I do find at the start of a session breathing is awkward and i always feel out breath, but by the end it does feel much more natural and less of a problem, even when swimming harder. The real issue comes when trying to concentrate on some technique then i end up forgetting about something else. E.g. last week I was trying to push my arm further forwards but kept screwing up my breathing.Sometimes I even forget to kick properly I am so focused on trying to improve the catch/pull.
Starting swimming, any advice?
- Thread starter Scam
- Start date
Soldato
Do any of you have any links to good training sessions that you managed to find online?
Soldato
I seriously recommend trying the 2 breaths on one side, 3 strokes, 2 breaths on the other side.
It may seem tricky to coordinate but once I started doing it I no longer had hypoxia headaches from not getting enough oxygen.
It may seem tricky to coordinate but once I started doing it I no longer had hypoxia headaches from not getting enough oxygen.
Might try it next time. When i was learning to bilateral breath I would alternate lengths of 1 sided, 2 breaths on 1 side, and bilateral. It definitely seemed like a good compromise.
Thing is i am so used to bilateral now that when i try to go 1 sided that actually feels weird and too fast!
Had a good swim this morning. should have been my fastest swim ever, ever 10-length set was a few seconds than average and I had no slow sets (previously I would often get a couple fo sets that were 30-40 seconds slower than the average for no discernible reason). Stopped the watch after the last length hoping to see a new personal record but was disappointed to see it was 30 seconds slower than last Thursday. Looks like I took some longer rests before sets as my actual swim time was definitely the fastest (43:50 for 2250 yards,/2060m). That is fine, its just strange because I swear my rests were shorter than average as well.
Still, last week I would have been ecstatic to see 49:23 on my watch when getting out, and that makes 2 very fast swim sessions back to back. I think i have a bit more of the technique down: ensuring my arm pushes forwards once it enters the water and bringing my shoulder close to chin before initiating the catch.
I would also be interested. I spend a lot of time looking on different websites and especially youtube videos for techniques and sometimes see some drills. When I go swimming I keep to a fairly boring recipe of 10 lengths sets for 90 lengths total, the sets might go to 4+6 with a short break towards the end. Each set I try to work on something different, often using a float or snorkel to isolate some of the variables.
Not sure if posting these stats will work but I'm thoroughly enjoying having my Poolmate2 now. Having started swimming I guess like a year ago 
confused: ), I still haven't taken any lessons so I'm just learning as I go and going off what I was taught when I was at school 
I must take some one-on-one lessons and do some drills I guess..
It's a 27.5m pool and my watch only let's me put 27m or 28m. So I'm logging as 27m, so I get a free 0.5m for every lap? (not added above)
I'm still sorting out my breathing. I just get too out of breath doing bilateral. Towards the second half I resort to breathing every time on my right side which is so much easier. I've also been trying bilateral, but twice on both side as mentioned above. Breathing on my left side is just not great, I don't "trust" the breath so I think I hold my breath more and don't take in as much oxygen. Not great. All these sessions are in my lunch hour, usually twice a week.
EDIT: Forgot to mention that I've only got the Poolmate2 which doesn't upload for you. Takes 2mins to put in my data to a Google sheet, on which I've also set up some pretty graphs
confused: ), I still haven't taken any lessons so I'm just learning as I go and going off what I was taught when I was at school I must take some one-on-one lessons and do some drills I guess..
Code:
Date Time Cals Laps Distance Avg Strokes
Mon 27/6/16 0:31:56 282cal 38 1,026m 15
Wed 29/6/16 0:35:57 327cal 44 1,188m 15
Mon 4/7/16 0:38:15 312cal 42 1,134m 15
Wed 6/7/16 0:28:09 238cal 32 864m 15
Mon 18/7/16 0:35:32 337cal 49 1,225m 14
Fri 22/7/16 0:33:04 297cal 40 1,080m 15
Mon 25/7/16 0:44:33 371cal 50 1,350m 15
Tue 26/7/16 0:37:38 312cal 42 1,134m 15
Fri 29/7/16 0:35:00 312cal 42 1,134m 15
Mon 1/8/16 0:38:25 327cal 44 1,188m 15
Thu 4/8/16 0:44:10 386cal 52 1,404m 15It's a 27.5m pool and my watch only let's me put 27m or 28m. So I'm logging as 27m, so I get a free 0.5m for every lap? (not added above)
I'm still sorting out my breathing. I just get too out of breath doing bilateral. Towards the second half I resort to breathing every time on my right side which is so much easier. I've also been trying bilateral, but twice on both side as mentioned above. Breathing on my left side is just not great, I don't "trust" the breath so I think I hold my breath more and don't take in as much oxygen. Not great. All these sessions are in my lunch hour, usually twice a week.
