Swimming for fitness (part 5). The pools are open again. Dust off your goggles and dive in!

[TheOrigRights]

We're so busy counting laps we didn't see part 4 fill up!

Everyone is welcome here.

[pearlsthatwerent]

@Countrylife2002 That's quite a regime! I do weights before swimming (just started this a couple of months ago). It's pretty tiring but I can only get to the gym twice a week, so it sort of makes sense. I am strictly breaststroke, and do about 1.5k in 40 mins.

[atlaz]

Today's session

300m front crawl
300m front crawl pull
200m kick with fins
100m front crawl
100m breast stroke

4100m front crawl off 1:45
1 minute rest
4100m front crawl off 1:45

50m breast stroke
50m pull
50m kick with fins
50m old English backstroke

[BonzoGates]

@Countrylife2002

@atlaz 2k x3 is what I’m aiming for, I tend to be quite ‘heavy’ the day after the gym , but I’m hoping that will improve as I get used to it. I’m not especially trying to progress fast through the weights, as swimming is my priority.

@BonzoGates i wouldn’t know where to start with the butterfly! Amazing!

I actually think I might be fighting a lergy, so will see how I feel tomorrow and take a few days off p’haps.

I’d like to get to do yoga daily. I really love yoga with kassandra. But at some point I also have to walk the dog and do my day job! I need to see if I can do it fairly soon after I get up I think, that would be such a good start to the day and I only do the short vids. Instead I sit catatonic with a full teapot at my side !

When I say I 'did' the butterfly, it was my pathetic first attempts to swing my arms out of the air. Shattered today!

[CharlotteBog]

I'm BACK! I have a squillion things to do, but I've been reading this thread. I'm so happy to see lots of new members and everyone being so encouraging.

After a hectic few weeks I am BACK ON IT. Did my 1K today and it felt good. I have that post hard exercise sort of ache. A good ache.

[Countrylife2002]

Well I did my first 2k today, I think approx 40 mins but I didn’t time it properly. Chuffed with that. Def works if I go as soon as I can in the morning. I think I was in the pool just after 9, and quickly had the lane to myself , which is the best for distance as I just zone out and follow that black line!

[CharlotteBog]

Ooo well done Countrylife, that's a pretty good speed.
I love when the lanes are not busy so you can just plough up and down in the zone.

[Panda89]

I did just over 1k today at lunchtime, the pool was super busy so I couldn’t do too much work on my freestyle breathing but managed a bit at the end of the session.

I find it so odd that the Monday lunchtime session is always packed - 4/5 people per lane, then the Thursday lunchtime session is always empty and I pretty much always get a lane to myself!

[MinnieMountain]

Yay! A fellow breaststroker.

I’m swimming once a week at the moment. Having to wait for the fast lane to slow down enough to use it is getting tiresome (the slow lane is REALLY slow). Hopefully our lido will open in a few weeks.

[Duoswimgo]

@Countrylife2002

Well I did my first 2k today, I think approx 40 mins but I didn’t time it properly. Chuffed with that. Def works if I go as soon as I can in the morning. I think I was in the pool just after 9, and quickly had the lane to myself , which is the best for distance as I just zone out and follow that black line!

Edited

That's great, and that's shifting too!

A very daft question for you "zone out and swim a good distance" people... How do you keep track of lengths..!? I find that even if concentrating on it I doubt myself after a while so wouldn't vouch it was accurate after 1200m 😆 My Fitbit tells me lengths after I've ended the session, but suspiciously it is often an odd number and I get in and out the same end... Is this just a practice thing or is there a method I'm missing.

[CharlotteBog]

@Duoswimgo I have a Garmin watch with pool setting, which works pretty well. If you fanny about chatting at the ends it sometimes gets in a funk, but generally it's pretty good.

Before that I would just count in 4s. I swim 4 freestyle and then 4 with a pull buoy so it's easier to keep track. If I lost count I usually had a rough idea based on how long I'd been in the pool. If it doubt obviously round up!

[Panda89]

I use my Apple Watch to track the lengths and it does a really great job. It even knows which stroke I am swimming which is cool!

[Duoswimgo]

"If in doubt round up" got it 😄

@CharlotteBog I think maybe as I move towards planning my sessions more and doing deliberate sets rather than my previous 'swim and hope' method it will be more natural to keep track.

[Countrylife2002]

@Duoswimgo I count, it’s kind of part of the zoning out !

I have been thinking about getting an Apple Watch but have read about some breaking when the seal wears out . But maybe at some point I will. We used to have SWIMTAG, and i did like it .

