Author Topic: Learning to swim/improving swimming  (Read 82160 times)

ian

Re: Learning to swim/improving swimming
« Reply #450 on: 12 August, 2019, 10:35:31 am »
A couple of 2000m sessions at the National Sports Centre's 50m pool last week (also blessedly free of screaming kids) will shortly remind me how teeny the local 25m feels.

And blimey, the kids diving off the high platform into the diving pool, some awesome skills. I'd just depth charge the water at enough speed to break something of fundamental importance.

Re: Learning to swim/improving swimming
« Reply #451 on: 03 September, 2019, 10:09:46 am »
Still waiting for Final Instructions email for Swim Serpentine (21st Sep) so not sure of the exact format but guess it will be starting with a 2 mile swim and then picking subsequent 1 or 2 mile waves until I've clocked up the distance.

Training has (as usual) been haphazard but I did manage about 4h in total last week whilst on holiday in Annecy (luckily wife and daughter also like lake swimming) including 1000m in the lovely outdoor 50m pool at Marquisats although my favourite lake swim was at Talloires.

Will try for 10k over 3 sessions this week and same again next week and then have an easy week before the event itself.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Re: Learning to swim/improving swimming
« Reply #452 on: 08 September, 2019, 04:41:12 pm »
Will try for 10k over 3 sessions this week and same again next week and then have an easy week before the event itself.

Thu: 2500m
Sat: 3600m
Sun: 2000m (wanted to go for longer but lacked the willpower and the lanes weren't conducive to getting in a rhythm)

So only 8100m in those 4 days.

Plan:

Mon (09-SEP): 3600m 2000m - tired shoulders but faster including 7:20 400m in the middle of it which was a surprise
Wed (11-SEP): 3200m - tick - 13400m in the last 7 days, no wonder I feel tired. Managed a new (recent) PB of 7:10 for 400m which was a bigger surprise than the last one.
Fri (13-SEP): 3200m - 1600m - felt broken, weekend off should help
Mon (16-SEP): 4000m - tick - felt good too, could have carried on if I'd had the time
Wed (18-SEP): gentle swim before MiniGB's lesson - [EDIT] might push for 1k or more if I can be bothered
Sat (21-SEP): Swim Serpentine

Good news is my brother introduced me to a pool near Victoria that's relatively quiet after 8.30am. I'll look to sneak in a Friday morning swim each week on my way to work in the build up to November's 10k swim. Once Swim Serpentine is out of the way.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: Learning to swim/improving swimming
« Reply #453 on: 15 September, 2019, 07:55:53 pm »
Two sessions this week before my membership ends and I'm back to payg.

1500 and 1600m sessions, one in the evening, where I was  surprised at the emptiness of the pool.
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

Re: Learning to swim/improving swimming
« Reply #454 on: 21 September, 2019, 07:55:38 pm »
Done. 3h41 total swimming time.

Did it as 3 x 2 miles (you couldn't stay in for longer than 2 miles at any one time). 1h10, 1h14, 1h17.

First two sets of 2 miles felt great. Felt tired starting the 5th mile and did not entirely enjoy the last mile (except for the last 200m).

Forgot just how buoyant a swimming wetsuit is, and probably only did 400m of kicking in the entire swim (my shoulders hate me) so I need to ditch the pull buoy and practice kicking as November's 10k is in a pool (so no wetsuit).

Awesome day out. Great organisation (and the Super Six spoils you with a dedicated area and lots of camaraderie) and amazing volunteers all over the place.

"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Re: Learning to swim/improving swimming
« Reply #455 on: 01 October, 2019, 12:31:55 pm »
Woo, made it to 2nd in the leaderboard at the local pool. 17.16km (and only 420m behind 1st). Obviously doesn't count the 10km swim above either but then I've no idea what the person in 1st has done.

First time back in the pool for over a week and could only face doing 1km. Sets of 100m alternating between pull and full front crawl, aiming for 1:40/100m pace in both. That may have something to do with why I only managed 1km before the fuck-it valve blew.

6 weeks to the Marathon Swims 10k. Need to be doing 10km a week from next week.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Re: Learning to swim/improving swimming
« Reply #456 on: 19 October, 2019, 07:07:09 pm »
6600m in the last 3 weeks since Swim Serpentine. This last 7 days of supposed "training" has wiped out by a throat infection and annoying cough.

3 weeks until 10k Swim Marathon. FFS.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Re: Learning to swim/improving swimming
« Reply #457 on: 26 October, 2019, 03:06:32 pm »
2 weeks away, last swim was October 14th. Chest still full of lurgy.

I'll probably start and see how far I can get.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Re: Learning to swim/improving swimming
« Reply #458 on: 10 November, 2019, 03:27:30 pm »
I ended up doing a single 400m swim since 14th October. That's not great training.

Swim Marathon was today.

Did 1k (the minimum you could really do), got out and gave my chip in to one of the volunteers.

Maybe could have squeezed out 3k in my current state, possibly 5k if that was the event I had entered, but there was no chance I was going to do the full 10k.

