Starting swimming, any advice?

Dano said:
When you say 64 laps you do mean 2 lengths per lap right? If so how long is your pool? Making me feel really slow :(
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1 length, sadly I'm not that fast!
To me lap and length are the same thing. If you run a 400m track you have done 1 lap, if you swim a 25m pool you have done 1 lap. In road running every 1 mile or 1km is a lap in general, but if you run the same course multiple times then each time is a lap. Some people misleadingly think that a lap means you have to come back to the same place, which is not a requirement, just a common occurrence when running in a circular track.
 
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I am surprised at my progress. I remember when i picked up swimming in 2010, the first few times I struggled to get to 30 length and getting to 60 was a big achievement. I completely failed at front crawl and did most lengths breast stroke and back stroke.

Now I have quickly got to 60 lengths and i am finding front crawl somewhat easier and more enjoyable. Not 1005 comfortable yet and I have to stop at the end of each length after the first couple but it is going much better than i expected. Today I tried alternate breathing, breathing every 3rd arm stroke, and it went OK coordination wise. I did feel short of breath which meant the last 1/4of a length was a little awkward but I have soemthign to try for next time. Although I started breathing out in the water I tend to wait to the last second to breath out before rotating my head, which now seems obviously flawed thanks to this link:
http://www.swimsmooth.com/exhalation.html


I will probably slow down a little until I am more comfortable with alternate breathing. I figure it is better to get that drilled in first

I think I could have happily swam 70 lengths but the public access was closing
 
66 lengths in 57 minutes. A little slower today for a variety of reasons: my cold is worse, my legs were tired from a run yesterday and I was late so rushed down a breakfast and headed straight to the pool with an hour to spare. Whenever I tried to sped up I just felt sick.

Still, i think am getting the hand of bilateral breathing. the first few times were awkward but then it seemed to click, in fact it seemed to be almost easier than one sided breathing on my strong (right) side, and certainly easier than my left side breathing.I take that as a good sign.

Putting all the tips and techniques I have read in the last weeks together often leads to some coordination issues but when it all fits in place everything is very comfortable.

ran out of time before the pool closed again so couldn't hit my 70 length goal.
 
D.P. said:
66 lengths in 57 minutes. A little slower today for a variety of reasons: my cold is worse, my legs were tired from a run yesterday and I was late so rushed down a breakfast and headed straight to the pool with an hour to spare. Whenever I tried to sped up I just felt sick.
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If that 57mins with or without rests though ?

I seem to take about 42mins swim time breaststroke to do 70 lengths, but usually have 3-5mins rest time as I'm a unfit slacker.
 
Not too bad for a fat old knacker like myself I reckon, I've been dealing with injuries over the last few months so my swimming has been very sporadic, good base to go from for my 5km swim in late march though I hope.

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Flukester said:
If that 57mins with or without rests though ?

I seem to take about 42mins swim time breaststroke to do 70 lengths, but usually have 3-5mins rest time as I'm a unfit slacker.
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That is with rests, I just look at the clock before I jump in and again when I get out. I could swim breast stroke without stopping but since I am focusing on front crawl and getting a good technique I tend to need 5 seconds at each end to catch my breath and will take about a 30 second break every 10 lengths. what i started doing now is using breast stroke or back crawl as my rest to get my breath back.
 
Had a better swim this morning, 80 lengths (25yd) in 63 minutes including rests.

Front crawl was similar to last time. I think one problem i have now is that i am going faster and harder and although maybe my technique is improved forma few weeks back it doesn't compensate for the increased effort therefore I still end up needing a 5-10seocnd breather at the end of every single length! As I started to get tired I slowed down and actually found the breathing to be easier since I would expend less effort, so my last 10 front crawl laps were among the most comfortable.

Anyway, I reached a nice mental milestone.
 
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74 lengths (1850-yd total) in 55 minutes including rests. Ran out of time to do my intended 80 but was faster than Monday. i tried to slow things down a little and not take my 10 second breathers between lengths of the front crawl. It was a tiny bit easier but seemed to result in a faster time so must have helped.

So after a few weeks of swimming I am now feeling pretty confident and i am really enjoying the progress. Every time I hit the pool I seem to get a little better at technique, can swim a little further and/or a little faster.
 
I now understand why people warn about the cycling in a (endurance) triathlon. After my marathon training cycle running 10-14 miles is relatively easy and fun, and although I have a long way to go my swimming is improving and not a million miles form where it would need to be to finish a half iron-man. but my cycling sucks. Cycling 10 miles is really tiring for me and I start feeling sick, and then i look at my average speed and its barely 14mph, which would disqualify me! I just dont have the thigh strength or endurance. At this stage I would much rather run 26 miles again than cycle 26 miles, LOL
 
Hmm, hopefully the sort of thing that goes away after a couple of weeks/months of riding regularly. That or there's something up with your technique. I've known people who get tired quickly because their saddle height/position is way off and they're only using one muscle group, or because they're always pushing a gear that's too hard for them. I do find it a lot harder to guage my level of effort with cycling than running (still haven't got this swimming thing down at all), i imagine properly using a heart rate meter or power meter might help with that though.
 
The bike might need sizing a little but I don't think it is way off. I probably sometimes use a slightly too high a gear initially but as i tire I definitely increase my cadence.

i think a lot of it is to do with the traffic and road network. I can barley go a 1/4 mile before having to stop for lights, or wait ages to cross busy streets. There are lots of rolling hills but I can never really take full advantage of the downhill because there I will always be a light or sop sign. It is very frustrating getting to an actuated light that will sit there red forever because a bike wont trigger it, so I wait and wait until I can cross the road. I stop Strava for the obvious long waits but not the many small stop signs I have to slow down for or risk getting side swiped.


I think overall it is because I have a high level of fitness but not the muscles for cycling yet. Running is more in the caves, cycling more in the thighs IMO.
 
I remember an interview where one of the Brownlee brothers said that it's annoying because cycling tightens muscles you need to be loose for running. Think the IT band is the main one. There is a saying that on a well set up bike, you should be able to shift forwards slightly on the saddle to engage the quads more, and backwards slightly to engage the glutes more. Useful if you can feel one tiring quicker than the other.
 
Just done weigh in (wife is weight consultant)

9 Weeks in since starting swimming...

1 Stone 3lb lost
Body fat from 29.2% to 22.3%
Metabolic age from 59 to 43
Visceral fat (aka my beer belly) from 12 to 9
BMI from 29.4 to 27
Jeans size down from 38 to 36

How I'm losing it...

Not eating rubbish weekdays at work... two slices of toast for breakfast, and a healthy ready meal. So <600 kcal
Drink 6 Pints of water during day
Use sweetener in all hot drinks
No more snacks
Eat freely in evening (I've been still glugging 4 bottles of wine a week)
45 miles swam. Just over 1 mile per day 5 days a week (3000 kcal a week burnt)


My goal is by 12 Feb (going on holiday) to of lost another 14lb and get that body fat to 15%. Hopefully going to reach this by dropping all alcohol except 1 day a week, so around 2000 less kcal a week... upping swimming and starting some light weights.

Most pleased with my Met age going from old man to 1 year below my actual age :-)


*get addicted to swimming*
 
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