Started swimming again this year in an effort to get in better shape. Haven't done it since college (I'm 43), and that was just for exercise. Did it as a kid, now my kids also swim. At any rate, I'm just doing laps right now. Usually 6 sets of 500, occasionally only 5 and occasionally 7 or 8. ~5 days a week when life doesn't get in the way (so about 15,000 yards per week). About 25% ***, 25% back, and 50% free. I have occasionally thrown some fly in there, but I just can't do it without it fatiguing me to the point where the remainder of the set is very suboptimal.
At any rate, I am wondering at what point I should start looking to transition to doing workouts, rather than just laps. There is no Masters program that will work for me, so I'd just be following the posted workouts from the forums. Should I just jump right in? Should I start from "week 1," or just hit it right in the middle? Also, should I just be looking mostly at the general workouts, of mixing it up with the IM workouts to get more strokes, or start with general and slowly work my way towards the IM stuff?
Anything y'all need to know to help guide me the right way?
Wow, amazing looking back at almost a year ago and how things have changed. :bliss: Holy smokes was following @SwimDogs workouts beneficial. :bow: My stroke technique certainly improved, drastically. In all of them. And my stamina. To quantify things a bit, I don't time myself too, too often, but I did his Davis Mile workout probably middle of the Summer last year, and it was a 28:50-ish result. I did it earlier this week on only about 4 hours of sleep :bed:, and I did a 23:02. That's a 41.9/50 pace. I could not have held that for much more than a 100 a year ago (I think my 100 time is a little over a minute, probably 1:02-1:03). My 200 time is a little under 2:30. I mentioned resting heart rate. When I started swimming just laps, it was about 75 (I have low blood pressure, which does give one a higher heart rate). After lap swimming, it had plateaued at about 65. Now it is around 50, but it has been as low as 44. Like my weight that I had mentioned, I blew past my goal (was 60). I'm actually starting to put on a little weight, but I believe it is muscle. I went from about 185 to around 155 (was as low as 153) to around 160. My physique is definitely more refined than it was back then.
I don't drown when I swim backstroke at all. I can do fly no problem, I'm a little over 30 in the 50, but pace myself a lot more for anything longer, I want to think about a 1:10? Though my (now 13 year old) daughter I had mentioned can clean my clock.....got a 57.39 to get her futures cut at her last LSC Championship meet.
:soapbox: The noodlers are getting even more bizarre. The location where I swim at where they walk in front of you has gotten even worse. There's one lady in particular. I don't really even know what she wears. Looks like matching gym shorts and tank top. Doesn't look anything like a swim suit. A few of them wear shower caps......you know, the things you used to see your grandmother wear. :cane: The worst part is that now, that one is putting stuff out, blocking the lanes AN HOUR AND A HALF BEFORE HER CLASS. After talking to soem other swimmers, I finally complained to the manager. I showed him a picture I took where she had set out all sorts of kickboards floaty dumbell thingees, noodles, etc. blocking egress from the pool. I left as he went to talk to her.
Next day, surely it would improve, right? :agree: WRONG. :bitching: Same thing. :frustrated: I asked her if she would please not block the pool deck so that us swimmers could get in and out. She insisted that the steps were clear (can I get a "confused" emoji for here, please admin? Wait.....nevermind, just fix the site first, please). Now, I don't know about you, but apparently her dad had a different philosophy than mine. See, my dad always said "Son, there are many ways to get out of the pool. The steps are not one of them." Okay, he didn't really say that, but you know what I mean.
Anyway, one or two posts have made me think about where I was a year ago. So a great big THANK YOU to all here who post and give feedback :bighug: Even if I don't post in a thread, I find I can often take away something. :dj_dance: That and I occasionally end up giving pointers to the triathlon swimmers there if they ask or if they talk to me. Still want to think about checking out a Masters team for a brief stint, but haven't had a chance to so far.
Wow, amazing looking back at almost a year ago and how things have changed. :bliss: Holy smokes was following @SwimDogs workouts beneficial. :bow: My stroke technique certainly improved, drastically. In all of them. And my stamina. To quantify things a bit, I don't time myself too, too often, but I did his Davis Mile workout probably middle of the Summer last year, and it was a 28:50-ish result. I did it earlier this week on only about 4 hours of sleep :bed:, and I did a 23:02. That's a 41.9/50 pace. I could not have held that for much more than a 100 a year ago (I think my 100 time is a little over a minute, probably 1:02-1:03). My 200 time is a little under 2:30. I mentioned resting heart rate. When I started swimming just laps, it was about 75 (I have low blood pressure, which does give one a higher heart rate). After lap swimming, it had plateaued at about 65. Now it is around 50, but it has been as low as 44. Like my weight that I had mentioned, I blew past my goal (was 60). I'm actually starting to put on a little weight, but I believe it is muscle. I went from about 185 to around 155 (was as low as 153) to around 160. My physique is definitely more refined than it was back then.
I don't drown when I swim backstroke at all. I can do fly no problem, I'm a little over 30 in the 50, but pace myself a lot more for anything longer, I want to think about a 1:10? Though my (now 13 year old) daughter I had mentioned can clean my clock.....got a 57.39 to get her futures cut at her last LSC Championship meet.
:soapbox: The noodlers are getting even more bizarre. The location where I swim at where they walk in front of you has gotten even worse. There's one lady in particular. I don't really even know what she wears. Looks like matching gym shorts and tank top. Doesn't look anything like a swim suit. A few of them wear shower caps......you know, the things you used to see your grandmother wear. :cane: The worst part is that now, that one is putting stuff out, blocking the lanes AN HOUR AND A HALF BEFORE HER CLASS. After talking to soem other swimmers, I finally complained to the manager. I showed him a picture I took where she had set out all sorts of kickboards floaty dumbell thingees, noodles, etc. blocking egress from the pool. I left as he went to talk to her.
Next day, surely it would improve, right? :agree: WRONG. :bitching: Same thing. :frustrated: I asked her if she would please not block the pool deck so that us swimmers could get in and out. She insisted that the steps were clear (can I get a "confused" emoji for here, please admin? Wait.....nevermind, just fix the site first, please). Now, I don't know about you, but apparently her dad had a different philosophy than mine. See, my dad always said "Son, there are many ways to get out of the pool. The steps are not one of them." Okay, he didn't really say that, but you know what I mean.
Anyway, one or two posts have made me think about where I was a year ago. So a great big THANK YOU to all here who post and give feedback :bighug: Even if I don't post in a thread, I find I can often take away something. :dj_dance: That and I occasionally end up giving pointers to the triathlon swimmers there if they ask or if they talk to me. Still want to think about checking out a Masters team for a brief stint, but haven't had a chance to so far.
