Hey guys! I'm a skinny, unathletic 28yo that just started swimming. I swam on my own for a couple months and just joined a masters team (w/ coach) a couple weeks ago. I'm mainly doing this for fitness right now, but I would like to try and improve as much as I can. I'm very slow - around 2mins/100m in my attempts at "fast" sets :eek:. Doing anything more than 2:20/100 for any length of time feels like I'm killing myself.
I guess I'm wondering what reasonable goals would be in 1 month, 3 month, 1 year for an average person in my position. Is it reasonable to expect that I can achieve halfway reasonable times? I worry that I might be one of those people that just has a really low aerobic ceiling or something.
Also, how often should I be practicing? I've been swimming 3 times a week (an hour a practice right now, around 2000m). Should I increase this soon or wait? If so, how soon?
Sounds like a conversation you should be having with your new coach! There are so many variables so it would be hard to answer those questions without knowing more. For example, are your strokes technically sound? You'll find that if you can technically improve your strokes, you'll swim more efficiently, faster, and with less of a feeling of killing yourself :)
As a noob who just wants to improve fitness, some reasonable goals might be to swim 3x a week for the first month or two, 4x a week for the 3rd month on, making sure to stretch and do dryland 2x a week, etc. Or if you can't get in more practices, then do more yardage/meters per practice. Don't worry about times just yet. Just improve your aerobic capacity and get fit! As you do this you'll be better able to answer your own questions :) I would definitely set a goal of making sure you are executing proper technique so your strokes are efficient as they can be, and it will help ensure that you don't develop any injuries.
Sounds like a conversation you should be having with your new coach! There are so many variables so it would be hard to answer those questions without knowing more. For example, are your strokes technically sound? You'll find that if you can technically improve your strokes, you'll swim more efficiently, faster, and with less of a feeling of killing yourself :)
As a noob who just wants to improve fitness, some reasonable goals might be to swim 3x a week for the first month or two, 4x a week for the 3rd month on, making sure to stretch and do dryland 2x a week, etc. Or if you can't get in more practices, then do more yardage/meters per practice. Don't worry about times just yet. Just improve your aerobic capacity and get fit! As you do this you'll be better able to answer your own questions :) I would definitely set a goal of making sure you are executing proper technique so your strokes are efficient as they can be, and it will help ensure that you don't develop any injuries.
