Debating doing College Swimming... Never Swam Competitively

You are a Sophomore at a division 1 university. you are on the cross country and indoor/outdoor track teams you never swam on a team before but you want to you have gone mad. off 2 swims a week (500yards) you swam 500 yards free in 7:48 (which is 46.80 per 50) you're not afraid to work hard willing to swim 2+ hours a day you want to try! you asked: can anyone tell me what I need to do to see if i can get to around 5 flat in the 500 yard free? just good enough to walk on the team. 1) get your times for 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 400 & 500 free swim a very fast 50, 100, 200, & 500 for time once or twice a week. 2) train on your own (which is difficult) or with a masters team or a USA Swimming team 7 days a week, Improve your swimming technique, conditioning and speed. swim at least 5,000 to 10,000 per day but not straight and slow, break it up with sets. You gotta get to where you can hold way faster intervals and swim way faster times 3) Don't even bother the coach at this point, there's no point till your times are much faster. Improving from 7:48 to 5:00 in a year would be massive and honestly very difficult improbable if not impossible. Who's to say what you are capable of? 4) Read and apply ideas from Swim Faster Faster 5) improve your Kick do Help my kick is Horrible Runners tend to have stiff ankles and try to over kick 6) read Ask Ande 7) I wrote some good ideas for improving your 500 in Last 150 of my 500 falls off that swimmer made some excellent improvements 8) Lift weights and get stronger 9) get one on one help with technique stroke, turns, & streamlines make videos of you swimming above and underwater POV put them on youtube study videos of great swimmers 10) race in meets get your 50 splits for your 500 11) Beware of burn out 12) Have fun If you train hard far fast and often, it might happen if you don't, it won't. (after reading everyone elses replies) you're highly likely to be way better off in life if you redirected your time enthusiasm and energy away from swimming towards your studies to lay down an awesome foundation to thrive in your chosen career. Most division 1 swimmers started swimming when they were 6 to 10 years of age then with good genetics, talent, hard work, and great coaching they worked their way to becoming one of the best swimmers in the country and at worst maybe top 5%. Occasionally a Div 1 will accept a swimmer with potential, but 7:48 is far from their minimum standards. When I was in college I was a walk on, our team had walk on try outs, swimmers had a 1 or 2 week window to prove themselves and if they didn't measure up they were cut. What about running? Beware of things that are new and different, they are shiny and can draw your attention. We're afraid you'll bust your butt for 1, 2 or a few years only to wind up at the end of a dead end street. quix·ot·ic (kwk-stk) adj. 1. Caught up in the romance of noble deeds and the pursuit of unreachable goals; idealistic without regard to practicality.

You are a Sophomore at a division 1 university. you are on the cross country and indoor/outdoor track teams you never swam on a team before but you want to you have gone mad. off 2 swims a week (500yards) you swam 500 yards free in 7:48 (which is 46.80 per 50) you're not afraid to work hard willing to swim 2+ hours a day you want to try! you asked: can anyone tell me what I need to do to see if i can get to around 5 flat in the 500 yard free? just good enough to walk on the team. 1) get your times for 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 400 & 500 free swim a very fast 50, 100, 200, & 500 for time once or twice a week. 2) train on your own (which is difficult) or with a masters team or a USA Swimming team 7 days a week, Improve your swimming technique, conditioning and speed. swim at least 5,000 to 10,000 per day but not straight and slow, break it up with sets. You gotta get to where you can hold way faster intervals and swim way faster times 3) Don't even bother the coach at this point, there's no point till your times are much faster. Improving from 7:48 to 5:00 in a year would be massive and honestly very difficult improbable if not impossible. Who's to say what you are capable of? 4) Read and apply ideas from Swim Faster Faster 5) improve your Kick do Help my kick is Horrible Runners tend to have stiff ankles and try to over kick 6) read Ask Ande 7) I wrote some good ideas for improving your 500 in Last 150 of my 500 falls off that swimmer made some excellent improvements 8) Lift weights and get stronger 9) get one on one help with technique stroke, turns, & streamlines make videos of you swimming above and underwater POV put them on youtube study videos of great swimmers 10) race in meets get your 50 splits for your 500 11) Beware of burn out 12) Have fun If you train hard far fast and often, it might happen if you don't, it won't. (after reading everyone elses replies) you're highly likely to be way better off in life if you redirected your time enthusiasm and energy away from swimming towards your studies to lay down an awesome foundation to thrive in your chosen career. Most division 1 swimmers started swimming when they were 6 to 10 years of age then with good genetics, talent, hard work, and great coaching they worked their way to becoming one of the best swimmers in the country and at worst maybe top 5%. Occasionally a Div 1 will accept a swimmer with potential, but 7:48 is far from their minimum standards. When I was in college I was a walk on, our team had walk on try outs, swimmers had a 1 or 2 week window to prove themselves and if they didn't measure up they were cut. What about running? Beware of things that are new and different, they are shiny and can draw your attention. We're afraid you'll bust your butt for 1, 2 or a few years only to wind up at the end of a dead end street. quix·ot·ic (kwk-stk) adj. 1. Caught up in the romance of noble deeds and the pursuit of unreachable goals; idealistic without regard to practicality.