Hi guys,
So I'm sort of new to this whole 'super intense swimming' thing. I swim on and off over the school year, but this summer I've really been trying to up my game and I've been going to the pool everyday for about an hour. So far it's been going great, but I'm having some trouble picking appropriate intervals for myself. The focus has been on working on my endurance thus far, however swimming straight miles got really old fast.I could do a mile in a little under 45 minutes when I started. I then changed it to 15X100 on 2:50 which was a good pace, but not terribly challenging. I did a sprint workout today, which was nice but only the rests were timed. I timed one of my 100s once, and I swam in 2:14 which I know is pretty awful. Basically, I'm hoping to speed up my longer distance stuff, if only for the sake of being able to cover more distance in each workout and do more stuff without being in the pool for 5 hours.
So if anybody has any advice for me about this or just in general, I would love to hear it.
Thanks!
Science Geek
The section that stood out, to me:
... I timed one of my 100s once, and I swam in 2:14 which I know is pretty awful. Basically, I'm hoping to speed up my longer distance stuff ...
It doesn't sound like setting intervals is the problem, it's stroke mechanics, and it sounds like you know it. If you want to go faster, do a better job avoiding water resistance.
This is my favorite video. See how Karlyn's body is perfectly level. Her feet are right at the surface of the water; her body is streamlined from head to toe. Watch her head position. She gets a nice glide at the start of every stroke. The water does not resist her!
2bPvk0paWcg
One simple way to measure your efficiency in the water is to count strokes per length. How many strokes do you take per length? Work on trying to reduce that number until you can effortlessly swim a length of a 25 yard pool in no more than about (ymmv, depending on lots of factors) 15 strokes, preferably 11. Ride the glide!
The ultimate: Ande swims a length of freestyle in zero strokes:
6ENgHo4KrSs
The section that stood out, to me:
... I timed one of my 100s once, and I swam in 2:14 which I know is pretty awful. Basically, I'm hoping to speed up my longer distance stuff ...
It doesn't sound like setting intervals is the problem, it's stroke mechanics, and it sounds like you know it. If you want to go faster, do a better job avoiding water resistance.
This is my favorite video. See how Karlyn's body is perfectly level. Her feet are right at the surface of the water; her body is streamlined from head to toe. Watch her head position. She gets a nice glide at the start of every stroke. The water does not resist her!
2bPvk0paWcg
One simple way to measure your efficiency in the water is to count strokes per length. How many strokes do you take per length? Work on trying to reduce that number until you can effortlessly swim a length of a 25 yard pool in no more than about (ymmv, depending on lots of factors) 15 strokes, preferably 11. Ride the glide!
The ultimate: Ande swims a length of freestyle in zero strokes:
6ENgHo4KrSs
