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Cr@p Swimmers R Us
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Dunno. Never heard of it. I just get in, get wet, and get out a long time later.
Just work on drills as much as poss then once a fortnight warm up do a fast 400 and check your swolf for improvement works for me
I take it Swolf is your swim golf score?
If it is, then it's a good guide - but just that a guide - a should not be used in isolation
I think it is swim-golf. Which means feck all to someone who knows nothing about golf
I am doing drills and go to specific classes. So I'll just keep at it. Think I need to be a bit more structured this time. In the past I use to splash around get bored, get out. I am now quite liking flippers as i go faster
I'll try the 400m although at the moment I only have one speed at such a distance and that is slow.
Might be you don't get much faster but your swolf comes down therefore more efficient
leaving you more energy for the bike and run
Ah I see, that's interesting. I assumed you went faster the lower the score. As long as I don't drown that's a bonus
for those who monitor there SWOLF score, this is worth a read
http://steelcityendurance.com/swimming/what-can-swolf-tell-us-interpreting-swim-data-from-your-gps-watch/
Thanks makes sense .....sort of
Makes sense sort of personally I do drills for a couple of weeks then as I said I do a fast 400 and check my swolf / Times/ spl for improvement I think the key is that this will only work if you keep your PE the same otherwise your results will not be comparable. I have found this has brought my overall Times down and has also helped to eliminate the overgliding problem I had like anything it's a tool that can help but as already stated should not be used in isolation
We have been swimming with tri club coach Kathrin for over 5 years now and she almost always includes some drills in every Tuesday session.
I know I am getting better but it is very slow with swimming. Since going back about six weeks ago after not doing much for a couple of years I have knocked a minute of my 100m time. But I know it will take probably six years to knock the next minute off
I just have a couple of goals
1. Don't drown
2. Make it to the end of the swim before the cut off
Diva, with swimbling, the progress appears to be dead slow. Then someone points something out, you try it, the penny drops, and your pace has improved by a notch.
You then need to embed this new improvement, before the next new trick or tip.
I get the feeling that an absolute minimum is to swim twice a week, with coaching on one of those sessions. My daughter swam for the local club, they insisted that the minimum was 3 times a week, but as they improved they went to 4 and 5 sessions.
Diva - as Blisters says, swim progress is very stop/start for many. Also, don't underestimate the progress you have already made.
In my mind, I am still swimming the same as I was 18 months ago. I watch others swim and admire their grace and ease with a tad of jealousy. Then last week I swam in front of my Coach's wife (who had not seen me swim for ages) and she was amazed at the progress I had made. My Coach also video'd me swimming to prove to me that I was swimming as efficiently and gracefully as those I admired
It's very easy to be hard on yourself so try to savour the progress you make
A nice thought there Schmunks.
I am a fish
I am a fish
I am a fish
I am a fish
Relax and stretch
Grace and power
Thanks all. I have in the last few weeks progressed quite a bit but I suspect that I have just got back the technique I had lost. Believe me I am slower than a slow thing. I only learnt crawl totally from scratch when I took up triathlons and have only swum BS in all the tri's I have done. I know some people will have been in the same position as me.I think my BS is OK it's faster than my crawl and not as tiring but it does hurt my back
All the time I have been doing swimming people turn up at the sessions saying "I can't do crawl at all". Then swim over the top of me. What they really mean is they could do it at school but haven't done it for a few years. I can't wait until I am like that
I notice as well that no one wants to go up into the fastest lane. I would love to be thought of as good enough to move up !
MTB Diva. I hate back stroke with a vengeance. We've been doing it at the club sessions and I am THE WORST. Completely trashed by the end of 25m. If I'm asked to swim 50m I'll need fins. Honestly.
Last week we all had our stroke recorded and now I've seen it on DVD. We were given 12 questions and asked to compare it to Mr Smooth. The idea is to identify the specific areas for improvement. I am going to need an awful lot more paper to be able to complete my answers.
As for moving up a lane, my chances of that have just reduced. Although there are one or two newbies with each new season, some have stepped straight into lane 2. I will be residing in lane 4 for a bit longer yet it seems.
