Hello,
first of all thanks in advance for having a peek at this...
I'm 'only' 38 and I've had very severe asthma until my mid-twenties. I only managed to swim back then in small doses, and in recent decade or so, after my asthma 'left me' finally, I managed to get my swimming up to the (maybe puny but for me never before thought) level of being able to do 1Km breaststroke in 26-28 minutes depending on whether I'm having a good or bad day... This with just a couple of short stops only, trying to keep going as much as I can.
Now due to my back, last summer I was adviced to switch to freestyle, which before I only used for maybe 50m or so as 'fun' for speed. I manage almost exactly 17 seconds on 25m, but then I'm dead :)
I found the transition extremely difficult, although I have tuned it with expert help, made it much more relaxed & optimal than before. I also cycle a lot, with some weight training, did martial arts and I'm quite toned, people think I must be at quite some performance level... but I really am not:
Please be gentle, but since August 'til now, swimming 3-4 times a week, I find it basically impossible to get past a 100-150m barrier (sometimes even worse, whether it is in 25m or 50m pool that I can use locally). Then I have to stop and really catch my breath. This even at slow speed of doing 100m in about 2 minutes, which I know is... very slow. I breathe on every 3 strokes, can change to every 2 on same side when I get really tired but I try to sustain every 3. I watch in amazement much older people who continuously manage huge distances I can't get imagine doing.
Being out of breath and heart pumping triggers, admittedly, old panics and fears, it used to continue with extremely bad things when I was a kid.
But if one assumes my current freestyle is not completely inefficient (I'm told it really isn't)... I just can't tell whether I carry some legacy from asthma days and simply I am never going to be able to increase my stamina AND I might do myself damage... or I simply have a mental block around the 'barrier'.
But that barrier, as per above, comes so early it makes me almost cry with frustration sometimes. I set out with realistic goals and I just can't seem to progress, my fear being that I just don't know beyond what point I really give myself a heart attack or something :)
But seriously, I tried to work on stamina by doing 100m-150m chunks with increasing intensity, after a proper warm-up, but by 2nd 'dose' I get so knackered I need to either stop or switch to breastroke after 50m...
Due to my past, I never managed to do any stamina-based sports, and I just don't know what a serious barrier feels like in swimming either, or one that can be just ignored and try and soldier through it.
It just can't be this bad physically... have you encountered such 'cases'? IF based on the above it is even possible to give advice, and if it's just a heck of a mental block, not sure how to get past it.
Any thoughts much appreciated, thanks in advance,
D.
Parents
Former Member
As a quick update, I have experimented with not rigidly sticking to breathing on every 3rd.
To see if without any change in form (apart from the obvious breathing pattern change itself) I can feel some difference, now tried in three sessions doing first 60-80m (in 20m pool) or 50-75m (in 25m pool) with breathing on every 3, then switch to every 2. Then started alternating sides on each length, also tried every 5-6 strokes changing sides.
The result surprised me, first of all I managed in last two sessions, starting at usual warm-up tempo so that I can get some comparison, 20 lengths in 20m pool - and then stopped, without being totally dead as before, just kinda tired :) and then short break, and I could carry on again.
I never in my life managed 400m without stopping, at any speed :) since I "re-trained" to try using front crawl as main style. Might be laughable, it's OK, I can't hear it from here :) but I was over the moon considering how frustrated I was last few months. I can't tell you what it felt like just not stopping for 'ages' and being able to carry on keeping pace.
So thanks for getting me away from rigid obsession with 'must do every 3rd breathing'.
Then for times, as advised, tried to do 100m then short break and again and again.
Now the times are with open turns (I can't do flip turns, well, yet...) and if laughable, so be it :) but it looks like this, on my last attempt:
after the 400m warmup I tried as relaxed as possible --> 5 x 20m with open turns, 1:56 --> then same , cranked it up a bit and ended up with 1:48 (but was quite dead at the end) --> rest, 3rd 100m went back to 1:53 ah well...
So will keep doing sets of 100m and push it, see if there is any chance of getting faster (although my main aim was to be able to do distance, not too obsessed with time... but I'm getting a bit excited now at my grand old age of 38... and *** stroker all my recent life since I could do any swimming to speak of).
Thanks again, let's see how it goes - when I'm not totally knackered, I manage still 17 - 18 seconds on 25m in the other pool (then I die...), so speed technique is something I anyway don't have but will have more fun trying...
As a quick update, I have experimented with not rigidly sticking to breathing on every 3rd.
To see if without any change in form (apart from the obvious breathing pattern change itself) I can feel some difference, now tried in three sessions doing first 60-80m (in 20m pool) or 50-75m (in 25m pool) with breathing on every 3, then switch to every 2. Then started alternating sides on each length, also tried every 5-6 strokes changing sides.
The result surprised me, first of all I managed in last two sessions, starting at usual warm-up tempo so that I can get some comparison, 20 lengths in 20m pool - and then stopped, without being totally dead as before, just kinda tired :) and then short break, and I could carry on again.
I never in my life managed 400m without stopping, at any speed :) since I "re-trained" to try using front crawl as main style. Might be laughable, it's OK, I can't hear it from here :) but I was over the moon considering how frustrated I was last few months. I can't tell you what it felt like just not stopping for 'ages' and being able to carry on keeping pace.
So thanks for getting me away from rigid obsession with 'must do every 3rd breathing'.
Then for times, as advised, tried to do 100m then short break and again and again.
Now the times are with open turns (I can't do flip turns, well, yet...) and if laughable, so be it :) but it looks like this, on my last attempt:
after the 400m warmup I tried as relaxed as possible --> 5 x 20m with open turns, 1:56 --> then same , cranked it up a bit and ended up with 1:48 (but was quite dead at the end) --> rest, 3rd 100m went back to 1:53 ah well...
So will keep doing sets of 100m and push it, see if there is any chance of getting faster (although my main aim was to be able to do distance, not too obsessed with time... but I'm getting a bit excited now at my grand old age of 38... and *** stroker all my recent life since I could do any swimming to speak of).
Thanks again, let's see how it goes - when I'm not totally knackered, I manage still 17 - 18 seconds on 25m in the other pool (then I die...), so speed technique is something I anyway don't have but will have more fun trying...
