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.
Hi,
just a quick update, and whilst laughter noises may not reach me over the huge distance :), I'm still painfully aware I must give this 'update' in the context of the initial posting.
So... the time is far from astounding (but noteworthy speed wasn't the objective), however yesterday for the first time in my life did a non-interrupted 1km front-crawl in 50m pool with open turns. So with warm-up included (after which I just didn't stop), managed 20:53.
After this did 5 x 100m and saw that with that 'settled' pace that feels like I could just go on forever (which is fantastic feeling for me considering the depths of despair I had few months ago) ends up being ~1.2s per metre (so I get about 1:55 - 2:00 or so per 100m chunks).
So... it's far from any amazing stuff but I've NEVER in my life managed 1/5th of this even as per initial posting -- and in medium speed lane in the pool I had the satisfaction of 'blending in' without slowing anyone down.
AND: afterwards felt normal, when got out of pool, breathing and everything was such that, instead of my previous absolute nightmares, it felt like I could just go back in :)
I can't express how good it felt to break through this barrier. Mental but also, with changing after 100m to every 2nd stroke breathing, things now feel right and can just continue instead of the absolute panic and breathlessness that set in.
Now the question: in order to crank this up length and speed-wise... should I just do longer and longer distances continuously?
Or try the chunks of 100-200m and clock myself and push harder? Again any notable speed is not an aim here but I hope not to have a setback by doing the wrong thing.
Thanks for all your previous advice and help. One of Murphy's laws (I'm showing my age...) says never try to reproduce a successful experiment, but this feels very reproducible :)
Now the question: in order to crank this up length and speed-wise... should I just do longer and longer distances continuously?
Maybe, what are your swimming goals?
you said you swam: "1km front-crawl in 50m pool with open turns." in 20:53
It's great you did a continuous 1k & held 62.65 per 50. I suggest you work on everything: Technique, conditioning, strength & speed
Learn how to do flip turns and do them
Improve your pushoffs and glide
What sort of suit did you wear when you swam the 1k?
Get a speedy suit.
WORK ON YOUR SPEED
62.65 is pretty pokey and you could greatly improve by being much faster at 25, 50 & 100. What are your times for 25, 50 & 100?
Test them soon, post your results here, then Train to improve them & Retest
What is your sex, age, height & weight?
How many times a week do you swim?
How far do you go per practice?
What sort of paces can you hold?
Do you train with a coach and a team or alone?
any injuries?
Bump up your training.. Doing TIP 265 is likely to help you the most
Train for SPEED:
do Help my Speed is Horrible
Help My Speed is Horrible! - U.S. Masters Swimming Discussion Forums
Train for Speed endurance
Train to swim longer faster
Whatever you do and measure improves.
Have a friend video you swimming,
POVs: straight ahead, from the side, & ideally underwater
put your vids on youtube and
post a link here and ask for feedback
watch videos of great swimmers and copy their technique.
there's plenty on youtube
start with: Michael Phelps freestyle multi angle camera - YouTube
Read Swim Faster Faster
apply a few ideas to your training.
You've got a lot of low hanging fruit to pick
you can swim much much faster
keep us posted,
Ande
Hi,
just a quick update, and whilst laughter noises may not reach me over the huge distance :), I'm still painfully aware I must give this 'update' in the context of the initial posting.
So... the time is far from astounding (but noteworthy speed wasn't the objective), however yesterday for the first time in my life did a non-interrupted 1km front-crawl in 50m pool with open turns. So with warm-up included (after which I just didn't stop), managed 20:53.
After this did 5 x 100m and saw that with that 'settled' pace that feels like I could just go on forever (which is fantastic feeling for me considering the depths of despair I had few months ago) ends up being ~1.2s per metre (so I get about 1:55 - 2:00 or so per 100m chunks).
So... it's far from any amazing stuff but I've NEVER in my life managed 1/5th of this even as per initial posting -- and in medium speed lane in the pool I had the satisfaction of 'blending in' without slowing anyone down.
AND: afterwards felt normal, when got out of pool, breathing and everything was such that, instead of my previous absolute nightmares, it felt like I could just go back in :)
I can't express how good it felt to break through this barrier. Mental but also, with changing after 100m to every 2nd stroke breathing, things now feel right and can just continue instead of the absolute panic and breathlessness that set in.
Now the question: in order to crank this up length and speed-wise... should I just do longer and longer distances continuously?
Or try the chunks of 100-200m and clock myself and push harder? Again any notable speed is not an aim here but I hope not to have a setback by doing the wrong thing.
Thanks for all your previous advice and help. One of Murphy's laws (I'm showing my age...) says never try to reproduce a successful experiment, but this feels very reproducible :)
Now the question: in order to crank this up length and speed-wise... should I just do longer and longer distances continuously?
Maybe, what are your swimming goals?
you said you swam: "1km front-crawl in 50m pool with open turns." in 20:53
It's great you did a continuous 1k & held 62.65 per 50. I suggest you work on everything: Technique, conditioning, strength & speed
Learn how to do flip turns and do them
Improve your pushoffs and glide
What sort of suit did you wear when you swam the 1k?
Get a speedy suit.
WORK ON YOUR SPEED
62.65 is pretty pokey and you could greatly improve by being much faster at 25, 50 & 100. What are your times for 25, 50 & 100?
Test them soon, post your results here, then Train to improve them & Retest
What is your sex, age, height & weight?
How many times a week do you swim?
How far do you go per practice?
What sort of paces can you hold?
Do you train with a coach and a team or alone?
any injuries?
Bump up your training.. Doing TIP 265 is likely to help you the most
Train for SPEED:
do Help my Speed is Horrible
Help My Speed is Horrible! - U.S. Masters Swimming Discussion Forums
Train for Speed endurance
Train to swim longer faster
Whatever you do and measure improves.
Have a friend video you swimming,
POVs: straight ahead, from the side, & ideally underwater
put your vids on youtube and
post a link here and ask for feedback
watch videos of great swimmers and copy their technique.
there's plenty on youtube
start with: Michael Phelps freestyle multi angle camera - YouTube
Read Swim Faster Faster
apply a few ideas to your training.
You've got a lot of low hanging fruit to pick
you can swim much much faster
keep us posted,
Ande
