Starting swimming, any advice?

Tried Series 2 Apple watch today swimming, worked really well... though I slightly miss the always on readout of old garmin swim watch.

Best bit was heart rate monitoring. It know from last night my resting heart rate (I'm 45) is around 54. During swim I think it averaged 141bpm. I recovered quite quick after swim but it's taken all morning so far to get into low 60s

https://cardiogr.am/c/zw3gtx

You can see above about half way into swim at 50 lengths I tucked in behind a crawler and got a tow for the rest, my heart rate dropped off proving I'm cheating.

I think this is going to be a great tool :), plus it was quite surreal going through my work emails when showering after :D
 
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... currently waiting for a viable swim HRM myself

So what is the rationale behind no readout on Apple watch of heart rate, during exercise ?
(battery saving and lack of opportunity to glance at it whilst swimming - I failed to find an answer on the web and the watch seems too new for the trusted dcrainmaker to review it)

Did your garmin(735) have a hrm strap ? seems a good sign if the optical read on the Apple is as reliable despite water and arm movement.
 
a bump on this thread with a winter topic - your next challenge The Ice Km
an interesting bbc progamme on the latest craze, swimming a km in water at zero degrees
discussion of the physiology of body in cold water, apparently if you increase cold tolerance the region where you shiver and have warnings of irreversible 'damage' is diminished, plus most people in severe cold die as they are about to be saved.

.... more people climbed Everest than swam the channel.

also not sure what kind of freezer you need to generate ice for the ice baths suggested
 
Talking of cold water...
I decided to go for the first open water swim of 2017 a few days ago, without a wetsuit, was told the water was about 10 degrees, I didn't last more than 2km, was so cold my face felt like it was burning and I decided it was time to get out when I couldn't keep my fingers together anymore!
 
impressive ... is that with an available out ? or lengths somewhere .. I am not sure I could commit to 2k at 10c


I am thinking I need to get a nose-clip, had largely trained myself to just breathe (freestyle) through mouth and not use the nose, since with the slightest cold virus, had found using the nose exaccerbated congestion in the sinuses.
However over past bi-weekly swims this stratgey seems to have been less successful, so need to cut off any nose supply completely I think.
That is just breathing on every right arm stroke, and I am not ultimately sure how much capacity you might loose though, versus using mouth+nose.
Also tried breathing in through nose out through mouth but that did not help either.

Anyone adopted a similar nose-clip approach ? (recommendations ?)
 
Hi all,

I'm fairly new to front crawl having taken up triathlons this year and have progressed ok so far (self taught) but wanted some advice on changing breathing pattern. Currently I am breathing every other stroke (can do either side). I have a fairly slow and steady rhythm so as to not tire out before biking/ running. My last Olympic tri was a 35min 1500m ow swim.

When I breathe every 3 strokes (so alternate sides) I find myself running out of breath. Should I try speeding up my stroke to get 3 strokes between breathes or is it just a case of practising and putting the time in to get used to the longer time between breaths?

Are there any good videos/ podcasts online for swimming that you would recommend?
 
Swim.com is pretty good actually.

Speeding up stroke will make you more tired, I would consider working on extending your stroke and extending glide time.

I found a good drill for this was holding the glide for 1-1.5 seconds on each side. Kinda hard though as you need to keep the core really tight.
 
kicking this thread-
any other recommendations for prescription goggles ,
just renewed mine ~ 18months lifespan with the below, they are blue, better for inside


Also, vaguely related
HTC U11 - Selfies extrêmes avec Tom Daley

(now 'banned' by manufacturer/htc) I had thought this was going to be demonstrating fast video frame capture on a phone, but, was just selfies,
but anyway, the htc is not up to the job


40605724494_932a157e19_o_d.jpg
 
I'm good at swimming but have terrible technique I'm sure.

I was fortunate enough to have a pool when growing up so can' rremember not being able to swim. Been swimming 3 times this year and can pretty much start where I left off. Probably as I have the shape and muscle. Memory or something.

I breathe on the same side as I struggle with every other and have a set pace that I find difficult to break out of. But I'm fairly fast for no cardio in a year (except kayaking).

I love being in water but it' h when you don' h easy access to a pool
 
A rubbish piece of swimming pool architecture - shoot the architects
they just opened a new cambridge pool (right - hive @Ely) called in today, if only they had put more windows and natural light, just narrow windows on far side,
the image is too complimentary, but, a completely uninspirational place to swim

currently use abbey (left) miles better ambiance. ....


40212891990_ec3f9bceb6_h_d.jpg
 
Found the holy grail in swim watches ... most of the fancy ones need an inconvenient strong push-off to count lengths,
it would appear with this waterproof casio you just press a button at end of a length for a split time (and will record 60x 50m splits).

