Hey all!
New to the site and fairly new to swimming in general. I live in Florida so I've known how to swim my whole life, but I've just recently (beginning of the year) started swimming recrationally/for excersize. I'm seeking commision in the US Navy; so I'm trying to stay fit. I've been swimming freestyle now for a few months and for the last few weeks with goggles and a snorkle. Before starting freestyle, I did *** stroke (my verison) and side stroke (Navy's version).
No matter what I do I seem to swim about 2 minutes per 100m freestyle. How is that timing for this type of swimming? I even used a pull bouy and it didn't slow me down that much, albeit I was much more tired at the end of the swim. I usually swim 500 to 800 meters every few days on my lunch break. I even did 1000m last week. Felt very accomplished that day.
Also, I'm going to start training for an upcoming sprint triathlon. I have about 5 months to train and I have a plan of attack, but I'm trying to learn more about open water swimming. At what point should I attempt an OWS? What should I practice before actually attempting an OWS? The sprint tri OWS is between 400 and 500 m. Should I pratice this distance open water or more?
Thanks for listening and I hope to learn more.
Dave
Parents
Former Member
The swimming you do is fine for a triathlete or for general fitness..
You will want to get as much open water in as you can before your race, but that's a pretty short distance for OW.
Word has it that you can never win a Tri with swimming. But you can lose.
A champ iron man might spend 1/8 of the race swimming mroe than half on a bike and 1/3 running. Speed up or slow down the swimming - even considerably - and no big deal.
You can lose a tri with swimming. 90%+ of triathlon deaths happen in swimming. That's losing big time. So don't give the swimming too short shrift.
Too many triathletes are willing to go in with way undertraining in swimming. Collapse on a bike and you might break an arm. Collapse running and you lie on the ground for a while.
Collapse swimming? You drown.
Tri-swim starts are chaotic. Start wide. Be prepared to be jostled. By big strong muscular guys that know their way around the surf and don't care about you.
I'd recommend learning *** stroke and back stroke as well as free style to vary and balance your muscle groups. Also *** is better (IMO) when the surf or the crowd gets too much.
Practice distances (maybe 2000- 3000 yards ) once a week and then 100 yards sprints once a week.
Then get back on your bike.
I'm no expert though, just my opinion.
The swimming you do is fine for a triathlete or for general fitness..
You will want to get as much open water in as you can before your race, but that's a pretty short distance for OW.
Word has it that you can never win a Tri with swimming. But you can lose.
A champ iron man might spend 1/8 of the race swimming mroe than half on a bike and 1/3 running. Speed up or slow down the swimming - even considerably - and no big deal.
You can lose a tri with swimming. 90%+ of triathlon deaths happen in swimming. That's losing big time. So don't give the swimming too short shrift.
Too many triathletes are willing to go in with way undertraining in swimming. Collapse on a bike and you might break an arm. Collapse running and you lie on the ground for a while.
Collapse swimming? You drown.
Tri-swim starts are chaotic. Start wide. Be prepared to be jostled. By big strong muscular guys that know their way around the surf and don't care about you.
I'd recommend learning *** stroke and back stroke as well as free style to vary and balance your muscle groups. Also *** is better (IMO) when the surf or the crowd gets too much.
Practice distances (maybe 2000- 3000 yards ) once a week and then 100 yards sprints once a week.
Then get back on your bike.
I'm no expert though, just my opinion.
