Hi, I am in my early 50s have run competitively most of my life. I started swimming when I was 3 years old, but never learned freestyle. Nevertheless, I feel comfortable in the water.
For the past few years, my training consisted of an hour of running (7 min/mile easy pace 4 times a week, 8.5 min/mile threshold twice a week.) After my third injury in 18 months (hip labrum tears and a sport hernia) my sports doctor said that I need to drop running and take up swimming. I bought the book "Swim Smooth" and after a 2 -3 weeks learned the basics of freestyle lap swimming. My question is how to best move from where I am now (this month I am working on mastering a the 6-5-6 drill and doing more efficient flip turns) to 60 minutes X 6 days a week of freestyle swimming. Does any one have any suggestions?
That's where I came from too, 40 years running, then arthritis in the spine caused agonizing pain. I simply started doing laps 3-4 days a week, up to 2500 yards which was about an hour for me. I swam for cross training on and off since the mid-80s, so it was nothing new for me. But I still had terrible technique and was not improving. So I hooked up with a triathlon coach and took a few swim clinics, next I joined a masters team at the local YMCA. Two days a week we do formal drills with the team. Forget about distance, it's all about technique and all the different strokes. A couple more days of mostly freestyle laps, anywhere from 1200-2500 yds just bouncing off the wall every 25 yds. Then one day a week an open water swim with the Tri club at a lake, 1-2 miles straight distance. What a pleasure, and no pain.
I would start by incorporating the drills into a formalized workout so that you can learn the technique while accomplishing yardage and the conditioning that comes with it.
For workouts I like this book (it's all 4 competitive strokes but there's at least 25 workouts specifically for freestyle). Each workout is around 2000 yards/meters.
www.amazon.com/.../ref=sr_1_2
PS don't forget to rotate to prevent hurting your shoulders
My basic advice would be twofold:
1) The book is great but seek out reputable lessons in your area. Not sure where that is, but folks on the forum might have recommendations if you give a sense of where you are.
2) the success you had with just running miles with some threshold won't work well for swimming. Swimming is a technique sport and to hone that technique you need to go faster, even if you are doing endurance events. Have a look at the workouts section of this forum for ideas...
Good luck. Swimming is a really different sport, but I've made the same transition and if you treat it as a chance to constantly learn new things, you won't go far wrong for too long.
Thank you for the helpful advice! I live in Rockland County, NY (20 miles north of Manhattan.)
Welcome to the pool. You certainly seem like you have the discipline to improve quickly in the pool. I echo the advice to find a team with a coach who will give you ideas and correct your stroke.
Of course I have no idea what your stroke looks like but I would bet, based on an entirely unscientific study of masters I swim with who came later in life to the pool, that your body position is the number one thing holding you back. By that I surmise, (i) that your hips are lower than your shoulders, (ii) that you're swimming more with your arms than your core, (iii) and that your stroke efficiency (ie. number of strokes per length of the pool) could improve. I always recommend newer swimmers start with pull buoy and fins (not really at the same time) to address body position. The buoy will raise your hips and the fins will give you the ability to feel what better stroke efficiency is like. I'd consider adding paddles to help you get a better feel for the water as well.
anyway, my 2 cents. hope some of it is helpful.
My basic advice would be twofold:
1) The book is great but seek out reputable lessons in your area. Not sure where that is, but folks on the forum might have recommendations if you give a sense of where you are.
2) the success you had with just running miles with some threshold won't work well for swimming. Swimming is a technique sport and to hone that technique you need to go faster, even if you are doing endurance events. Have a look at the workouts section of this forum for ideas...
Good luck. Swimming is a really different sport, but I've made the same transition and if you treat it as a chance to constantly learn new things, you won't go far wrong for too long.