Got a t-shirt and a lurid pink swim cap (good for open water stuff) and it was nice (but hideously expensive) excuse to swim in the Olympic pool.

As an event it's all a bit chaotic. I plodded along at 2:00/100m (which was the target pace I'd put down when entering) but there were people in there at the same time going at 4:00/100m and 1:30/100m. In just those short 20 minutes I was in the pool I hit the lane dividers with my hand about 4 times whilst avoiding people coming towards me overtaking too wide. Hard to get into a rhythm but probably easier when swimming at 1:45/100m and overtaking more.

I'll consider it for next year, but I won't enter anywhere near as early as I'll make sure I'm doing enough training. There were still places in the 10k available a few weeks ago. I'd want to have a CSS of 1:30/100m by then as I'll look to do a SwimForTri course at my local pool to get my technique sorted.

Having done the Swim Serpentine Super 6 event this year I'll drop back to just doing the 2 mile version for 2020 and going for a much better time (sub 1h and ideally sub 50m).

New goals:-

Get some technique advice/training at my local pool in the new year.
Swim CSS (equivalent to cycling FTP) down to 1:30/100m (i.e. 4k in 1h).
Sep 2020: Swim Serpentine 2 miles (sub 1h, ideally sub 50m)
Nov 2020: Possibly enter Swim Marathon 10k again, see where I am come the summer.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Re: Learning to swim/improving swimming
« Reply #459 on: 06 December, 2019, 11:10:21 am »
Grrrr.
Why is it so hard to share a swim lane? You'd think, we all go up and down, up and down, everybody is happy, but it doesn't seem to work like that.
I'm as much frustrated with myself for getting cross - you see, I know I'm a bit awkward to share a lane with when I'm doing mixed strokes or drills because I go at different speeds for different lengths, so I try to be patient and let others do their thing. I just ran out of niceness this morning.
Grrrr. Still. Grrrr.

Re: Learning to swim/improving swimming
« Reply #460 on: 03 January, 2020, 02:22:00 pm »
Entered Marathon Swim 10k again for this year (November 2020).

https://www.marathonswims.com/?rf=EvQqmaE7N

Will hopefully be lurgy free in the run up to it, will also only do the 2 mile Swim Serpentine this year, no real appetite to go back and do the 6 mile one again. I'll aim for doing the 2 mile swim a bit faster (under an hour minimum and ideally under 50 minutes). Have no excuse for not building up to it properly this time.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Re: Learning to swim/improving swimming
« Reply #461 on: 06 January, 2020, 12:05:24 pm »
First swim since doing 1km in November. Only managed 500m before I could feel my technique falling to bits. Will do ~1km on Wednesday as MiniGB's lesson has moved forward to a time when the rest of the pool is open, which is great my for training plan and also means we get home a bit earlier.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

ian

Re: Learning to swim/improving swimming
« Reply #462 on: 06 January, 2020, 12:19:29 pm »
According to my watch, I broke my swim record on NYE (a relatively modest 50*50m at the NSC, I usually do 50-60*25m daily, if I'm working from home, in the local pool). I'm sure I've done that many before, but I used more calories apparently. I mostly pass my boredom threshold around 50 lengths, but it was one of the days when the pool wasn't busy and the other person in the lane was matching my speed and everything seemed to come together so that I wasn't swimming like a bag of spanners. Fifty metres is also, in some ways, easier because you're not faffing around turning all the time, so I can zone out and contemplate important things like the pigeon that lives there, is it the same pigeon that's always there, does it just visit, does it have membership, etc? The staff there are so lethargically uninterested in anything I don't give them good odds of catching it unless it dies in front of them.

Re: Learning to swim/improving swimming
« Reply #463 on: 15 January, 2020, 10:05:17 am »
First swim since doing 1km in November. Only managed 500m before I could feel my technique falling to bits. Will do ~1km on Wednesday as MiniGB's lesson has moved forward to a time when the rest of the pool is open, which is great my for training plan and also means we get home a bit earlier.

Only managed 600m last Wednesday for similar tiredness reasons but did 1100m on Monday and shoulders didn't feel sore at all, only stopped due to the lanes suddenly getting very busy as the pool had messed up the bookings and two schools turned up at the same time so they stole an extra lane.

Will try and bash out at least 1km today, hopefully 2km, including 2x100m or so with fins (had forgotten how fast they make you go, but how knackering they can be at first).
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Re: Learning to swim/improving swimming
« Reply #464 on: 15 January, 2020, 01:20:01 pm »
Some irritating bloke was drafting me (swimming) while he was doing kick drill this morning. This Should Not Be Allowed.

(For clarity, I am not a good swimmer and this is a grumble about my rubbishness.)

Re: Learning to swim/improving swimming
« Reply #465 on: 15 January, 2020, 06:12:05 pm »
Some irritating bloke was drafting me (swimming) while he was doing kick drill this morning. This Should Not Be Allowed.

