November swimmies!

[Reesha]

I've been swimming since the end of September nearly every weekday and FINALLY after not being able to swim 12 laps of freestyle, I swam my first 2000 yards. I split it half breast stroke and half freestyle (1000 of each in a block). The great thing is that my freestyle breathing has become really automatic. Swimming is great-- I love it!

[shellkay1212]

That is AWESOME and INSPIRING!

I am in my third week of swimming. Dang, I can't even swim 4 laps without stopping. I've only been going 3 days a week...perhaps I should try and do at least 4.

I'm new to the tri training. This will be my first. But I have till at least mid-June.

CONGRATULATIONS and thank you so much for posting this!

[Reesha]

shellkay, I think with me it was a bit psychological... i really had to push myself past my limits. i started doing longer distances with strokes i was comfortable with first (breast stroke for me) and then i tried freestyle later. i think back to when i told the pool lady that she could teach me butterfly when i could do 1000 freestyle-- i did that for the first time weeks ago! still no butterfly... but i'm good.

[Selkie]

That's great, Reesha.

I've settled into a routine of swimming 6 days a week, including a long (1 hour plus) swim on Saturday. My goal for 2010 is to swim 2 hrs with minimal rest. I'm almost up to 90 minutes....

Is it a bad sign to be bummed out that the pool is closed on Thanksgiving? I suppose I could swim Sunday following T'giving (a day I avoid---"seniors" free, pool opens later so kids are there, it's very crowded -- circle swimming with 4+).

[Urlea]

I admit I have been a slacker since my 70.3 in June, followed by a really awesome experience swimming across a lake & back in July (2miles).

Since then the outdoor pools have closed and the lakes are too cool to swim in any more so I'm stuck to a dingy 25yd indoor-pool. That said after a 3 month hiatus I made the decision to get back on the swim wagon last week.

Getting back in the water was kind of like riding a bike, thankfully I hadn't forgotten how to swim free-style. It does however, take a lot more concentration and I find myself correcting a lot of poor form. All of those issues I had trained myself to fix over the summer, I kind of forgot. I went again on Tuesday this week and it is getting better/more enjoyable. Just have to keep going!

Good luck to those of you training to swim. It takes time, swimming one lap two years ago was so intimidating. You'll get there though!

[Bike Chick]

I learned to swim 2 years ago when I trained for a triathlon. Hadn't been in the water since until I got a stress fracture in my foot a month ago and had to stop running. Dr told me I could swim to keep up my fitness. I made myself get back in the pool and am surprised to find that I really enjoy it. You are right, Urlea, it comes right back and because I'm not training for time, I'm more relaxed and enjoying it more. I also bought a waterproof ipod case and earphones and love it!

Keep it up ladies, when I started 2 years ago I couldn't put my face in the water and making it to the other end of the pool was a major accomplishment (I would literally have a panic attack when I saw the black line go down in the deep end). Now I am up to swimming a mile 3 x week and increasing my distance each week.

I'm thinking of trying the triathlon again!

[Reesha]

Today I learned to do flip turns with the help of my fairy godmother, Caryl! After a few flips missing the wall, I finally figured it out Now I feel like a pro After I learned I swam 1000 freestyle and called it a day. Next week I want to move up to doing 2000 twice a week, but it will mean getting up even earlier than 4:55 AM.

[sgf726]

Awesome! I just started swimming again this past May when I decided to do tri's before that I hadn't really swam any distance since HS which was over 20 years ago. I was really surprised first time back in the pool how hard it was - I thought my endurance was great from running and biking but one lap was a challenge. I was able to build my swimming endurance fairly quickly but am very slow mostly because I am not swimming efficiently. I had a first session with a coach this week which was great as I knew that I was working harder than I should be and really needed someone to tell me how to fix it. He said I was working twice as hard as I should be, so if I can correct the issues I should be able to go twice and far and hopefully faster.

[badger]

I used to regularly swim 2-3x a week for the past 6 years, but since the beginning of season in early September, I've only made it to 3 practises. Being unusually busy and all my lanemates moving to another day/quitting it feels like a different club. I've been keeping up with the elliptical/treadmill/cycling, but I feel like I'm losing my swimming fitness. I went once last week and it was all I could do to just keep up.

[Susan Otcenas]

....This one is a Michael Phelps work out:

1x800
2x700
3x600
4x500
5x400
6x300
7x200
8x100

10,000 meters! Holy moly. I've just started swimming 2-3 days per week again. I'm 3 weeks in and so far my longest workouts are 1900 meters. They'll get a fair bit longer through the spring, but for now 1900 is plenty! Takes me about 45 minutes start to finish, including rest intervals.

I used to dread my swim workouts because they were so unstructured. But my new coach is giving me very structured workouts and it's amazing how fast I get through them. (By fast, I mean, the time seems to fly by. Obviously, I'm anything but "fast"!)

Susan

[zia]

Here's an "active recovery" workout my masters group did on Sunday. Loved it -- my favorite so far, I think!

1000 warm up
(400 stroke, 300 pull, 200 kick, 100 free)

12 x 50 @ 1:10

4x25 @ :30
100 easy (very easy; go right from the 25s into this, your active recovery)
4x50 @ 1:00
200 easy
4X75 @ 1:30
300 easy
4X100 @ 2:00
400 easy

8 x 25 @ :30, ascending

3600 total

[fatbottomedgurl]

Jen and Zia thanks for the workouts. They look hard! I generally just go in and swim laps.

So how does this hard work translate into a faster OWS? Do you find yourself able to swim the long distances at a faster pace?

How do you transfer into OWS training during the season?

[Susan Otcenas]

Jen & Zia - I have a quick question on the format in which you're posting your workouts. When you write:

4x50 @ 1:00

Are you saying that you are swimming each 50 at a 1 minute pace?

[Susan Otcenas]

Hi Susan!

that means.... leave ON the minute. So I swim a 50 faster (for me its anywhere from 40-48 secs), but leave the wall every time on the top.

So, if you swim it faster, you get more recovery time. If you're slower, less recovery time.

Got it.

My coach has been giving me pacing targets (like 4x200 @ 2:05-2:10 per 100) with a certain rest interval (like 30 seconds) in between each 200. I use the lap timer on my heart rate monitor to keep track of where I'm at.

[Reesha]

Ha, I wish I could monitor my time and MAKE SURE that I swim at a 30 second/25 yards pace, but I can't. Today i started by swimming 250 at a 6 minute and change pace (breaststroke) but each set of 250 got longer each time. I think it took me 26 minutes to do 1000 and then flip turns haven't really shaved any time for me for freestyle yet. All in good time!