Swimming for fitness (part 3). Dive in!

theorig, thank you, that’s very helpful :)
That’s a very good time you’ve got there!!! Do you do medleys?

You’re right, I probably have the strenght, but the technique is most likely out of the window. And the more I think about positioning, the more I go: oooohhhj, I don’t know what I’m doing anymore!!! Cutting through waves and sea buoyancy is what my brain is used to now.
But I’m very excited, I miss swimming in the pool. Like a good consciencious pupil, I got myself a new pair of goggles and a new costume 😂.

Enjoy Hong Kong and it’s 25 degrees, I’m jealous a bit :)

I am in Hong Kong for work so have been using the outdoor hotel pool. It is lush. I am going back home today, but get one last dip in the pool before the night flight.

I LOL'ed at them changing over to 'winter' opening ours - it's a gorgeous 25C.

Welcome @8FencingWire

Everyone is welcome!

You'll be quite strong if you've been sea swimming I think.

A 2.5K routine is pretty intense, so I'd go easy on yourself.

I'm not really a swimming expert (there are many, many wise women on here who I hope will swim by), but I did ease myself from being a non-swimmer into a proficient one.

I started off going 3 times a week for 40 mins a time. Not too ambitious, but enough to see improvement.
In time I was able to swim 1K comfortably so I then worked on increasing speed.
I got myself a pull buoy to help position me in the pool and also to break up the session (I do 100m with the buoy and 100m w/o).

I now do 1K in about 24 mins, and try to go twice a week. Swimming is something I do along side my main sport of running so I'm happy to maintain.

Hi, can I join in?
I used to swim regularly, I’m by no means fab at it, but I’m ok-ish.
Haven’t been in a pool for a workout for about 3 years! but I’ve been swimming in the sea quite a bit.
Now I’m getting back into it, but I’m wary of burnout. I know what I used to be able to do, I had my little 2.5k routine, all was well. I’ll probably run out of steam after 10 lenghts now.

Does anybody know of a C25K equivalent of? Or can suggest a gentle routine to ease myself back into it? I can do all strokes, but I don’t do butterfly due to bad lower back.
Any suggestions would be really appreciated.

1k yesterday very quiet in the outside “greenhouse” club pool but warm enough.

I’m a big fan of squad swimming. Everyone in your lane is that same-ish speed and doing the same thing. I often swim faster when there are other people to spur me on.

I’ve cracked the sub 1:40/100m CSS and i’m swimming at about 1:37/100m. Really pleased as it’s been a long time coming.

It's actually motivated me to rejoin the masters club I used to be a member of. I thought I'd done fairly well with trying to push myself but I think someone else setting the pace is going to be much better for me.

Another 1K done after the conference in the infinity pool. Perfect.

tiz at my last swim I did 20L to warm up then did 50m sprints going as fast as I could then took 10sec breather then went again 5x I was puffing hard after that but carried on for another 20L of mindless swimming. Try some sprints it will definitely raise your heart rate.

I’m in Wales no infinity pool or swim pool near me sounds lovely rights enjoy. I’ve got to wait till Sunday for my next swim fix

In china for work. Infinity pool at the hotel. Beautiful.

I recently got a new Fitbit watch that will measure heart rate as well as laps so was excited to try it out yesterday, did my usual sort of set doing 2.3km

Lap count was spot on, but looking at the heart rate graph I'm not sure I'm trying hard enough. Need to do some reading and work out what I should be aiming for.

The pool guard suggested using bum float to avoid too much spine curve in FC yesterday so I did a km with the float and 50m leg kicks on my back. Why is my leg kick more powerful on my back? On my front I can barely move forward with legs only but on my back I become a power machine.
My back pain returned during swimming. I hate all other forms of exercise and classes make me panicked so I need to find a way to keep swimming.

Swimming does aggravate my back flaming most sport does except cycling it’s only thing that really doesn’t. It’s the main reason I mix up the swim/running/cycling with some Pilates. I mix up my swim now with kicking on my side and back with FC. as my back bending is what aggravates my discs in my lower back.

tamethedragon I’ve not used the tempo trainer sorry I can’t advise.

Quick 1k at lunchtime did 10L in the middle sprinting which got me puffing but felt good.

I have not swim for a week, I usually swim 4-5 times, 1km each time. For the first time in three years I have had no back pain. I can't bear to think that swimming could be the cause of my lower back pain. I always thought it was the best exercise for back pain, but now I'm seriously considering another week with no swimming to test my hypothesis.

Hi all, new to the thread but trying hard to make some serious improvements to my swimming over the winter! Decided it was time to stop intermittently lurking on this thread and actually join in, in an effort to keep myself more motivated!

I'm toying with the idea of getting a Finis Tempo Trainer to help me keep my pace consistent. I train in randomly sized 17m pool though - could anyone tell me whether I can alter the settings on the tempo trainer to 17m or whether its geared to the usual 20/25/50m pool sizings?

Only managing sporadic sessions right now, 2k at lunchtime.

Debating whether to rejoin the masters club, with the dark evenings and mornings I think i might need the discipline of attending specific sessions otherwise it's just too easier to keep putting it off until the next day.

Swam 1k this afternoon- very quiet on here?

Logged another 1.2km Swim Tuesday eve. Was in the zone just up/down had my side of the lane to myself

What a gorgeous location tizwoz. The ocean is till cold here and the air temp is till cool for the time of year. Its probably going to go from cool to boiling in a matter of weeks though and we'll all be complaining about the heat.

I'm nearly at sub 1.40 for my CSS, so I'm pleased about that.

First time swimming in a pool for a long time and having spent the summer swimming in a lake with a bunch of hard-core swimmers I'd forgotten how much faffing there is in a pool.
There was a pair of guys who I didn't actually see swim, just sat in the shallow end having a chat (there is a nice dry pin next door).
I think I did about 50 lengths?

Anyone got any form of lap counter? More than about 10 lengths and I loose count.

800m for me. Still busy - Wednesday’s @ 6pm clearly a popular time. Ran my 1st 5k in 5 months on Mon but physio told me to be careful & keep swimming. So swimming it is. Am actually a better swimmer than I am runner but swimming’s so hard to fit in!

I went for a swim yesterday morning but didn’t do much. I’m easing myself into the saddle so to speak after a head cold and sickly children too. 2/3 laps to start with and see what happens. I’ve also considered playing tennis and taking up lacrosse or netball lessons as well but we’ll see what happens. My local pool is at the local leisure centre along with the gym and activities etc. The goal is to get in shape for our family vacation next summer on a cruise ship.

Looks lovely tiz.

Nice 1k tonight lane to myself and most of the pool

On holiday right now so only a little bit of swimming for me this week. Lovely spot for a dip today, I always forget how salty the sea is though!