Swimming - sense check on times

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Hi,

I've just started swimming, as in 'doing lengths for exercise', I've been able to swim since I was a child.

Firstly a question on lanes - keen to get views on which lane a 50-55 second length swimmer should go in? It seems to vary a lot pool by pool,eg the pool I went to this morning I was at risk of being overtaken by slightly aggressive men in the slow lane, that's not right is it? It's a university pool, whereas in standard 'community's pools the slow lane is normally full of slooow breaststroke so I would aim for the medium lane.

And secondly, I did 32 lengths today, taking a minute break after each block of 8. This felt right. To improve should I be aiming to go faster, do more lengths between breaks,try breathing less often (a friend was telling me about hypoxia training), or should I just crack on with my 32 lengths as regularly as I can and not worry about improving as it'll happen naturally?

I'm mid 40s, doing this for general health and wellbeing primarily,though if I lost a few kilos on the way I would be chuffed.

Thanks for any advice!

Hypoxia training? Whata loada bollox!! Hypoxia is when the brain gets starved of oxygen...can't see that being very beneficial to health!
Speed will improve cardiovascular fitness, doing more lengths will improve strength and stamina. Ideally you probably want to try and gently increase speed and add more lengths as you get fitter. Maybe add one length per week, and increase your speed by 10 seconds per length, so if one if one length currently takes 2mins, challenge yourself for 1min 50 secs...but only if you are comfortable doing this.
Re lanes no one can tell you which lane you should be in, as it depends on the other swimmers, sometimes our slow lane is quite a pace, sometimes it's very much for beginners or 'blobbers' (swimmers who go for a gentle swim with mates and then chat whilst blobbing about in the water at the shallow end!).
I think common sense should prevail with which lane suits you best. I normally start in the fast lane, and then as I get more fatigued move over to middle lane and then do some blobbing in the slow lane as a nice way to 'cool' down.

My pool asks you to book into a specific lane. Their guidance is if you’re quicker than 30 seconds per length, fast lane; 45-30 seconds is medium lane, more than that is the slow lane. For a 25m pool.

Never heard of hypoxia training, but does your friend just mean improving your breathing technique?

If you’ve not been a regular lane swimmer I bet a few sessions 121 with a coach would do wonders for your technique, and therefore speed. I see tonnes of people splashing about using a tonne of energy creating literal waves, but it’s so messy they’re really slow.

Fix that and they’d be faster and able to go longer. I’m sure that would make it easier and more fun to get fitter.

If you are in the slow lane and you are being overtaken, that's just the way it is and the faster swimmer should just move to the faster lane. At our pool it really varies according to who is swimming. Some days the "fast" lane is someone like me - average swimmer and other days I'm in the slow lane becuase there are lots of "proper" swimmers training.

I would be aiming to build up both speed and stamina. You could alternate - aim to go faster for 30 lengths one day, then go slower and do more lengths the next time.

Depends on the pool

Im a 50 second swimmer and got told off for being too fast for the medium lane, so i go in the fast lane . But it's double width and the faster swimmers go up and down the middle of the lane and it works out ok.
If i go to the olympic pool i tend to go in the 2nd lane out of 8, but the lanes are only single

I swim a kilometre in about 32 minutes and usually swim in the medium lane. My pool has lots of older, very slow swimmers in the slow lane so that would be too slow for me. But like someone has already said, take a look before you get in and try and guage where you best fit in terms of speed.

I tend not to take breaks and just swim the whole lot without stopping, but I've been swimming for years now and built up to that. Maybe take fewer breaks as you build your fitness?

Check with your pool as they will probably have guidance (like a pp ours is 45-30s a length in the middle lane).

Technique matters hugely for swimming as water resistance is so significant, so getting feedback and doing drills to improve your position in the water and ensure you are breathing and moving efficiently is likely to have far greater impact than trying to push harder or further just now. Practice makes permanent so getting the basics right from the start is important.

There are lots of videos about technique (I like the effortless swimming ones on YouTube) which may help.

However I find what I think I am doing and what I am actually doing can be very different - I think it's because there are few reference points in the water. So getting some lessons or joining a coached session will really make a difference.

