Swimming for fitness (part 3). Dive in!

I am doing the Henley Club to Pub for the first time this weekend (1.5k). First proper event and first time swimming in the river, although have done a few swims in the local lake and feel comfortable with the distance. Any tips?! Really looking forward to it but slightly nervous..!

Swimsmooth... that may be significant actually - are you adapting your stroke over distance? could the smooth element (I'm a TI swimmer) be kicking in more over distance?

I see what you mean...I can do a 50 in 55s but I can't do 1.50 for a 100, my fastest is just about the 2min mark

I've discovered my secret to going faster is to have an argument with someone after asking if they minded moving down a lane

3 minute 200m after that!

Lovely to have you back Hissy. We've missed you!

I generally do 800m warm-up that normally includes 400m continuous swimming and I do 400m and 200m sets as well. I don't only swim 100m.

But my time isn't really dropping off after 100m, in 100m sets I do them at 1:35, in 200m I do each 100 at 1:35, in 400m I do 100m in 1:35. But what css doesn't take into account is my 100m one off speed is significantly faster.

I've been doing swim smooth sets for 2 months now and my 200m and 400m times have got slower ( although css works out the same )

Tizwoz, is the reason your time drops above 100m that you’re getting comfortable just sticking at 100m chunks?

Our coach does timed 800m every few months. Our warm ups are very often 400m.

Doing the 400/300/200/100 sets then main sets with 200s drill and swim - we do 200m 50 drill/50swim has extended our range and then keeps the pace consistent I think.

Mile went ok, but my biggest issue is what is between my ears!

I got crowded at the start then had a small panic, took my time, and gradually got a bit bolder mostly bloody breaststroke and about 1/3 of the way down started to get my head around it all and started over taking a few people

Shaved a mere 2mins + off my time from last year. I wanted to shave 10mins.

Oh well... in another years time I’ll be an even stronger swimmer... I’ll need to do more outdoor practice too.

Or drugs... 🤣

Swam today. 1K. 2 of us in the lane. Lovely.

I've always had a suspicion that CSS doesn't work properly for me as my time's go something like this

50m 35.58
100m 1:20
200m 3:10
400m 6:20

So my time drops off drastically from 50 to 200m but after that I don't really lose any pace at all. I did 25 x 100 at 1:35 with 10 secs rest this morning and I don't think it was challenging enough. Trying to go a couple of seconds faster is too difficult when I'm only working off a pace clock though.

New job starting next week and it's going to be a lot more challenging fitting swims in but I really don't want to lose the gains I've made over the past 6 months.

Welcome back Hissy! Good advice. I did some speed work prior to the Aussie Masters championships and it really helped my overall speed, even for distance swimming.

Anyone wanting to increase speed and endurance would be good to do some intervals with a short rest in between as suggested.

I’m very impressed with your CSS Tizwoz. I managed to get to about 1:38/100 with some heavy training for a race 2 years ago. I need to get some consistency in my training to get back again, as i’m at about 1:43 at the moment. If anyone has a spare 30 minutes then my coach has a good video about his most improved swimmer and how she achieved it
m.youtube.com/watch?v=ojt3nkVoYEU

Good luck on the Henley Mile Hissy

Well done boxcar swimming does seem to take awhile to build up then suddenly your get something to click. My young daughter swims in a club and she does 3hrs of swimming a week and it still takes months and months to knock a tenth of a second off a race time.

The tips are really helping. I’ve gone for a straight 30 lengths this afternoon to see if I’ve improved. This time I managed 21 of them front crawl (& 8 were continuous). 5 weeks ago I did 6 front crawl (& only 4 continuous) - the rest on my back. Just feels better. Think I could sustain more than the 8 but didn’t have the confidence to try today.

Nice to see you Hissy and the useful post. I’ve taken the break down the stroke approach to improve speed along with swim fast up 1L and medium 1L recover repeat few times and chase after anyone else in the lane along with just swimming more.
I’ve just picked up a second hand book recommended up the thread which explains the shaw technique swimming mixed with Alexandra technique. I was intrigued so may try out some of its suggestions. I’d like to get faster but would prefer to stay injury free more so and found my back aching more so I need to get my alignment in the water better.

I was roughly trying to do sets based on css pace which for me is 1:35

So have been doing sets like 16 x 100 off 1:35 with 10 seconds rest. I've being doing variations of this, sometimes doing 200's and 400's for about 2 months.

Did another 200 and 400m timed set and was slower than when I started (and it felt like hard work!)

Reporting in... ridiculous absence, I apologise!

Am swimming the Henley Mile again on Sunday - if anyone else is, please say and who knows, we could meet up IRL!!

Bit nervous, but not as bad as last year and I'm feeling better about my swimming atm so that must help me dodge the sharks/monsters/piranhas lurking in the Thames waiting to eat me, for sure.

Swimming is going well. finally. I've had a few months where it's been mentally challenging, i've been feeling hopeless and outclassed. I considered giving up swimming, not doing the mile and everything. Had s smidge of an injury, thankfully I treated that in the right way and i'm tip top again. Hand paddles are remaining in the swim bag for a while though.

