Swimming for fitness (part 2). Jump in!

[rightsofwomen]

We've filled up the first Swimming for fitness thread, so here is the new one.

Everyone welcome.

I swam in the Med last summer - does that count? Swam out to a buoy and back! The salt water helped.

Sigh...the Med was nice.

Anyway, I did my 1K this evening. Up and down as not many of us there.

CMOTD 12.5m is pretty short. You must have done more turning than swimming!

Nice rights, the med definitely counts!

I trained tonight for the first time in 2 weeks, it was slow and sloppy but I got about 1700 or 1800 done, I think. A lot warmer than the sea though

Have not swum since Sunday, did a walk on the Monday and since then the sessions haven't fitted in. I managed just under 5.7k last week though, so not bad all in all, have a few meters in the bank :D

Have a masters group trial tonight, have borrowed a kickboard and a fecking evil pull buoy from lovely friend's 10yo DD. yes they are pink....

yes, that means they match my usual swim hat,
and the flaming nose clip,
and the fabulous water bottle the lovely boyf gave me.

thank god the nail varnish fell off last night so I no longer have nails that go pink when they get cold...

Open water session this weekend. they have advised TWO hats for warmth... oh heavens.... what on earth have i done!

In other news, TI friend who roped me into the Henley Mile has confirmed she is all signed up already. Our team will get included closer to the time as I believe there are tie ups are being talked about.

It's all go here..

Got my first lunch swim inthe recently reopened outdoor pool today 1km in half hour with a lane mostly to myself. It was a lovely break from work I remembered my outdoor mirrored googles which was good as the sun came out in the last 10mins.
Wow lots going on there Hissy, good luck with you outdoor adventures.

Hello swimmers. I've been out of the loop for a couple of weeks but went back to my lesson last night. I have finally managed to put two lengths of front crawl together . I did it twice to prove it wasn't a fluke! I have just over 7 weeks till the triathlon, god knows if I'll be fit in time.

Bigger problem now is that I have a sore left shoulder/upper back. Feels like trapped muscle/nerve. The type that hurts when I do anything move my neck or lay on my side. Can anyone recommend any stretches to do now and pre swim warm up stretches?

Oh god the masters trial was amazing!

I was knackered, feet got cramp and I did a hour.

What a lovely bunch! Really excited

It's like me starting again at the bottom! Exactly what I need!

I'm new here, very inspiring reading all your posts.
I'm trying to build up to being able to swim for fitness, weight loss, started last summer, I could swim, but got lessons on technique. Did nothing all winter but back about 4 weeks now, 4 times a week usually, but still working on stamina...I do 1k over 40 minutes, with breaks every 100m usually, and do drills as well as front and back crawl strokes.
I'd love to be fast enough to join a masters group by the end of this summer, so starting lane training lessons soon and just need to get the lengths in and build up.
I'm hoping to work up to open water swimming over the next year. 40ft looks great, can you actually swim much there? I live in Dublin but have never been.
I'm hoping reading what you all do will keep me motivated, I love it when I get in the pool though and have noticed by arm muscles toning already.
Thinking of getting an underwater MP3 player to keep me going. Does anyone have any recommendations?

So... open water intro yesterday morning

All good, wetsuit was an experience... getting into cold lake also an experience.

The face in water issue returned and I found it really difficult to swim in water I couldn't see my hands in.

Had a panic attack, wasn't pleasant, but the lovely girl got me round.

I'll do more courses to acclimatise myself, and get down to a wetsuit session in an unheated lido I think.

TI course this afternoon, which was fab as usual, the masters group has asked me back for a second trial tonight.. so I'll be back in a pool at 8.30 tonight... very swimmy weekend ! 😂🏊‍♀️

Back in the pool tomorrow I hope after a fortnight off. Fingers crossed the shoulder is feeling a bit better though still getting the odd twinge.

Ive now joined the leisure centre so went every day from wednesday to saturday and also did a couple of aqua classes, and did the egym induction which was excellent and had a bodytrax scan, which was really interesting. Ive got a lot of muscle, and despite having a high bmi, my fat was not in the read zone.
After aqua the do 30 min public swim and i had pool to myself, it was wonderful.
Hoping to go tomorrow to do egym and a quick swim after work.

Can I join you? I used to be agood swimmer as a child but now want to take up swimming regularly as I'm huge ( :() and want something safe for my joints.

I'm going to start this week. Very aware at twice the size I was (gosh literally) I won't have the fitness or technique I once had but hoping I can start from here and improve.