I can go to the same pool at different times and be in fast, medium or slow. I just move as necessary so that I'm working with the others in that lane.
For training, you need to do a mixture of things, so some of your time going faster and some going longer. But as well spending time focussing on a particular part of your form, which might include working to breathing every third stroke in crawl, thinking about body rotation or whatever.

In my pool that would be the slow lane, mostly used by people who don't like getting their face wet. We also have a free area for swimming side by side and chatting. I do ~25s and am in the medium or fast lane, depending on who else is training.

I find doing a mix of strokes and drills is best for improving speed. If I just set out to do a set distance, it's boring and I swim slowly but it's good for endurance. I go to an open training session once a week that's of short of like circuits for swimming. That helps a lot

Thanks for all the info and tips, really helpful!

I'm keen to get a proper habit under my belt initially then will look at trying some more race speed lengths, also youtube for technique or maybe the odd lesson or two.
For now I'm just loving my new hobby so hope I can keep it up

The other thing I would say is that if you're swimming in a lane with someone who you know is a little faster than you, please give them the opportunity to pass you or go first if you reach the end of a length at the same time. It's so frustrating getting stuck behind someone who has no awareness that they're holding people up.

Which lane varies for me too. I tend to eye up the pool and pick which looks right on the day. I'm usually in the middle somewhere because I prefer to do drills and focus on technique rather than having to compete with the aggressive I-could-have-been-in-the-Olympics-y'know men in the fast lane.
If you are in the slowest lane with one other who is speeding round you, were they being cheeky and slipped into the empty lane (before you arrived) so they could enjoy the space to themselves even though it wasn't matched to their speed? It is on them to move up OP, so don't feel like you were wrong, although if the next lane was far too fast for him you need to politely co-exist and let him pass at the ends as he needs.

The advice given to me to improve my stamina was to first try to reduce the rest time between sets, then extend the sets, so maybe reduce your rest to 45 secs initially and then try for 30 secs? Once you get there, do 10 lengths but extend back to a 45 secs rest. It is also worth mixing it up by swimming all the strokes and different drills.
I third the suggestion of having your strokes checked over. I do adult lessons as well as swimming twice a week with a Masters group. Having someone poolside to nitpick your technique is invaluable and will make a huge difference to your efficiency. You will also learn a variety of drills you can practice when you go to a lane swim. I learnt to do tumblr turns in my adult lessons too, which is something I always wanted to do! At my pool, lessons come with free swim membership and are only £5/month than the actual swim membership - bargain!

I do 45 second lengths at the moment due to pregnancy and so I'm going in the "slow" lane. I also don't want to have some aggressive man stressing me out currently, so the slow lane is perfect for me 😂
In terms of improving, I'd say try to do a distance and then keep practicing and you'll notice an improvement quickly. I used to do 1km (50 lengths in my pool) in about 38 minutes a few years ago and then over only a short time reduced that down to about 35 minutes. You need to be careful you don't mess up your technique though and get injured!

I've just worked out my time per length.
I'm usually one of the faster ones in the middle lane at 45s /length. But I am way too slow for the fast lane!

I would overtake you if I'd sat on your toes for over a length, and you hadn't let me go past at either end. And it probably comes across as agressive as I have to put on some speed to get past you in a pretty small space.

I go for distance (I've got 2 hours to kill in town one evening a week). But a mixture of increasing the lengths before a break, some weeks of 30 lengths but push the speed, and some weeks that you try a more moderate pace, but maybe try for 36 lengths.

Sorry I dunno about improving. I just plod.

University pools have a younger cohort so can be 'faster' than community pools. But not usually many of the superfast in the morning unless you end up with club swimmers (students getting up early if not 100% required, are you joking?)

The stated "guidance" is irrelevant. A chain will state same guide rules at every branch but the rules don't work everywhere at all. Like I can be the fastest in a central London pool (WTAF) and fairly slow in some rural nowhere little town.

Time of day matters. 50-55 " to cover 25m would make you a slightly slower middle-lane swimmer in my local pool in morning, true medium in middle lane at midday, and possibly very slowest in middle lane person in evening. It also matters if you keep moving or stop a lot, and if you get alarmed being overtaken or get resented if you overtake.

Slow lane is awful for people who simply stop dead. Try to avoid if you want to keep moving.