Last night there only half a dozen of us at Masters and it was a good (hard) session. Our GB masters medal winning teammate gave the session and he is a force to be reckoned with. Love him to bits, but he's tough and even harsher than our lovely (but killer) coach. I pushed myself and was actually able to see some gains and have a bit of an experiment with techniques here and there.

We ALL have good and bad phases/sessions. Sometimes we have an amazing time and others it's like the water becomes treacle and everything that can go badly does. It DOES get better. It might feel like it takes forever to get better, but it really does.

For those who are struggling with speed - (and I recognise how spectacularly unhelpful this sounds) to swim faster, you have to swim faster... you have to swim with faster swimmers, swim to 90% effort and then take only enough rest to go again.

There are apps/sites to help with programmes - the Zero to 1 mile is a good place to start, it helps with distance.

We did a session last night as our main set which is specifically designed to improve speed

4-3-2-1 all Front crawl (but you could adapt the stroke/time I think)
4 x 100m in 2.15
4 x 50 in 1.15

Apologies for Grannies and Eggs, but in case explication is needed - This means you do your 100m in 2mins, wait for 15 seconds and then go again. Likewise the 4 x 50 in 1.15

3 x 100 in 2.05
3 x 50 in 1.05

2 x 100 in 1.55
2 x 50 in 55s

1 x 100 MAX
1 x 50 MAX

NOTE: I didn't manage these times on the shorter times for 3, 2 and 1x but I did manage to hold the pace throughout all sets. I was bloody knackered for the final 100m though.

If you need more time than this, then do 100m in a time that you are comfortable with, medium exertion then give yourself 15/20secs before starting the next 100m

If you need to halve this to 50s and 25s, that's good too - it's about finding a pace and pushing it just a little bit.

Another way of getting faster is to work on separate parts of your stroke, take the float and get some kicking done, then pull buoy to focus on arms, looking at smooth entry early hand entry, extending into the stroke and then pulling all the way through. speed is not the focal point here so much as technique and strength.

I had a lesson today did some fast 2 lengths then minute wait x 4. Then made it up to 80 length afters. Pool was really choppy as they were doing a back wash, so made it a bit harder work.

I had a pool almost to myself it felt like (3 people in 5 lanes) during the football. I did another mile! But it was slower.

I have no idea how to develop a swimming training programme! Im just swimming....

Really dispiriting swim today. Had a lane to myself so took the opportunity to do some timed swims and I'm slower than I was 2 months ago Need a new training plan

I did C25K back in the winter AdventuresRUs having not done any exercise for a loooong time. I chose running over swimming just for ease for fitting it in. As Avo & Corrigans have said, it's the travelling and changing etc on top of the swim time but I'm also finding it difficult to find handy swim sessions. Public swims are busy and adult lane swims are too late in the evening for me.

I really want to get back to running because I was enjoying it and it was easy to fit in but I'm worrying about getting injured again. I was slowly and carefully increasing my distance (got to 8K) and then it was game over: tendonitis. I'm going to leave it until the end of the month and see how I am then. My ankle's feeling better but is still swollen every evening at the moment. What I really don't want is to go back to being unfit.

I went swimming tonight but there was only 1 lane full of fast men and then in the rest of the pool it was packed. I carried on practising changing my FC stroke. Getting better. It feels easier.

Not so much at this time of year, but in the winter the underfloor heating in the changing rooms at the pool is a big reason I travel to the pool that i do.

We dont have swim tag at the 2 pools I swim at though. I like the sound of swimtag. And the private pools probably have nicer changing rooms!

Wow I feel really lucky now. Its a really old pool and I actually prefer the smaller one but there's always at least 3 lanes for swimming. Theres quite a lot of other pools in the area that are just single pools which would have a timetable but the main central one has lanes!

Didn't end up entering the open water swim for various reasons.

In my experience having lane swimming available all day is not the norm. The pool I swim at now has lane swimming most of the time, but there's half hour gaps where they convert the pool from 50m to 25m or change the depths so you can't just turn up as you risk there only be 20 minutes left of a session. But that's the best timetable i've experienced in terms of lane swimming availability. I actually drive past two other pools to go there.

It really frustrates me that a lot of the city pools all follow a very similar timetable. There are 7 pools i can swim at with my membership but none of them open on Saturday and Sunday evenings and all are closed on bank holidays.

Really Corrigans? Wow - our big pool (south uk) has lane swimming all day and had (obviously wrongly) assumed most non-rural people had a pool with lane swimming near them. The next big city along does too as its multi-pool. I have a slightly nearer one that has times up I sometimes use as its free parking but theres always the main one for lane swimming!

Yay for lane to self. I love it when that happens!

I managed to have a lane to myself in a 50m pool! I had timed it wrong and arrived 20 mins until they closed the pool however. I did a speedy k and lamented the lack of all day lane swimming in the UK.

I’m with you Avo - swimming is much more time consuming than running, it’s a cause of ongoing friction with DH. He just puts his runners on and is back an hour later having done his run. It takes me double that, once you factor in getting there and back etc, especially if it’s a squad swim and you need to arrive slightly earlier.

I swam a mile! Well just over. It took me a good while but I did it and feel so proud :)

I would love to do the c25k once Ive lost (a lot of) weight but I truly love the headspace I get swimming.