I am 74 and have taken up freestyle swimming this year, originally as part of Triathlon training (I completed 2 sprints this year), but find I love the sport of swimming in its own right. I am up to 100 meters in 3 minutes, but I still struggle with breathing as it puts me at times off track with my high elbow pull, rotation, flutter kick, etc. After swimming 100 meters I am breathing really hard and have to stop. I feel confident it will all come together as I swim more. I am convinced that to learn to swim you have to swim! I view YouTube frequently and I have many books on improving swimming technique.
Here is the issue I battle. Yesterday is just one example. A tallish thin girl, no obvious bulk in her musculature, was swimming freestyle, lap after lap, conceivably like she could swim forever I truly believe, at twice my best speed for 100 meters. As a male, I am certain I have greater muscular strength in my arms, back and legs than she, yet she can easily outdo me in her ability to swim.
What allows a swimmer to have so much endurance? She flowed in the water like she owned it, so I'm sure she has been practicing and swimming for years. Yet, I thought endurance required muscular strength in addition to good technique?
Baffled, jealous, but in great admiration of persons who swim so naturally and so beautifully.
Technique. Learn how to get streamlined by doing sets for stroke improvement, catch, arm extension, etc. There are lots of videos on line. My YMCA has a coached masters team practice and at 70 I cannot keep up with any of them, but I am improving my style and that's all I care about.
Your legs may be too deep, causing too much drag. Try getting them up, having the whole body near the surface and getting some propulsion from the kick. A year or two ago I could not kick AT ALL because the legs were too deep, now I have a kick, a poor one, but at least there is one. Find a team practice to get some idea of what you need to do to improve.
Build endurance by doing sets with a little rest between. Novice runners will go to a track, run a lap, rest, run another, etc. Eventually you have the ability to keep going 2 laps, then 3, then more. I once did a push-ups challenge, beginning with 4 sets of 10 with a minute rest. Worked it up to 8 sets, then increased a set or two to 20, then more, and more... By about 4 months into it I did 10 sets of 50 with a minute rest between. I was only 65 at the time.
Technique. Learn how to get streamlined by doing sets for stroke improvement, catch, arm extension, etc. There are lots of videos on line. My YMCA has a coached masters team practice and at 70 I cannot keep up with any of them, but I am improving my style and that's all I care about.
Your legs may be too deep, causing too much drag. Try getting them up, having the whole body near the surface and getting some propulsion from the kick. A year or two ago I could not kick AT ALL because the legs were too deep, now I have a kick, a poor one, but at least there is one. Find a team practice to get some idea of what you need to do to improve.
Build endurance by doing sets with a little rest between. Novice runners will go to a track, run a lap, rest, run another, etc. Eventually you have the ability to keep going 2 laps, then 3, then more. I once did a push-ups challenge, beginning with 4 sets of 10 with a minute rest. Worked it up to 8 sets, then increased a set or two to 20, then more, and more... By about 4 months into it I did 10 sets of 50 with a minute rest between. I was only 65 at the time.
