Hello...I love swimming b/c you can always work on your technique each time.
I started enjoying swimming watching the sunset in the ocean, then I swam 5 minutes before sunset, then 10 minutes, next thing I'm swimming a mile. The ocean taught me bi-lateral and swimming strong. A year in, I took a deep look at my technique and realized the ocean forced me into a very good technique for someone with zero teaching.
I feel like I haul serious a__ in the water and I've run into many swimmers in the ocean that cannot keep up with me. I just timed my mile swim and it is about 30 minutes so I looked that up and was surprised how freaking fast others are swimming a mile, wow! I can't imagine swimming a mile in under 25min but it looks like that can be achieved. I don't compete I just swim for fun, but love it.
I do a 2 beat kick, and have recently read a 6 beat could speed me up. I feel like when I do a 6 beat I am swimming slower unless I really work the 6 beat kicks hard to which I get exhausted really fast. Even a casual 6 beat seems to be much more taxing on my breathing, abs, and hip flexors than the 2 beat.
Can I get under 25min with a 2 beat? Should I start doing a 6 beat? Any suggestions to remove 5 minutes from my time? I'd really like to continue the 2 beat, but if the 6 beat removes minutes I will explore that.
Thanks.
Left side view swimmer is using 6-beat. The swimmer to his left looks like he's using a 6-beat/4-beat combination, kicking to his stroke rhythm when he breathes.
I'm not a distance swimmer, but training for the mile at your all-out pace, for a mile, would not seem to be an effective way to improve your time in the mile. Everyone is different though, but maybe a time trial only once every other week to test progress? There is an endless variety and approaches to train for a 1500, just boils down to what works best for you.
Keep in mind that swimming fast is about 100% technical and (in my opinion) comes first over training for anyone.
Check out USRP training for examples of workouts
Left side view swimmer is using 6-beat. The swimmer to his left looks like he's using a 6-beat/4-beat combination, kicking to his stroke rhythm when he breathes.
I'm not a distance swimmer, but training for the mile at your all-out pace, for a mile, would not seem to be an effective way to improve your time in the mile. Everyone is different though, but maybe a time trial only once every other week to test progress? There is an endless variety and approaches to train for a 1500, just boils down to what works best for you.
Keep in mind that swimming fast is about 100% technical and (in my opinion) comes first over training for anyone.
Check out USRP training for examples of workouts
