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 did 1700m this evening, average 2m30 per 100m so is that 25m for 1km? gradually improving, I'd love to do 20mins per 1000m.

For someone without a swimming background, i think 2 mins per 100m is a good time to aim for, and achievable with training for most people.

Haven’t been back here in a while but continuing my weekly swims only managing once a week though would like more. Manage about 1km in 25-30mins. Just signed up for a team effort for swimathon 2020; one of our close friends (who will swim with us) has cancer and it feels positive to be fundraising and giving us all some positive focus and fun for the next few months training,
Thanks for the prescription goggles Rec upthread will get these sorted as I think they will make life much easier.

A lunchtime 1k swim for me today, my first for a while due to a lingering snotty cold thing.

I've got such a blocked ear after swimming on Tuesday!!! It's driving me potty.

Managed 2 swims so 3.3km in total.
Tri hope your cold is better. After 1km in the pool I have snot coming out of my nose permanently, it's horrible. But judging by all the foreign bodies lurking about near the bottom of the pool so do a lot of other swimmers🤧

I did my usual 2km yesterday. It reminded me how good swimming is for working through things in your head.

I'm still debating whether or not to sign up for a 2.5 mile sea swim next summer. I'm doing a 4km lake swim the same month but sea swimming is a different kettle of fish.

Km swim tonight. De-stressing.

After trying to increase my laps I found it was slowing me down, so have now stuck with 64 laps for a while and have been getting faster so once in consistently swimming a good time then I'll add in a few more laps to try and eventually get to 80.
Currently swimming 64 in about 40/45mins

Still on the sick bench 10days now with this flipping cold thing all in ears/throat/glands grrrrr! Will forget how to run/swim at this rate! Hope others are feeling better.

What a pain Tri.

I swam today. It was quite busy, so lots of weaving around.

Also on the bench with sinusitis. Did go Tuesday but only managed 600m.

Hope you feel better soon Tri, I'd be climbing the walls after one day without sport let alone 10! Likewise Best for the sinusitis.
I've got a cold (first time in years) but it isn't managing to take hold badly so I swam 2kms Wed evening, am still unable to break the 50 minute barrier, but then I don't really put enough effort in. I'm the same with running, I can run for miles and miles at a good steady speed but am hopeless at accelerating. I hate intervals!

I nearly added this to the 'Strangest things you've seen people do' thread but better to be nice & share it here... Today I shared the (fast no less) lane for 20 minutes with a lady doing vertical breaststroke, or something like it. And occasional backstrokes. She struggled to swim in straight lines so i just wander around here. Rather peculiar (!)

Wow. And I thought it was bad enough in my pool with all the walkers and hoppers.

Yeah, she was very disciplined about her swim. Her arms were doing a steady breast stroke but her bottom half was a slower version of the video (and her head was always above water; she often just circled in the deep end). We were the only 2 people in a very wide lane so I suppose she was amusing not annoying. I (lack imagination, true) have not seen this style, before.

We get a lot of flotsam in the slow lane (not elsewhere, thank goodness) but not hoppers or walkers that I've noticed.

Morning all. Training is going well for my long ocean race in March next year. In order to compete you have to swim a 10k qualifying swim in under 4:15, which I managed last weekend at under 3:20. I was pleased as the conditions deteriorated over the morning and there was a strong current which then combined with a howling sea breeze that came in an hour through the swim.

Someone asked upthread about ocean/sea swimming and the honest answer is that you have to practise in the ocean to get it right. It's a completely different environment to the pool and anxiety can play a massive part if you're not confident or experienced. There are waves which can splash on you when you're breathing, other swimmers surrounding you and bashing you, sea weed in you face, stingers, seeing a seal and thinking its a shark and crapping yourself - the list goes on! You also need to practise sighting, you'll lose time if you can't swim straight. There are videos on You Tube about this and you can have a go in the pool.

If you manage to get out in the sea or ocean before the race then you'll be a step ahead of a lot of swimmers. Its also a good idea to have a swim in your wetsuit, if you're wearing one, before the race as I often feel like I'm being strangled by mine on the rare occasions I wear it.

Corrigans thankyou for your post, it was me who asked about open water swimming. I had anxiety in a lake when I did my triathlons and finished doing breast stroke rather than crawl. Your advice is very helpful. I think the first thing to do is invest in a wet suit, but definitely practising in the sea is essential as it is nothing like the conditions of a swimming pool where you see everything.
Glad your training is going well. I'm so in awe of swimmers like you. I watched a race in Dinard from one beach to another, around 6kms, but some swimmers did a lot more than that as it isn't a straight line, there were a lot of waves, it was really impressive.

Glad that’s helpful Madame. Open water swimming is awesome, it just takes a bit of getting used to. Maybe find some ex-pat Brits or Aussies who might be game for a swim in the sea?

They’ve opened a new shark net at a local beach. Loads of people have been using it but amusingly so far a seal and a large stingray have been seen inside! I think everyone is being falsely reassured.

Can I join the thread?

I've been a lifelong runner and breaststroke swimmer but after getting into triathalon a year ago I decided I needed to learn front crawl..... currently I'm doing 1k with a pull buoy but when I don't use it my legs sink, I kick furiously and get so out of breath I have to take a breather at the end of each length

My breastroke is 2.5 mins/100m whereas FC is 3.5 mins/100m but I'm determined to crack it before the open water season starts again in March!

For those asking about goggles - I wear Roka and I absolutely love them, totally airtight, anti fog coating and mega cushioned. I have a clear set for the pool and tinted for OW.

Do you scissor your legs as you swim, Frangi? So basically, your kick looks like scissors rather than bicycling. Somewhat point your toes rather than lock your knees to do this (knee locking is too tiring). I learned to do this late but also seems like it does a lot to keep bum & feet high.

Frangipan I'm a runner too and started learning the FC for the same reason, triathlons. I get the impression that I hardly move my legs at all, for me (I heard somewhere I think) that FC is 80% arms 20% legs for longer distances but I may be wrong. I have managed to get my time down to 2.5mns/100m but am struggling to get below that now. I also get cramps which I've never had even during long distance runs! I hope you manage to get your leg movement sorted out.

Last 25-50m on a tri, you're supposed to kick quite hard to get the blood flowing back into your legs. Doing that, with scissor legs (I try to do 3-5 such lengths hard each swim session) -- omg it does tire the legs out! I only really feel it if I go walking or cycling later. But yeah, swimming can definitely work the legs.

Frangi, is your head position good when you do FC, relaxed neck but totally facing pool bottom?

I can only just about do 4L continuously if kicking as I get cramp in my hip flexors. I tend to do 2L then switch to breast stroke 2L then go back to 2K kick as part of my warm up. I’d agree experiment with your head position in the water over exaggerate the angle to see the effect it has on body position, looking down at the pool floor. I much prefer using a pull buoy but I am learning suck in my core and work on a streamlined body position to get a more efficient FC. I’m hoping by the end of the week to be back in the pool, as this bug goes.

@lljkk I think I kick too fast because I panic that I'm sinking, which makes me sink more lol

I have a dodgy back, due to an old injury and muscle wastage my natural position posture is with a curve in the small of my back, I find it really really difficult to straighten my spine even standing against a wall. When I use the pull buoy and I'm more level in the water it's actually quite uncomfortable do I think without the buoy my back defaults to curved and my legs sink!

I'm unsure whether I need to just keep doing it to train my body into the g tv I gut position and build upper body strength or whether I need to be doing something out of the water to build my core???

If any of you tri ladies are on FB there is a really good group called Mums Who Tri