[pearlsthatwerent]

I use a Fitbit (Charge 5) which is okay, but like you @Duoswimgo I don't exactly trust it - and it's a giant performance trying to get it to come to life again afterwards (turning the water lock off). Am considering Apple watch or Garmin for when it breaks again.

[atlaz]

I had a Fitbit charge that was reasonably accurate at counting lengths but often used to drop the last 25m. It annoyed me that you couldn't manually update the workout if you'd done some kick length.

[atlaz]

I've treated myself to a new pair of goggles as my existing ones are pretty scratched up. I've been brave and gone for a new style so will give them a test swim later today.

[CharlotteBog]

Ooooooh atlaz new googles....so much at stake!
If I didn't look like an idiot I'd go for a full eye mask so as to protect the delicate skin around my eyes. Goggles cannot be good.
Ah well, I'll forfeit damaged skin for the benefit swimming gives me.

[sazza42]

Hope the new goggles fit! If they do, buy a couple of pairs. Well fitting goggles are hard to find.

[atlaz]

Not leaking at all, need to try them a bit looser next time and see if still no leaks. Think they were perhaps a bit tight last night

[Panda89]

I managed a continuous 1k of freestyle today which I’m really proud of. Warmed up and down with breaststroke so total 1.5k in my lunch break.

Re goggles - I have some pretty basic ones from Amazon and they are irritating me as my lash extensions touch them…. Does anyone have any recommendations for quite boxy goggles with a bit of room for eyelashes? I realise this is a very specific problem to have!

[Countrylife2002]

So, doing 5 days of exercise a week is making me feel really unwell. I’ve actually asked the GP for a blood test as I’m so sick of feeling so tired - exercise helps on the day but then I get to a point after a few days when I really crash, did that last weekend and now again today. So I’m now going for 2x swim and 2x weights a week and then at home gentle yoga in between. It’s frustrating to finally have the motivation at age 50 but not the energy!!

also frustrating as I find that 3x a week swimming is what helps me improve, but I do also want to do weights for my bone health as my mum has had both hips fracture. And I just can’t manage 3 swims and 2 weight sessions.

I’m saving up for some endless pool training sessions and I might invest in an Apple Watch eventually and maybe those things will help me steadily improve / track it.

[Duoswimgo]

Ugh that sounds really frustrating @Countrylife2002 . Hopefully you get to the bottom of why you feel wiped out. You are still doing so much though, I'm envious of your motivation!

I managed another 1200m/35mins yesterday, although it was less comfortable than last time. The slow lane was slooow, but the fast lane where I normally end up had a couple of front crawling blokes in. I did a test length in the slow lane and decided I matched them pretty well so moved into their lane. I don't know if it was pressure to "keep up" making me go slightly faster than I was comfortable to maintain or not, but I felt pretty sluggish for the last 15 mins after they got out and I had the lane to myself. Or maybe it was the conditions, everyone was well behaved but it felt like sea swimming at points it got so choppy 😆

I'm hoping to swim in the morning so I'm currently pointedly ignoring a developing scratchy throat...

[atlaz]

How long do you normally swim for @Countrylife2002 ?

I find 3 times 40 minutes a week suits me better than 2 times 60 mins even though total swim time is the same

[Countrylife2002]

@atlaz I think I swim 40-50 mins, I’m not sure. I’ve discovered that I swim better first thing so am swimming a little bit further 1.5k-2k. I did used to swim x3 week 1k which was fine so it must be the weight training addition that is knackering me. I only started doing this in Jan and I’ve never done it before so maybe it will get better. I think it’s also helping me swim a little harder and faster as well as further so maybe that also means the swimming is tiring me more . I don’t lift heavy weights, but these are totally new muscles for me (initially I could barely walk after doing squats!)

DD just helped me work out a new schedule without gym on a day before swimming so will see how that goes ! 2 days of each and yoga in between, I used to do a lot of short sessions of home yoga and I miss it a bit as I can’t manage it on the same day as a swim or gym atm (I used to do it after swimming no problem) .

I would really like to just swim but I think weights are quite important now that I’m getting a bit older . I take your point though, if I’m still knackered I’ll go back to 1kx3 a week I think and then build it up again as I get used to the gym.

@Duoswimgo the more I go the more I work out the best quietest times to
go! I go about 830/9 and it seems to be mainly women which I find much better.
men take up so much space!

[sazza42]

Had a heavenly swim this afternoon! Only 5 women in the pool. The lane where the knobhead shoulder barging lane hogging bloke usually swims was empty, so I don't think I'm the only person he's messed with 😂 It was so calm & lovely, I think I more or less managed a mile! Only the 2nd time ever for me.

The older lady I was sharing a wide lane with kept beating me with her doing head up breast stroke & me doing mostly crawl. I clearly need to sort my stroke & stamina out 😂