Swimming for fitness (part 4). Everyone welcome.

[TheOrigRightsofwomen]

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'd be eating A LOT if I swam 2 miles/day.

lljkk Yes, me too, swimming always makes me hungry, whereas even though I run 10 miles a day I can quite happily go without eating most of the day.
MGC31 I'm so impressed! My local pool isn't open enough to the public to swim a lot (no early morning hours, only one evening until 9pm) but even if it was I'd never be able to do as much as you. Do you ever get bored swimming? I'd struggle to do more than an hour I think, whereas with running and cycling there is so much to see and hear boredom is never a problem.

3.740k today. Did 20 extra lengths because the pool was empty and it seemed a waste not to stay and make use of it.

@lljkk I don’t really get any hungrier than normal. I didn’t actually eat breakfast or lunch today. I have just had a huge bowl of spinach & ricotta fresh pasta with mascarpone sauce, chicken and green veg though. SO full now!

@MadameF I don’t really get bored. I find the water quite soothing so once I’m in my rhythm I can just empty my mind and switch completely off. It’s lovely. I’ve always been a water person though - if I don’t feel well I don’t go to bed, I get in the shower and lie down.

Also, at busy times there’s always the rubbish swimmers getting in the same lane as me to continually navigate around because, god forbid, they might choose the right lane or take the hint after getting lapped 8 times in ten minutes or let someone faster pass them at the wall. There’s a severe lack of lane swimming etiquette these days! LOL

Anyway, total so far.......
26.840k / 100k - over a quarter of the way there now!

I could reduce to 145 lengths/day from 150 now but I’ll keep going with 150+ so I’ve got a little buffer if I have a really off day somewhere along the line.

I got pool fins for xmas. Omg I can fly now! I can feel my legs and core working much harder.

But I can only use them if I have the lane to myself...otherwise I'm lapping the splashy breaststrokers in the single lane at general public swim. I can see them glare at me as I Orca past them, so I keep them for the odd 5 mins that I get that lane.

Swam at the big pool tonight as DD was there with swim club. I’m not so used to the busy public lane session or the slightly longer pool felt a lot more stressful and forgot to count but did a solid 40mins so I’d estimate 1.2km. based on normal pace. It was good to try that pool again, as my current membership of the 20m club pool is up for renewal but it made me realise I do still prefer that to the big noisy town pool even if it’s slightly more expensive. I enjoy having a lane to myself 90% of the time and being able to do whatever drills I want not just feel the pressure to keep ploughing up/down at FC with others and getting choppy water in making breathing more of a challenge.

Tri yes, I prefer my little local pool (it is 25km) to the bigger town pools just for that reason, often when I go I have the swim lane to myself (there are never more than 2 lanes open). Opening hours are short outside of the school holidays because it is there mainly for schools and other classes, but it is nice being able to go at my own pace without overtaking or being overtaken.
I would like to try the 50m pool in Rennes but haven't managed to so far.
I did 2kms yesterday, after a 10 mile run - 2.30m per 100m and 53 SWOLF, not really a great improvement but I think you need to swim at least 3 hours a week to improve and I spend too much time running!

Hello and HNY!

I need to read back and see what you lot have been up to.

I was unable to swim over the Xmas hols - well actually, it's more a case that my exercise time was limited so when I did have some time I chose to run.

But I was back in the pool yesterday and surprisingly had the lane to myself. Nice.

So, I've got the Great East Swim in 23 weeks so need to go from 1K (what I currently do twice a week) to 1 mile, plus some ows practise when it gets a little warmer.

I got a Wiggle voucher for Xmas and don't know whether to spend it on run, swim or cycle stuff.

64.5 SWOLF

I think. It takes me 37.5 seconds to do 25m with 27 strokes.
Move over Adlington!

Does anybody else have little private races with other swimmers? I find it helps make it more interesting - particularly if I win. I wonder if they realise I am doing it. I don't do it that often.

Jewel1968 yes, I do - and often improve my time when doing so! It's a good way to go faster. The same with my running club - when we do intervals it is always easier to go faster when running against others.

