Possible to improve 30min distance w/only 30min sessions?
Former Member
Hi,
This is my 1st post.
I have been a fitness swimmer (off & on depending if I lived near a pool) for nearly 30 years, since my mid-20s when I taught myself to swim a mile freestyle non-stop. (I had a few pointers from a local swim coach back then)
My times have always been around 30 minutes, give or take.
I am now retired and have a year round indoor pool. It's short... 56 feet I think. 48 laps= 1 mile. Yes, it's a lot of flip turns.
I still do dry land, weights, pushups & chin ups etc.
But I don't like spending more than 30 min in the pool. Typically, it's mostly freestyle, with a few backstroke & kickboard thrown in...all nonstop & flip turns.
I went all out on Friday, and still fell just short of a mile :-(
My question: Is it unrealistic to expect to improve my time without spending more time in the water?
No Masters around here (Camano Island Wa), but I did hear a local pastor used to coach a Brazilian Olympic team...
ps I was just reading some threads here and found out the S curve stroke is no longer advised. Ha! News to me. Maybe that's my problem.
Guys, in my opinion, serious improvement is swimming a mile in less than 18min - I consider that's impossible to achieve by swimming only 30min a day.
An 18 min mile corresponds to about a 16:52 1650. Given that he is retired and other clues in his post, I'm guessing that he is in the 55-59 age group. 16:52 would shatter the world record for that age group (17:11). Anything under 20 would get him in the top ten for the year. I'd guess that 18 minutes isn't really acheivable under an swimming program for that age group but it would be some serious improvement.
Can he break a 30 minute mile by just training 30 min a day? I worked up to a mile in 30 minutes by just swimming a mile every day for about a month. I didn't have any serious racing background. I'm pretty sure he could do the same. I'd guess that a 25 minute mile is achievable with 30 min/day. Good streamlined flip turns are going to be the key to significant improvement. If you lose 1 second a turn, you are giving up 90-100 seconds per mile. Find a good flip turn/streamline video and learn to do it correctly (I think www.goswim.tv has some - also has some good stroke videos).
Check your math. At 56 feet, you only need 47.1 laps to make a mile. If 48 laps is exactly a mile, your pool is 55 feet long. If the former is correct, you might already be making it. If the latter, be patient... it will come. Do intervals. If I had started with the workout Ande laid out, I'd have acheived a 30 minute mile much faster than I did and I wouldn't have been nearly as bored.
Guys, in my opinion, serious improvement is swimming a mile in less than 18min - I consider that's impossible to achieve by swimming only 30min a day.
An 18 min mile corresponds to about a 16:52 1650. Given that he is retired and other clues in his post, I'm guessing that he is in the 55-59 age group. 16:52 would shatter the world record for that age group (17:11). Anything under 20 would get him in the top ten for the year. I'd guess that 18 minutes isn't really acheivable under an swimming program for that age group but it would be some serious improvement.
Can he break a 30 minute mile by just training 30 min a day? I worked up to a mile in 30 minutes by just swimming a mile every day for about a month. I didn't have any serious racing background. I'm pretty sure he could do the same. I'd guess that a 25 minute mile is achievable with 30 min/day. Good streamlined flip turns are going to be the key to significant improvement. If you lose 1 second a turn, you are giving up 90-100 seconds per mile. Find a good flip turn/streamline video and learn to do it correctly (I think www.goswim.tv has some - also has some good stroke videos).
Check your math. At 56 feet, you only need 47.1 laps to make a mile. If 48 laps is exactly a mile, your pool is 55 feet long. If the former is correct, you might already be making it. If the latter, be patient... it will come. Do intervals. If I had started with the workout Ande laid out, I'd have acheived a 30 minute mile much faster than I did and I wouldn't have been nearly as bored.
