Hi,
I am 24 and, while I grew up swimming, it has been some time since I swam on a regular basis. I can remember some workouts/drills from middle/early high school, but much of that has faded from memory.
For the last 2 weeks, I've been going 3x a week, swimming between 45 minutes and 1 hour at a time doing a mix of strokes, kick, and pull drills (w/ exception of butterfly -- I will attempt that when I'm a bit more fit.) I have remained in shape through other activities and I'm able to swim comfortably for 1 hour. I can feel myself getting stronger every time I hit the pool but I realize I have a ways to go.
I was wondering if anyone has advice for evaluating my current swimming-fitness level. What are some helpful drills/measures of speed and endurance that I can use to evaluate how I might to improve? Any advice of how often and for how long I should train? Starter workouts would be helpful too, but I don't want to ask for too much :blush:
I'd definitely like to be "better than average" for my age/gender. Any advice as to what that looks like and how to get me there?
A bit more information:
Age: 24
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 143 lbs
Occupation: grad student
Thanks and best wishes
Hi,
I am 24 and, while I grew up swimming, it has been some time since I swam on a regular basis. I can remember some workouts/drills from middle/early high school, but much of that has faded from memory.
For the last 2 weeks, I've been going 3x a week, swimming between 45 minutes and 1 hour at a time doing a mix of strokes, kick, and pull drills (w/ exception of butterfly -- I will attempt that when I'm a bit more fit.) I have remained in shape through other activities and I'm able to swim comfortably for 1 hour. I can feel myself getting stronger every time I hit the pool but I realize I have a ways to go.
I was wondering if anyone has advice for evaluating my current swimming-fitness level. What are some helpful drills/measures of speed and endurance that I can use to evaluate how I might to improve? Any advice of how often and for how long I should train? Starter workouts would be helpful too, but I don't want to ask for too much :blush:
I'd definitely like to be "better than average" for my age/gender. Any advice as to what that looks like and how to get me there?
A bit more information:
Age: 24
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 143 lbs
Occupation: grad student
Thanks and best wishes
Sounds like you are coming back into the sport at a sustainable pace, which is good for avoiding injuries. Especially good to see that you know your limits and also which strokes to avoid at this point in your comeback. I would certainly not recommend randomly throwing in strokes that you haven't tried yet just for fun. It CAN hurt and consequently can cause setbacks in your overall progress.
Your next step should be to get your stroke analyzed by a coach or independent consultant so that you can determine exactly what drills you need to implement into your workouts. There are hundreds of drills out there, and each one is geared towards correcting or strengthening a specific aspect of a swimmer's stroke. This means that not all drills are appropriate for all people. In your case, you might need more of one drill than another. Doing drills that are not geared towards your specific needs will be a waste of time.
Meets are one great way to determine your progress and what you need to continue to do to improve. You can keep a log of your times at meets to really see where you are.
You also might want to consider joining a team, so that you have a coach who will hopefully be able to monitor your progress, and teammates who will be able to continue to motivate you along the way.
On the subject of motivation, I wrote an article about finding the motivation to train, which might be useful! www.swimspire.com/.../
Good luck! :)
Thank you, Julia! This is very helpful. Unfortunately, I'm a full-time student at the moment and I'm not sure how feasible it will be for me to join a team with such a crazy schedule. It is definitely something I will look into, though, particularly once I am back out of school! Thank you for the awesome article as well.
Thank you, Julia! This is very helpful. Unfortunately, I'm a full-time student at the moment and I'm not sure how feasible it will be for me to join a team with such a crazy schedule. It is definitely something I will look into, though, particularly once I am back out of school! Thank you for the awesome article as well.
You are very welcome! I know first-hand how difficult it can be to balance school and swimming. Wish you all the best!
