Hi,
My ultimate goal is to be able to swim 3000 meter freestyle without stopping (doing flip turns). And be able to swim butterfly for a not just one lenght.
I do not have date in mind, I just wanna be able to do it sometime in the future.
I swim regulary 2-3 times a week, but not for a long time. Swimming was always a favorite for me, so I taught myself from books, articles, youtube, etc. I am a 'technical guy', when it comes to swimming. I know all the aspects of it or almost. I had a coach for a short period of time and also I was swimming with a team a for a little while.
The problem is with my endurance. My cardivascular system (lungs, heart) is weak...my legs too...
I swim 1 hour a day now and around 2000-2300 meter, doing breaststroke, backstroke, double handed backstroke ( to relax). I use fins for kicking and also using them for back, free, and a little butterfly (dolphin without the hands). So as you can see, I try to mix it. The problem is that I need to stop after 1 or 2 lap..
My question is this: which is the best approach so I can swim without stopping at the wall almost every time?
1. Should I start swimming longer time?
2. keep the 1 hour, but try to gradually increase the laps by forcing myself to go on and not to stop? Also try to do more and more freestyle and leave breaststroke?
3. If I wannna swim freestyle should I just do that and only that? 1 lap at the time, then rest and again until I can do more and more.
4. Join an adult swim training? ( there is one at the pool I go to).
Thank you for you answers.:agree:
I have similar issues. Sometimes, I have to force myself (obviously, you have to listen to your body and not over do it on this!). There are a few other things I've done to improve my endurance and increase my distance-without-stopping.
1. swim SLOWER. you'll have to slow yourself down a little bit. focus on long, easy, gliding strokes. slow down until you feel like you're more relaxed and not gasping for air in the water. get a good breathing rhythm going. find what works for you - breathing every 3rd stroke, every 4th stroke, or every stroke. whatever works for you that keeps you going.
2. are you doing flip turns? I had to stop doing them for a while in order to keep going. I did that until I could do a 400 with open turns, then started doing flips again and did 200s with flip turns until I worked up to 500s with flips. you could try playing around with different ways of doing this.. only doing flips at one end, only doing them the first or second half of your swim, etc.
3. increase your distance slowly. this is kind of obvious and self explanatory.
4. warm up. might sound weird, but it's important. and the older we get, the longer it takes us to get warmed up. your long swim should not be the first (or second or third) thing that you do. I've tried moving mine to earlier in my workout, and it doesn't work. I'm working my way up to a mile (1500m) so I can swim a relay triathlon next fall. right now, I'm up to 600m. generally my workout is a 2x100 swim, 200 swim, 200 pull, 200 kick, and then a fast 8x50 alternating free, ***, and fly. then, I do my long swim. if you do your long swim after some sprints, then you'll feel like you're doing a cool down. but your heart rate will be up and your muscles will be nice and warmed up, so you should be able to keep going longer.
As far as your stroke goes... have you learned to do a catch up drill? thumb drag drill? these drills might help you with lengthening your stroke and getting a good feel for gliding through the water. thumb drag will help you get those elbows up and have a better catch. Anyway... hopefully this helped a little. :)
I have similar issues. Sometimes, I have to force myself (obviously, you have to listen to your body and not over do it on this!). There are a few other things I've done to improve my endurance and increase my distance-without-stopping.
1. swim SLOWER. you'll have to slow yourself down a little bit. focus on long, easy, gliding strokes. slow down until you feel like you're more relaxed and not gasping for air in the water. get a good breathing rhythm going. find what works for you - breathing every 3rd stroke, every 4th stroke, or every stroke. whatever works for you that keeps you going.
2. are you doing flip turns? I had to stop doing them for a while in order to keep going. I did that until I could do a 400 with open turns, then started doing flips again and did 200s with flip turns until I worked up to 500s with flips. you could try playing around with different ways of doing this.. only doing flips at one end, only doing them the first or second half of your swim, etc.
3. increase your distance slowly. this is kind of obvious and self explanatory.
4. warm up. might sound weird, but it's important. and the older we get, the longer it takes us to get warmed up. your long swim should not be the first (or second or third) thing that you do. I've tried moving mine to earlier in my workout, and it doesn't work. I'm working my way up to a mile (1500m) so I can swim a relay triathlon next fall. right now, I'm up to 600m. generally my workout is a 2x100 swim, 200 swim, 200 pull, 200 kick, and then a fast 8x50 alternating free, ***, and fly. then, I do my long swim. if you do your long swim after some sprints, then you'll feel like you're doing a cool down. but your heart rate will be up and your muscles will be nice and warmed up, so you should be able to keep going longer.
As far as your stroke goes... have you learned to do a catch up drill? thumb drag drill? these drills might help you with lengthening your stroke and getting a good feel for gliding through the water. thumb drag will help you get those elbows up and have a better catch. Anyway... hopefully this helped a little. :)