Available <£25. Anyone tried one. ? (I would have liked heart rate but do not want to wear a chest strap)

Casio Collection Unisex Adults Watch STR-300C
 
the horror ... the fog
any recommendations for a good process for no-fogging in goggles ?
current technique :
  • Cressi ant-fog sray applied sparingly 30 mins before hand
  • seal goggle on face with addtional spit
  • BUT, it is either the cold shower beforehand or the pool temp ... They fog up.

Lap counting
So Suunto smart watch (<£100) means I no longer count laps, and could concentrate on other things if I could see, too, or if there was radar built in to detect pool end , could nearly swim blind.
just press the button every time I reach one end, don't do flips ... and check the total occasionally
- best swim purchase, since ever (music next ?)

Heart rate monitoring
Also did first/trial heart rate monitoring (data uploads from chest strap after swim) when pool empty-ish
this was a surprise only ~100bpm 3km/hr (versus typical run/cycle 130/140) I had expected more

Am also playing with this free(non-comm) software, want to do some rem sleep analysis too.
Kubios HRV Standard
"Our world famous Kubios HRV software is a scientific tool for heart rate variability (HRV) analysis"
video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CdEoXGNt_c
so you can check out whether your parasympathetic(base functions) and sympathetic(exercise related) nervous system heart rate contributors indicate you are not overtraining.
 
For anti fogging I mix in a little spray bottle, half Johnson's baby shampoo and half water. Two squirts on each lens then when in pool a quick dunk of the goggles gets enough excess off and you're good to go
 
I use (sls free;)) johnson's at the pool for hair, so I can try that out -
I replaced the 2yr old bottle of cressi I had, and the new one is much better, so I think it may have separated in some way;
nonetheless johnsons's is cheaper..

... I always seal the google on before entering water ... red eyes for days if I get any chlorine inside.
 
jsmoke said:
So I have my core fitness now and flip turns are coming on, they fair whack your lungs though.
Click to expand...

Have never bothered with flip turns .. unless you are competition pools swimming, the don't make you 'swim' any faster, you just use a different muscle set for the turns...
it's much more satisfying to allow people to flip turn if they want and catch/pass them on the straight, and just refine/use your stroke on the complete length.
25m anyway, becomes pretty short if you burn up 5m with energy from a flip-turn.

...went to one of the speedos dive in free sessions a while back .. worth looking out for, for tips
 
Well i broke the goal of 2k now, next goal is to get 1.5km done in under 30mins, so need to slash 5min of my current time (all freestyle) my breaststroke is like a one legged frog.

The plan is just to do power strokes for as long as i can, Recovery swim with fists, recovery and repeat.

I get settled into a rhythm on the 2k and not necessary working as hard as i should, so hopefully this should gain me some more strength.

Also struggling to learn kick turns :(
 
more about diving ... radio4 podcast series - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04b61hh
introduced the Master switch of life https://kmccaffrey.com/2016/03/the-master-switch-of-life/

Today, freedivers exploit the Master Switch to their advantage, but it isn’t without risk. Here is what occurs in the body as a swimmer freedives:
First 30 feet: With the lungs full of air, the swimmer must paddle to descend.
Once past 30 feet: The pressure on the body doubles and the lungs shrink. The swimmer is now in neutral buoyancy and feels weightless. It’s here that something extraordinary happens—the ocean pulls the diver down. Swimming is no longer required.
At 100 feet: The pressure triples and the ocean’s surface is barely visible.
At 150 feet: The diver experiences high levels of carbon dioxide and nitrogen in the bloodstream, causing a dream-like state.
At 250 feet: The pressure is now so extreme that the lungs shrink to the size of a small apple and the heart beats at half its normal rate to conserve oxygen. Some freedivers report heartrates as low as 14 beats per minute
At 300 feet: This is where the Master Switch really kicks in. There is a free flow of blood and water into the thoracic cavity as the chest collapses to half its original size. The effects of nitrogen narcosis are so strong that divers forget where they are, what they’re doing, and why they’re in such a dark place. Hallucinations are common, as is the loss of motor control.
As a diver reverses and begins to ascend, the Master Switch also reverses. The heart rate increases and blood floods back into the veins and arteries and organs. However, the lungs ache to breathe and the vision fades. The chest convulses from the buildup of carbon dioxide. A diver must hurry or risk blacking out. If a black out occurs, a diver can stay submerged for up to two minutes. At the end of two minutes, the body will wake itself up and breathe one last time before death. If a diver has been rescued and carried to the surface by this time, he or she will inhale much-needed air and probably survive. If the person is still underwater, their lungs will fill with water and they’ll drown.
Click to expand...
 
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