Swimming for fitness (part 4). Everyone welcome.

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Old thread here

Anyone interesting in swimming for fitness welcome here.
Newbies, experiences, the fast, the slow - we're all sharing, learning and most of all supporting each other.

I swim daily but hair is getting ruined by the chlorine. Has anyone managed to find a swimming cap which keeps your hair relatively dry?

No but sometimes my daughter wears two hats, which can help but we also put coconut oil onto bottom 1/3 of her long hair weekly I comb it through, which really helps. She swims 3-4x a week.

I swam again yesterday after a week not going due to holidays. It felt good.
I have also bought some new goggles to try out as my Aquaspheres were leaking.

I haven’t been since Thursday. Feels too cold today and it is half term so the pool will be busy. DH says I’m making excuses. I do feel a bit more tired than usual.

I take it back. Everyone must have gone away for half term because I had the pool entirely to myself for 30 minutes. There wasn’t even anyone in the sauna or jacuzzi. Absolute bliss. I’m going again tomorrow.

I’ve just found this thread today and have enjoyed reading through the posts.

I try and swim at least once a week, as it’s the only exercise I‘ve found that I don’t seem to hate! Plus I do really enjoy it once I’ve started to swim, and find it relaxing.

I swim approx 60 x 25m each time, so 1.5km, which takes me around 50 mins, doing a mix of breaststroke, front crawl and backstroke. My main bugbear at the moment is that I’m often too fast for the medium lane (spend all my time getting frustrated or constantly overtaking) but am too slow for the fast lane (feel like I’m holding up ‘proper’ swimmers and/or getting swamped by over-enthusiastic men doing butterfly!)

Reading this thread has inspired me to put some effort into improving my technique... I’ve been thinking for ages that I should have a few 1:2:1 lessons but haven’t got around to doing anything about it. I haven’t had lessons since I was a child and I’m pretty sure there’s lots of room for improvement!

One question for you regular swimmers - are there any swimming apps you use to eg record distance swam, possibly calories burned etc? I think I need something like this to motivate me, especially as the weather gets colder and darker.

Hello offred2 I feel your pain was in the same boat too fast often in medium lane but felt out of pace with the fast lane. I’ve got round it by joining a private club which has a smaller 20m pool but I mostly get a lane to myself if I time it right. I’ve been working on technique by watching you tube videos - I like effortless swimming but I’ve made most progress with my eldest DD watching me swim and suggesting tweaks which I couldn’t tell. So I’d recommend getting some 1:1 lessons or someone else to critique your stroke. I just count my lengths or time my session and log on strava afterwards to give me a running total.

My goggles are rubbish!!! Just spent my whole swim steamed up and with one a leaky eye. Can anyone recommend any? And also a a nose clip that actually stays on?!

I’ve got Speedo Aquapure prescription goggles. Had them 6 months now and no fogging. I use the Arena noseclip on a strap. It does come off once or twice in the first two lengths but then stays firmly in place.

Nose clips that are attached to goggles... How? I can't see any for sale that are on a loop to go over, which is what I thought they were...

No they’re not attached to the goggles, just on a long loop.
www.amazon.co.uk/Arena-Strap-Nose-Clip-Pro/dp/B01C0LEIUO?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

They come off a few times during the first lap until I get them in place, then they stay put. And because of the strap you don’t lose them.

Can anyone recommend a decent swimming costume for the larger busted lady? I have been wearing my underwired tankini, but the wire has started coming out with lots of use, and I don't want to wreck my machine. I need some sort of support though, preferably quite a lot!

proof have you tried swimming with a sports bra under a normal costume? It was a revelation to me when I did a triathlon couple of years ago and it was comfy I’m large busted so I feel your pain it’s a nightmare getting costumes to fit. My last few have been aquasphere ones I found marked down, so I bought 3

Thanks Tri I haven't got a sports bra but will look out for one and keep it for the pool.

Hello, can I join please? I've been reading for a little while. I'm 54, running is my main sport but I've started doing sprint triathlons. Swimming is definitely the weakest discipline. Until 2 years ago I'd never swam the crawl and never even done breast stroke with my head below the water. I had some lessons and can now swim 2kms in 50 mins which isn't great but I'm gradually getting faster. However it is the swimming in open water which I'm useless at. I panic I think, that I can't see where I'm going doing the crawl so end up doing breast stroke and am always one of the last out of the lake as a consequence. I catch up on the cycling and running, but would really like to improve on swimming, any tips? Is it easier wearing a wet suit?

MadameF welcome I’ve followed a similar swim journey as you and taught myself FC so I could do a Tri. a couple of years ago. I too am too freaked out to do much open water swimming but locally a few other ladies went to open water lessons this season, run by a local Tri coach plus a local club does open water training sessions May-Sept. would that be an option for you? There’s a few different Tri groups on face book which offer advice & will tell you where local sessions are. I suspect like most things it’s just exposure and practice to “get it”. Gd luck.

I forgot to say I did take the plunge and buy a swimming wetsuit this year, which is fab allows my arms to move easily and has bouncy in the hips alas we had loads of massive barrel jelly fish which freaked me out too much to get much swimming in... will try again next season

Triski thanks for your advice and the wetsuit definitely feels like an advantage to open water swimming.
I live in France so I need to find some clubs or coaches here but open water swimming isn't very popular. Even the Tri clubs just train in swimming pools!

Do you have an idea of what sort of time is respectable for FC for 1km for example?

Sorry can’t help on French Tri clubs but I loved swimming in your 50m open air pools on holiday. No idea on times, it would really depend on conditions I’d have though? There are a couple of people on this chat who swim open water in OZ long distances who maybe able to help. My DD was doing her club champs recently and their 1km pool time is around 13mins for top males and 18-20mins for girls 12-15yrs. It takes me a gd half hour 😂.

Id look at the previous results from a couple of triathlons that you are interested in doing and the average swim time for a person in your age catergory. That would be a gd indication.

It takes me 40 mins for 1k. However, it’s a 20 metre pool so more turns and I have one shoulder out of action (excuses) . I think 30 mins is amazing.

Yey, made it to the pool! Swam 50 lengths in 40mins so that's my benchmark to improve against.

I did 1700m this evening, average 2m30 per 100m so is that 25m for 1km? gradually improving, I'd love to do 20mins per 1000m. I don't turn professionally so waste time there.
Tri do you have age categories for triathlons in the UK? We do for running, but fir triathlons you are either senior (under 40) or veteran ( over 40)

Anyone swim with their head mostly out of the water?

I find I get too many ear or nose or eye troubles if I swim with my face in. And I want to swim to relax and to be fit. I don’t care if I’m not fast.

I do:
Breast stroke
Side stroke
Back stroke.

Anyone any advice?

warm I use earplugs and goggles which help me avoid issues. I bought some tee tree &oil ear stuff which helps protect as well. I do find in some pools the chemicals make my nose snuffly but if I use an over the counter beconase nasal spray it stops that.