Well last nights session as always seems to happen about a trillion people squash themselves into the remedial lane. Then coachy comes along and turfs them out, not me though
. One fast person that insisted on staying in the lane a few weeks ago is nearly in the top set now. How can people gauge their ability so badly 
I missed two weeks due to holiday but it doesn't seem to have made much difference fortunately. I do have two speeds now for FC, practically static and very slow. But the BS is stil faster and more efficient than FC. I can see me doing this half IM a mixture of both strokes to be honest. I shall keep persevering as I do actually enjoy the classes.
It's ages to the summer. You'll be fine. Persevere, and things will start to click.
Don't persevere, and you'll be the same.
Silly question - i think i can front crawl ok - was 6th from last in a recent sprint tri but can plod swim up and down a pool for an hour. Anyhoo if i use a pullbouy between my legs I go the same speed as without; and if i use a float held out in front and just kick i go no where.
I find my legs just dangle uselessly and i have no coordination at all so what starts as a flutter ends up looking like a random juggle of kicks, jerks and thrusts.
Today i made an effort to practice kicks with the float but was gutted to be overtaken by a lady with 1 leg... Ok my legs are short but crikey!
I'm no expert but I have had the same problem with kicking. I do actually go loads quicker with a pull buoy though.
If I use a float like you I just don't move. The coach said to get a pair of fins. They have made a massive difference to my kick. They make your kick more like it should be so when you take them off your kick is improved. My pool will only let you use them when you are in a training session with a coach. You can't use them when members of the public pottering up and down are there. Not sure if that's a common thing at all. Elf & safety as they are a bit lethal if you get hit in the face with one. I have Zoggs fins that were about £12,
Thanks I hope so
MTB Diva, make sure you get timed for some of your swims. over time you can do the same swim at the same effort level and see if you improve. if you go on feel alone it always feels hard as we are always pushing to improve.
Charity mile swim today. Equal to PB of 35 minutes. Pleased with that, but I might have hoped for just a sneaky bit more. Lots more changes to make to the stroke.
At today's coached session I resembled a swimmer in the water. I sped up and down and after it was commented by a guy in the group above - a really swimmer!! - And the coach!
At the time I knew I was swimming well probably the best I have ever swum but no idea what I was doing that made me swim so well for me!
I had a similar "moment" on Sunday. Suddenly, I discovered more about the reach and rotate, and actually felt it being faster.
Practice and conditioning makes you a better swimmer, anyone who sticks to a consistent plan will generally see stepped improvements every few months.
What you experienced would have been some of the muscle programming reaping the rewards as your stroke develops and improves.
Keep at it and feed off the motivation, also don't be surprised if you take a step back again in another session, sometimes its 2 steps forward, 1 step back.
I was pleased tonight as well. Missed a few weeks due to the Festive Season and having to work some of it. I forgot my beloved flippers which I feel make me swim like a shark. Anyway I seem to do fine without them. I was only a few seconds slower. Looking back at my stats since October I have speeded up
I'm not sure if anyone has said it recently, but swimmng progress seems very stop-start. You can plug away for 3-4 weeks and not feel as if anything is changing, but then you get in the pool one day and something clicks. That becomes embedded in your 'muscle memory' and you move on to the next step
Then you plug away for another 3-4 weeks not feeling as if any progress is being made (because you've forgotten where you started from
), but then one day you get in the pool and something clicks. That becomes embedded in your 'muscle memory' and you move on to the next step
Then you plug away for another 3-4 weeks not feeling as if any progress is being made, but then one day you get in the pool and something clicks. That becomes embedded in your 'muscle memory' and you move on to the next step
Then you plug away for another 3-4 weeks not feeling as if any progress is being made, but then one day you get in the pool and something clicks. That becomes embedded in your 'muscle memory' and you move on to the next step
Do you get the idea
That's how it should be!
That shows you're not having to think about it (you've got the muscle memory) and therefore you will probably enjoy swim training more.
Remember this feeling so that when you're in the pool and you *think* you're having a bad session, think of that day and that you've clearly made progress