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.

I hardly did any swimming last year. Hoping to rectify that this year but currently at the stage where I'm reluctant to go as don't want to face how much my swimming fitness has dropped off!

Ooo, you are the bomb!
I guess if you replace your swim sessions for my running sessions then that's me.

I have let my swimming slip a lot. The pool changed after lockdown; often very busy, crappy showers not being fixed, sessions cancelled at the last minute, they never reinstated the 9-10pm session. I understand the leisure centre is under strain, but I chose not to bother with it.

Then I let my membership lapse.

But I do enjoy it and know it's beneficial. I have entered a sprint tri in May.
I also go OWS when I can (rarely!).

I need to get back into a routine really, so maybe this thread will motivate me to do so.

I think you're pretty fast! I swim 1K in about 27 mins, so I am definitely not fast.

Can I join please? I'm pool swimming at the moment, managing once a week which is all I can fit in around work and childcare. I usually swim for about 45 minutes. I used to swim breast stroke only but had some lessons and am now working on my front crawl. I live by the sea and I'm hoping to do some sea swimming once it warms up a bit.

Yes. I think we just lost what we do, want to do and share tips etc.

Post not lost sorry

Maybe we can all share our sea swimming progress?

@TheOrigRights
1km in 27 is great!

Can I join?
I've been swimming as my main exercise for about a year. Used to swim competitively as a child but wasn't super serious about it.

I've signed up for the Swimathon 5k challenge and am following their 10 week training plan. I try to swim 3.5 - 4k per session, but sometimes I swear the water is uphill !

@MagpiePi
That sounds like a great challenge. How many times do you swim per week. I have an uphill swim lane too I think.....

I go three times a week.

I am really pleased with my progress. A year ago a could barely swim 50m fc (I much prefer bs) and deliberately chose to attempt the swimathon doing fc, so am chuffed at being able to do these kind of distances.

I think of all sports for me swimming is the one that gives me fastest results (depending on what I put into it. )
At the moment I'm working on fly and getting g a bit better/ more confident.

Hello all, can I join? I learnt to swim as a child, but have haven’t done much swimming as an adult until this year. I do FC, I started off doing a head out front crawl, chucking myself from one end of the pool to the other and being totally knackered after a couple of lengths! I’ve managed to sort out the breathing, which has been amazing, and now my head is in and I’m breathing in every 3 strokes. I’m now doing 1.6km around 3x a week in about 47 minutes… 1km in just under 30 min.

I need to work on almost all the aspects of my FC though! Thinking about getting some improver lessons. I can’t do breaststroke at all, I just sink!

My 7 year old has been having 1:1 lessons since she was 4 (she’s deaf so can’t access big groups easily) and I’ve been asking her teacher for tips 😂 I’m really hoping she’ll stick with swimming as she grows up, she’s getting really good but is often knackered after school (concentration fatigue). So I’m trying to be a good role model for her! Taking the kids swimming on Sunday so I might get her to teach me breaststroke!

Yes / with FC it's the breathing!!!
Good training session this morning (2.4 km in an hour, with drills) but my goggles have started to leak and I have one very blurred bloodshot chlorine filled eye!!! Yikes!

I am the opposite @nomorespaghetti , I find front crawl really hard work, but breast stroke is much easier for me - I could keep it up for ages, but it's also very slow.

I find with front crawl you have to relax to get the breathing right. My routine is usually 20 mins FC and then 20 mins alternating back stroke with front crawl.

I find it takes 20 mins of swimming to get the calm feeling swimming gives me. If I am struggling for time I will just do 20 mins and it's enough to get the mental benefits.

Breaststroke kills my back and I ain't very good at it.

Did my longest swim of the year so far on Friday morning, 2km in just under an hour, FC. Really enjoyed it. I know what you mean about it taking a while to get the calm feeling @Jewel1968, takes a while for me to get into the swing of things.

Took the kids swimming this morning, which was fun. My 7 year old is doing really well. I did some breaststroke widths (of the baby pool 😂) under her supervision! Very slowly!

I am going for an evening swim tomorrow, which I’m a bit nervous about, as I always think the serious swimmers go in the evening. I usually go in the mornings, and it’s pretty relaxed.

Club swim this evening (just an hour but the focus is on sprints and technique so it's quite hefty).
Have finally found a pair of Goggles that don't leave owl face or leak - Speedo Aquapulse.
My fly leg was awful but BS much faster.
A group of us are talking about taking on an open water challenge this year - maybe Coniston which would be amazing.

That sounds amazing ginger, love the lakes.

I did 2km FC yesterday evening, which was lovely, especially after the pool thinned out a bit. Very calming. Took me about 1km to properly relax into it.

Attempted 1 length of BS after my 2km. Did not work out! Just kept sinking 😂 went about 10m then switched to FC when I felt like my feet were cramping!

Won’t get another chance to get to the pool this week and I’m already missing the calming effect.

I get crampy feet when I do a lot of BS too!

I was getting crampy twinges in my calves with fc so have been experimenting with some electrolyte replacement drink - equal fruit juice and water and a pinch of salt. But, yesterday I had a marmite on toast just before leaving for the pool, and had no twinges at all. I love marmite!!

Hello swimmers of mumsnet, how is it going? I’ve been really enjoying getting back to swimming this week after half term. Did 2.2km FC in 1 hour yesterday in a very busy pool. Much prefer the ladies only swimming session, where people are much more polite in the lanes, but it’s 9-10pm, which is a bit late for me, I struggle to fall asleep afterwards.

Yesterday was a bit of a nightmare with the lanes - they only had a slow and medium lane open, both double width, and the other lanes were for school swimming lessons. Quite a few slow swimmers in the medium lane, then very splashy men aggressively overtaking. Overtaking obviously fine in a double wide lane, but one man yesterday would try to overtake someone already overtaking, and end up nearly crashing!

I’ve been trying to keep my head more in line with my body in FC, looking down and forwards rather than up and forwards. Really made things easier, but less able to spot the oncoming overtakers!

Hello @nomorespaghetti .

Our local pool is shut due to hot water issues. I need to decide whether or not to go to the more expensive but not so good and further away one instead. I’ll probably give in on Monday 😁

Excitingly we’ve been told that the lido is opening on 1st April.

I’ve been doing 2km of breast stroke 3 times a week, one of which is before work. It suits me.

Slow swimmers in the medium lane is so frustrating. At least they weren’t chatting (I hope).

In our local pool early this morning and it was absolutely Baltic!!!
Three women in the fast lane (me included) all racing up and down doing front crawl. (Probably because it was so cold). No blokes. Quite fast, quite competitive. Really enjoyed it and did 2.5 km.

Just back from my first swim this year after a tough couple of months healthwise.

A slow short session which was cut short as the guy I was sharing a lane with was behaving like he had the (double) lane to himself. I was swimming with by body practically touching the lane divider & he managed to hit me twice!

Going swimming in a pool really does remind you that the world is set up for men & they expect the rest of us to get out of the way.

In one of the other lanes there were two men swimming at a snail's pace, chatting & expecting everyone else to work round them.

@sazza42
I have had this problem historically and watched a lady this morning in the next lane being sprayed by a bloke doing an incredibly splashy front crawl. He was quite fast but had lousy technique and was practically barging into her.
I have had better experiences this year with some chatty well mannered guys in the fast lane, including this morning. Sometimes if they are going at a faster pace it benefits me. Did 74 lengths quicker than normal (in 40 mins).