Reminds me of a time a few years ago when my swimming fitness was much better. I bashed out a 1:06 100m [1] only to find I was being steadily caught by someone else[2] who wasn't just doing 100m sprints.

1. Having borrowed some fins from another swimmer. I was able to do that time in my youth, have only seen a 1:20 100m in recent years (no fins) but I'm hoping to get back down to under 1:10 if I can.
2. One of the swimming teachers who just happens to be an ex national age-group champion. She used to do her warmup sets at sub-1:30/100m and it looked utterly effortless.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

ian

Re: Learning to swim/improving swimming
« Reply #466 on: 15 January, 2020, 06:37:41 pm »
I didn't think fins were allowed in pools, they can inflict nasty cuts if you swipe someone edge on.

First post-flu swim. Don't go, you'll drown says my wife, without looking especially bothered. I didn't drown.

It wasn't even hard work. Flu. Killer of millions, meeter of its match.

OK, I don't think I went very fast. I like to think of my stroke not being slow, but elegiac. Splashily elegiac, but elegiac all the same.

Re: Learning to swim/improving swimming
« Reply #467 on: 15 January, 2020, 07:56:13 pm »
I didn't think fins were allowed in pools, they can inflict nasty cuts if you swipe someone edge on.

"Fast lane" or "Fast lane with training aids".

But most of the time no-one cares if you're using them in the "Fast lane" as long as it's not too busy. Speed differential is the biggest problem. The fins themselves are quite soft, I can't see how you could cut someone with them even with a direct kick/swipe.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

ian

Re: Learning to swim/improving swimming
« Reply #468 on: 15 January, 2020, 08:04:30 pm »
It's like a paper-cut. I've seen it happen. Very horrorshow. Possibly they're more concerned here as we're close to Purley and its large population of resident vampires. There's only really one lane anyway.

I'm sure they tell you off at Crystal Palace too. Only Aquaman gets fins.

Re: Learning to swim/improving swimming
« Reply #469 on: 16 January, 2020, 12:34:12 pm »

Generally training fins/paddles are allowed in lane/club sessions only. But bottom line is the lifegaurds discretion (laughable I know).

Re: Learning to swim/improving swimming
« Reply #470 on: 20 January, 2020, 06:15:38 pm »
First swim since doing 1km in November. Only managed 500m before I could feel my technique falling to bits. Will do ~1km on Wednesday as MiniGB's lesson has moved forward to a time when the rest of the pool is open, which is great my for training plan and also means we get home a bit earlier.

Only managed 600m last Wednesday for similar tiredness reasons but did 1100m on Monday and shoulders didn't feel sore at all, only stopped due to the lanes suddenly getting very busy as the pool had messed up the bookings and two schools turned up at the same time so they stole an extra lane.

Will try and bash out at least 1km today, hopefully 2km, including 2x100m or so with fins (had forgotten how fast they make you go, but how knackering they can be at first).

It quickly builds back up. I did 2000m today with little fuss and could have gone on longer but chose not to as this week is supposed to be an "easy" week (whatever that is - still feel broken). No fins/toys on Wednesday's swim, just some more long plodding distance.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Re: Learning to swim/improving swimming
« Reply #471 on: 25 January, 2020, 09:58:56 pm »
Annoyed with my Garmin HRM-Swim chest strap so I bought a Polar OH1+ which clips onto the goggle strap and reads the HR via the temple. Will get to try it out on Monday.

Will need to do some magic to get it to merge the HR data with the rest of the .FIT file from the Garmin but that's something I can work on and try and automate.

Changes to timetable again at the local pool, won't be able to swim whilst my daughter has her lesson but it means I can smash out 30 minutes before her lesson and then stretch off properly in the spa pool.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Re: Learning to swim/improving swimming
« Reply #472 on: 27 January, 2020, 03:19:30 pm »
3k today, doesn't take long to get it back (I struggled to do 500m 3 weeks ago).

Bit sluggish as it was preceded by a 45 minute spin class and followed by a 5k run, then back to the same leisure centre to watch daughter in a schools swimming gala, back home now, then back to school to collect her and back to the same leisure centre for the third time in a day to take her to ballet.

Will mostly be dribbling and monosyllabic on the sofa this evening.

Tried the new Polar OH1+ attached to the goggle strap to get HR from my temple when swimming but managed to fail to start it properly (I thought it hadn't blinked twice so double tapped the button again without turning it off in-between - big mistake - so all I got was a single 3 seconds activity from the initial attempt. Oh well, it would only show how unfit I am at the moment.)
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Re: Learning to swim/improving swimming
« Reply #473 on: 31 March, 2020, 01:39:23 pm »
Suggested exercises you can do at home if you can't get to any real water to do swimming:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URS28C3GWQQ&feature=youtu.be
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Re: Learning to swim/improving swimming
« Reply #474 on: 31 March, 2020, 02:35:14 pm »
Suggested exercises you can do at home if you can't get to any real water to do swimming:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URS28C3GWQQ&feature=youtu.be

Possibly more useful than my gym's advice... :P

https://twitter.com/UofGSport/status/1244623630316769281