I took my 1500 m time in a 50 m pool 12 weeks before, and it was 31'42". Afterwards the 50 m pool I use closed for annual maintenance.
In these 12 weeks, I joined a squad and did 2 sessions per week, swam open water with a group every weekend, and also swam intervals on my own in a 25 m pool, with about 12 - 15 km total per week.
The 50 m pool I use reopened this week, so the first thing I did while returning was to take my time again, but the result was 31'13" - only 29 seconds improvement over 12 weeks! In contrast, I improved for 45 seconds in the preceding 6 weeks, from 32'27" to 31'42", and those 6 weeks were the weeks I newly joined the squad and I normally did only 1 session per week, and no intervals on my own.
I was targeting 30' and attempted to swim at an aerobic intensity which I thought I could sustain for 30 lengths, but I could only sustain my form for around 400 m. Afterwards, I felt my teres major were so tight that I couldn't perform my stroke well, my arms simply failed to execute my desired stroke even I reduced my stroke rate a bit, and the stiffness even persisted in the cool down after completing the set, and for another few hours.
According to my wearable, I was taking 31 - 32 cycles at the beginning, and 34 - 35 cycles at the end per 50 m length, while my stroke rate remained mostly the same. I was swimming at around 59" / 50 m in the 2nd to 4th lengths, then deteriorated to around 62" / 50 m in the middle, and about 65" / 50 m by the end.
The cumulative time as recorded by my wearable was follows:
250 m: 4'52"
500 m: 9'59"
750 m: 15'19"
1000 m: 20'31"
1250 m: 25'56"
1500 m: 31'14"
I'm very disappointed that, even after a few months of intense training, I still haven't reached 30' / 1500 m in long course yet. I'm taking a very expensive 1-1 professional analysis tomorrow, and hope that afterwards I can know all my technique problems and target them in the coming month in my own training, and get a jump in my speed.
Parents
Former Member
Swimming success is not a linear graph that keeps going up. It has highs and lows. You may be worse in the short term, but in the long run may be better off. I was training heavily and went slower in my 500 FR in December than I did in November. Does that mean I am worse off? Maybe, but I tend to be a “glass half full” guy. I’ll know in three weeks when I am finished tapering and head to YMCA Nationals if my work I did actually put me in a better place.
Swimming is all about playing the LONG game. And by LONG I don’t mean a few weeks or a few months. I’m talking years.
I've found another coach not in my club (with more similar background to me, doing multiple endurance sports but not spent all his life swimming, not those ex-Olympian guys like the squad coach) to give me some private lessons and I've done the first today, and one of his advice he gave me was the direct opposite to what the squad coach has done on me - he wants me to decrease my turnover and do more catch-up, while the squad coach has made my turnover increased a lot over these few months.
However, the big race is coming in 5 weeks, and I don't have the patience to take it for years. If I am training properly I expect to get to elite standard in 5 years (I don't believe age matters - someone in my country is still performing in that standard in his upper 40s, though his training is insane), like I do in my other sport. Moreover, I would also like to do some swims which require extended training in a foreign country - which means requiring some long-term visa which my options are limited (like working holiday - the age limit is 30 years old - therefore I consider that a hard limit and I really cannot afford to wait for YEARS to get to that level). For example, I have a friend who now lives in a cold foreign country and does ice swimming - which is not doable in my hot country.
Swimming success is not a linear graph that keeps going up. It has highs and lows. You may be worse in the short term, but in the long run may be better off. I was training heavily and went slower in my 500 FR in December than I did in November. Does that mean I am worse off? Maybe, but I tend to be a “glass half full” guy. I’ll know in three weeks when I am finished tapering and head to YMCA Nationals if my work I did actually put me in a better place.
Swimming is all about playing the LONG game. And by LONG I don’t mean a few weeks or a few months. I’m talking years.
I've found another coach not in my club (with more similar background to me, doing multiple endurance sports but not spent all his life swimming, not those ex-Olympian guys like the squad coach) to give me some private lessons and I've done the first today, and one of his advice he gave me was the direct opposite to what the squad coach has done on me - he wants me to decrease my turnover and do more catch-up, while the squad coach has made my turnover increased a lot over these few months.
However, the big race is coming in 5 weeks, and I don't have the patience to take it for years. If I am training properly I expect to get to elite standard in 5 years (I don't believe age matters - someone in my country is still performing in that standard in his upper 40s, though his training is insane), like I do in my other sport. Moreover, I would also like to do some swims which require extended training in a foreign country - which means requiring some long-term visa which my options are limited (like working holiday - the age limit is 30 years old - therefore I consider that a hard limit and I really cannot afford to wait for YEARS to get to that level). For example, I have a friend who now lives in a cold foreign country and does ice swimming - which is not doable in my hot country.