EDIT: Forgot to mention that I've only got the Poolmate2 which doesn't upload for you. Takes 2mins to put in my data to a Google sheet, on which I've also set up some pretty graphs
so would that be the oasis 27.5 m outdoor heated pool Holborn (lucky ...) sun /environment can be a good motivation to breathe both sides
[I see they are part of Better company so I think my membership works - would like to try the olympic one, some time, too]
are they continuous lengths or with pauses ?
Do you look at poolmate as you swim so that you can try and keep individual laps ups to spec ie I should be half way down the pool by now.
The narrow (<2m) lane swimming I did initially (often with flippered women 2 abreast aggressively overtaking down the middle - unedited) was always anticlockwise so breathing on the right , not into someones oncoming arm, was the way to go, swimming clockwise still confuses me.
[they should keep the flippers segregated - too much wake]
[I see they are part of Better company so I think my membership works - would like to try the olympic one, some time, too]
are they continuous lengths or with pauses ?
Do you look at poolmate as you swim so that you can try and keep individual laps ups to spec ie I should be half way down the pool by now.
The narrow (<2m) lane swimming I did initially (often with flippered women 2 abreast aggressively overtaking down the middle - unedited) was always anticlockwise so breathing on the right , not into someones oncoming arm, was the way to go, swimming clockwise still confuses me.
[they should keep the flippers segregated - too much wake]
Permabanned
Best of luck at the triathlon tomorrow Shamrock, will be there myself in the 12.50 wave. What time is your wave?
If it's a similar time look out for someone on a bright pink Specialized Allez and say hello.
If it's a similar time look out for someone on a bright pink Specialized Allez and say hello.
Soldato
Best of luck at the triathlon tomorrow Shamrock, will be there myself in the 12.50 wave. What time is your wave?
If it's a similar time look out for someone on a bright pink Specialized Allez and say hello.
Good luck to you too.
I'm out in Wave 6 at 8.10am so I'm hoping to be finished before you start!
Speedo Dive-in event today : our teacher was Lizzie Simmonds 2008 Olympics
went through a number of exercises
- bouy between thighs, also ankles to conentrate on stroke
- stroke with clenched fist
- dragging water surface with fingers during recovery (vertical hand)
- speedo biofuse hand paddles (nice, not too bulky but helped educate on hand posn)
- snorkel (could not get on with this, being able to breathe anytime is bizarre)
- float out front for kicking (she stressed flexible ankles)
- float out front alternately grasping with right/left hand (catch up exercise)
good teacher, good fun.
[event was as Peterborough Thorpe park , not to my taste , badly lit/gloomy, pool cloudy, would not get out of bed for this as my local - anyone ?
need TripAdvisor for pools]
went through a number of exercises
- bouy between thighs, also ankles to conentrate on stroke
- stroke with clenched fist
- dragging water surface with fingers during recovery (vertical hand)
- speedo biofuse hand paddles (nice, not too bulky but helped educate on hand posn)
- snorkel (could not get on with this, being able to breathe anytime is bizarre)
- float out front for kicking (she stressed flexible ankles)
- float out front alternately grasping with right/left hand (catch up exercise)
good teacher, good fun.
[event was as Peterborough Thorpe park , not to my taste , badly lit/gloomy, pool cloudy, would not get out of bed for this as my local - anyone ?
need TripAdvisor for pools]
Soldato
Best of luck at the triathlon tomorrow Shamrock, will be there myself in the 12.50 wave. What time is your wave?
If it's a similar time look out for someone on a bright pink Specialized Allez and say hello.
How did you get on? I wasn't really feeling it two weeks after an Ironman. I wanted to give up about 200m into the swim!
I definitely prefer the rolling swim starts to the cluster-**** mass starts.
Permabanned
2.49.11, a little over 10 minutes quicker than when I did the Salford Triathlon in 2013 so happy with the result.
My swim was 36.45 compared to over 43 minutes at Salford, smashed it on the bike in 1.09 but ended up with cramp on the run and the heat was horrible and my run was 54.49 where as I'd managed just over 46 at Salford. So I know that without cramp next time and better weather I can aim for sub 2.40 next time I do the Standard Distance.
Know what you mean about the swim as well, got smacked a few times at the beginning and couldn't quite get into a rhythm quickly but really happy with the time but want it to be a little quicker next time.
It was two weeks for me after running the Snowdonia Trail Marathon so not the best preperation and it probably affected my run a lot as well as everything else.
How did you get on?
My swim was 36.45 compared to over 43 minutes at Salford, smashed it on the bike in 1.09 but ended up with cramp on the run and the heat was horrible and my run was 54.49 where as I'd managed just over 46 at Salford. So I know that without cramp next time and better weather I can aim for sub 2.40 next time I do the Standard Distance.