1K done, after a 15 min core session. Yay.

So, can more experienced swimmers recommend a good plan to increase my distance from 1K to 1 mile in the next 4 months or so.

Is it better to increase in small amount bit by bit, or to increase by a greater amount more infrequently. I know with running the say to increase either distance by no more than 10% each week. Is it the same with swimming?

Maybe add another 100m every other week or so?

I used the 10% extra a week approach ish rights when I worked up to a mile in the pool. Just added a few more minutes in the pool and or lengths depending on how I was feeling. I was working towards a swimathon mile challenge a couple of years ago. I’ve since dropped back to normally doing a km now but I can pull out 64L if I have too.

jewel I normally play the “chase the slow bloke” game if I’m in a lane with the dude that doesn’t see why they should let you pass it’s great sprint training as I give them 5-10m head start then close the gap before the end of the lane, but can only do it if no one else is waiting at the lane end to start.

It feels a little naughty racing with people who don't know you are but fun. I particularly like being in the 'medium' lane and racing the burly blokes in the 'fast' lane and beating them. You have to take your pleasure where you can.

4.84k tonight

31.68k / 100k done.

3.52k tonight

35.2 k / 100k done

I thought one of the swimmers last week was stealth racing me at one point. I did rise to the perceived challenge (red mist came down!) but I've only been swimming again for just over a week so I don't have the stamina or the fitness yet to win. I gave her a knowing look and a chuckle at the end but she didn't respond so maybe I'd imagined it. It gave me a bit of fun though and if I see her again I'll be keeping a close eye on her and hopefully be hot on her heels

Stealth racing - love that description. It keeps us all on our toes.

Do you ever find that your swimming is not very smooth. Some days I feel like a ballerina in the water and other days my technique is disjointed. Yesterday I felt clumsy and that it was hard work. If I really concentrated I could swim more elegantly but it was an effort. And I have no idea why. I would say it happens about 20% of the time.

That happens to me too @jewel1968, I don't know why. I've started keeping a swim log to see if I can see any reason for it. I thought at first it might be because I am also doing 16:8 fasting and that my better days were in the afternoons after lunch rather than in the mornings while fasting but I had a good session this morning on an empty stomach, so perhaps it's not. I seem to remember in the dim and distant past (when I went to the gym 3 times a week and cycled 15 miles a day - wish I could do it now!) That the same thing happened and I never got to the bottom of it then.

Jewel I get that too sometimes, it doesn't relate to how often I swim or if I've eaten (I never eat breakfast and run fasted every morning). Co ordination seems to be missing sometimes, no idea why.
I'm often better after a water break, I usually try and drink some water after the first 1500m.

Jewel I get that all the time today it felt like I was swimming in mud! It seems to be when I concentrate to much on my technique rather than just swimming.

Does anyone have an suggestions for some new googles, mine have started irritating my eyes and once out of the pool they are all red and sore where my googles have been?

I use Speedo flexiseal. Best goggles I have used.

One of the things I like about swimming is that you can always focus on technique which helps distract me from the hard exercise.

That's why I get frustrated when my technique is clumsy. I think I am better in the morning but God I hate swimming in the morning.

I need prescription googles and have aquasee ones which have been my best. They are tighter, but no leaks.

Am gutted because I seem to have injured my knee It's slightly swollen and hurts on the outside of my leg. Ffs whenever I get into an exercise routine I get injured, running gave me shin splints, ballet gave me Achilles tendon it is and yoga knackered my wrists. I thought I'd be safe with swimming

Tendonitis!

Oh dear pants hope you feel better soon.

Busy lane tonight and I was the slowest as it was big public pool where the choice was breaststroke lane or FC lane with big blokes. I chose the FC lane and they were really nice guys I just moved over at the end every 3L when they powered past . But oh I missed my nice quiet pool, I only did the session tonight because younger DD has joined swim club and it started to rain hard just as I was about to go for a run after dropping her at the pool.