pointless in a 25m pool, because I really torpedo that one normally. Or used to 🙄. 50m (olympic size, I think it is) pool, that’s fab for backstoke, you can really go for it. I’m quite excited now.
I used to ‘swim in my head’. Now, bare with me, it sounds mental, I know, but it’s when you close your eyes and visualise your stroke. I tried to do that earlier and I was ‘drowning’😂.

ski, that’s useful to know, thank you, I’ll aim for 30 lenghts before I start panicking I’m not enjoying this anymore.
Like you, I got into swimming a bit later on in life, it’s such a great feeling, isn’t it? I still have the fear first time I go into a new ‘territory’. And I’m quite rubbish at reading the sea, I stick to groups of swimmers, or if I’m on my own, to a manned beach. But I absolutely love it!

Takes me 30L normally to reach “swimming nirvana” I start off all breathy then get really tired at the 15-20L mark then I start to relax and stop thinking about the breathing and just enjoy being in the water every blooming time though takes me lengths to relax in the water. I still start by trying to immerse myself at the beginning to get used to the water. I’m still over ruling years as a kid of hating putting my face in the water and being scared. A couple of mums saw me swimming the other day and didn’t believe me when I said a couple of years ago I couldn’t do FC at all, made me feel proud as a middle aged mum I can still learn new skills . I tried a bit of sea swimming this summer 8fencing I enjoyed it but couldn’t go out of my depth without The Fear kicking in, but I will try again next summer as luckily we live close to couple of good spots. Like rights I’ve got a pull buoy and arm float to mix up my swimming as I’m also nursing back issues but like to run. I try to do 1-1.5k a couple of times a week.

Oh you do you have give the make and model of swimsuit and goggles!

I have a boy leg Sports Direct cheapy suit, a Zoggs one bought from the pool when I forgot my suit, and a regular Speedo one.
I tend to opt for the boy leg one as I don't need to bother about my bikini line then.
Oh and my M&S flamingo bikini for swimming in the Med!

I have Aqua Sphere Kaiman goggles which work well for me.

I had to look up what you meant by a medley (told you I'm new to swimming!) I always thought that was a competition. It's different strokes yeah? No, I do the whole thing front crawl. I can sort of do breast stroke, but I am super slow. I'll only work on backstroke if I can be confident of near empty lanes.

I like to work my upper body when I swim because my legs get the work out when I run.

The outdoor pool has been lovely. I have a desk job and can feel my brain and body unwind the more laps I do, and then I reach 'the zone' - sort of swimming nirvana.