Know what you mean about the swim as well, got smacked a few times at the beginning and couldn't quite get into a rhythm quickly but really happy with the time but want it to be a little quicker next time.
It was two weeks for me after running the Snowdonia Trail Marathon so not the best preperation and it probably affected my run a lot as well as everything else.
How did you get on?
Soldato
Nice one. Will you do any more? Full Ironman?
I'm happy enough with my result considering but I think if I wasn't freaking out at the start of the swim I might have done it in under 30mins.
Swim - 31:07
Bike - 1:00:11
Run - 41:51
Total - 2:19:52
I ranked 125th overall.
I liked the giant inflatable pig buoys. Much easier to see than those in the Ironman.
I'm happy enough with my result considering but I think if I wasn't freaking out at the start of the swim I might have done it in under 30mins.
Swim - 31:07
Bike - 1:00:11
Run - 41:51
Total - 2:19:52
I ranked 125th overall.
I liked the giant inflatable pig buoys. Much easier to see than those in the Ironman.
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Permabanned
Nice one. Will you do any more? Full Ironman?
I'm happy enough with my result considering but I think if I wasn't freaking out at the start of the swim I might have done it in under 30mins.
Swim - 31:07
Bike - 1:00:11
Run - 41:51
Total - 2:19:52
I ranked 125th overall.
I liked the giant inflatable pig buoys. Much easier to see than those in the Ironman.
Good work, I'd like to go sub 2:20 eventually myself. Ironman is on the cards for 2018. Plan is Salford Triathlon July 2017, Ironman 70.3 Lanzarote September 2017, Ironman Bolton July 2018.
And those big red pigs were amazing, really easy to spot. I have a lovehate relationship with the swimming as it's good when I'm settled and feel calm but when it goes wrong it goes to pot and it's horrible. I can grin and bear the bad parts of a cycle/run easy enough as you can still move whilst struggling and don't freak out anywhere near as much.
And that's a bloody good ranking!!
Soldato
Cheers!
I think it's the lack of warm up. You're expected to go 0 to 60 instantly with only a land-based warm up.
In both the HIM and IM I had time before the race to get into the water and actually swim to warm up.
I think it's the lack of warm up. You're expected to go 0 to 60 instantly with only a land-based warm up.
In both the HIM and IM I had time before the race to get into the water and actually swim to warm up.
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Certainly is. It's a great pool, but ironically in the summer weeks whenever the kids are out of school it's pretty hideous and I tend to either not bother or get relegated to the indoor pool! Looking at the ladies sunbathing is nice, but dodging the morons in the middle lane, or trying to keep up with the furious/angry swimming in the fast lane is not much fun
Generally I do 2-4 lengths then a quick rest. My breathing isn't good enough to go continuous yet, which is really holding me back. I think my other main issue is that my ankles are really not flexible and I do occasionally get cramp. Trying to flex my ankles in the water makes me nervous of getting cramp in my feet as has happened a few times. Not so much anymore - but it probably means I don't have such a good foot position.
The Speedo Dive-in looks interesting, I'll have to investigate. That's exactly what I need! I think somebody asked the same thing a few pages back, but is there a guide online somewhere that goes through drills.. when to do them, what they're for etc? I see the better swimmers doing kick drills, using hand flippers and buoys between their legs but I'm hesitant to try because I have no idea what I'm doing
Kind of Good news. Yesterday I had my fastest ever swim over the 2250 yards I test my self with. Last week I had lots of fast sets but seemed to send longer testing between sets. So I ended up doing some bigger sets and so less of them to see what would happen. I also wanted to work on endurance a bit instead of just doing my usual 10 le gth sets I did a couple of 20 length 500 yd sets.
Total swim time went down to 48:37. So only 11 seconds faster than my record but it's nice. The thing is the sets were swam slower of course being more tired and less tested.
Still good to make some progress. Hoping to bring my average swim time under 45 minutes by November because then I will decide on where to do an Ironman next year or 2018
...so I felt much better after watching the womens 10k wild swim , 10K meters in ~2hrs - that would be about 4x faster than my typical 2.5K in ~1 hour
(probably need to check I can do 100m in 40s too, a marathon in 8 hours that would work too)
The winner Sharon VAN ROUWENDAAL and other two looked genuinely pleased to win too, I think there is less cynicism in the younger winners across all domains.
(probably need to check I can do 100m in 40s too, a marathon in 8 hours that would work too)
The winner Sharon VAN ROUWENDAAL and other two looked genuinely pleased to win too, I think there is less cynicism in the younger winners across all domains.