Welcome Shopgirl and Caterpillar. We'd love to get updates on how you are doing. We've all developed as swimmers since we've been here and encourage each other. Shopgirl and FacelikeaBagofHammers – I think you are both in Dublin?

Probably a stupid question but what is masters?

I swam for 35mins today. Did 56 x 33m lengths. I was sure I'd counted 60 but Swimtag says I didn't!

Hello Caterpillar!
You are in the right place! I believe we are one of the most supportive sport threads on MN.

One thing I've really noticed among our little group here is that with consistent swimming we are all improving and it really doesn't take long. It's not just in distance or time spent in pool, but in technique, or feeling stronger or (best of all) really feeling the love/getting in the zone.

Getting your moneys worth there bruffin !

Welcome guys.

Shopgirl, i'm also in Dublin. Where abouts are you? Btw I'm swimming in a masters club in South Dublin (in the slow lane!) and you'd be more than able for that now. We generally cover between 1600 and 2000m in the hour, but it's broken up into sets and is quite manageable.

I haven't actually 'swam' in the 40 foot, just bobbed around that one time. Though there is a buoy about 100m from shore which I might aim for next time. There is a meetup group that do open water swims around Dublin which I may join up with (safety in numbers and all!)

Shopgirl welcome! There is def a recommendation for waterproof mp3 player somewhere around - maybe in the original Swimming for Fitness thread.

www.meetup.com/Dublin-sea-swimming/

I have the Sony MP3 player - I got it cheap on ebay and it does take the edge off a really boring long swim, but I don't think you could listen to an audio book.

Hissy, it will get better with practice. The murky water is weird and I think the whole water weed and deep water speaks to something deep in your brain which says 'a monster is coming to eat you'

Back from the US and tiny pool (but it had straight walls and you didn't have to fight small children, plus I only met one person I knew in the pool), so normal service resumes. Have persuaded ds to have a long visit to the Lido on Saturday by dint of promising a) he can wear his wetsuit b)use of my dry robe c) hot chocolate and chips. After the very cold, non wetsuit visit to (the beautiful and utterly gorgeous) Plymouth Lido last year he is a bit suspicious! He was very happy when I was away as one day at holiday club he was the only one to be the right age to swim and have his kit, so he had the whole leisure centre pool to himself for an hour!

Thanks CMOT, welcome Shopgirl!

I'm shattered! but soo happy! the masters group was amazing, i learned more in 90mins last night than I have in months, add to this the sheer awesomeness of a TI mindful swim session with lovely, lovely people, yesterday was a good day.

James at TI session recommended a Lido session in suits, so I am looking at local options for this, and i think it will help a lot in preparing me for the outdoor swim, if i can find the business of swimming in a suit less alien, the visibility issue may not be such a big deal. Not being able to see your hands or anything else except green was really disconcerting!

forgot to welcome catepillar!! sorry! WELCOME!!! the more the merrier!

Thanks.for the welcome :) Today I "joined" the local leisure centre so I can swim when I want, hopefully Wednesday first non kids swim. If I can stick at it I'll definitely be up for something I can listen to podcasts/music though

Oh I've just spotted this thread, and I'd love to join in.

I joined a gym 3 months ago, discovered that I still dislike treadmills and weight machines so decided to swim in the pool instead. When I started I could manage 40 lengths but it was a struggle and I ached for days after, but I've gradually been building up my speed and number of laps. Yesterday I managed to do 80 laps, and left the pool grinning maniacally and I'm not too bad today. Whoo hoo! My aim is to be able to get to a hundred which is starting to look like it may actually look possible.

Whoo hoo indeed Blumkin. Welcome. Love all these success stories. I've just upped my swim from 50 lengths to 60 (when I have the time) and felt the same sense of achievement you do!

I'd also like to join in, I am overseas but had my right knee replaced 6 months ago and my left one 5 weeks ago. No excuses now, have to loose the weight. Swimming is my go to activity. Our local pool is starting Zumba Aqua aerobics so will give that a go. I used to manage 30 lengths (25m pool) pre knee ops so will have to build from there.

Love the ideas for waterproof headphones that will help a lot. I need a new Misfit Shine so might get the swimming one.

My goal is to swim around the Burj Al Arab in 2018.

I'm going to try aqua aerobics too. I'm fairly sedentary so anything thay gets me moving! I'm looking forwards to seeing what I can do Wednesday!