I stopped swimming competitively at age 14 (in Australia), but kept swimming for fun, to stay in shape etc... Then 5 years ago, at age 33 (in Italy), I joined the local masters swim squad – there was no qualified coach and most of the swimmers had started swimming (self-taught) in their adult years.
I looked around for workouts, discovered drills, everyone’s technique drastically needed working on and I took on the unqualified role of drill coach. – at least times improved!
Then last year I moved to Spain – the club I joined has no masters team – and I swim alone. I’d like to know if anyone has any advice for training alone, how to keep up motivation, and is it possible to improve times?
Recently my motivation has been ‘ya gotta swim fast to swim fast’ – I love it, it’s so easy to recall as I slow down and fall into that comfort zone – thanks to whoever coined the phrase.
I’ve been following Michael Collins’ workouts which I never (rarely) get bored with – that’s also a big help and probably half of the battle – although I nearly died the first couple of weeks trying to keep yard times to a meter pool!.
A big problem is feedback. I like TI, probably because I feel it natural – and since I found info on it (6 mos) I’ve working on improving my style
I do 800 meters in 11’20 (25mt pool) and vary between 15-16 strokes per lap – is this good, bad, or in between? I’m 5ft3+1/2 if this makes any difference.
I can’t get under this time – I feel I’ve got the strokes down, I drill in practice, technique is always on my mind but I can’t get faster (I know I’m not getting younger, but..) Also little is mentioned about the kick – how do you kick in TI – or does it just flow on from the stroke?
:)
Parents
Former Member
Way to keep with swimming! To address a couple of your queries:
1. TI and getting faster...I'm kind of in the same boat, although my times did get faster last season (my first TI season...) they didn't get as fast as I'd like. However, I'm led to believe that it will take many metres, many months for muscle memory to kick in so that you can "pour it on" in a race and not regress to a choppy stroke. So bear with it!
2. Your stroke count sounds pretty good to me. You could aim to cut it by one or two strokes over the next year; a combination of stretching out at both ends of your stroke AND off the walls may make the difference. You could try adding some shoulder flexibility exercises so that you can get really streamline off the dive and turns.
3. I'm not an expert on TI, but a lane mate (who is a terrific swimmer, with times to prove it) changes the tempo of his kick when he breathes. This works for me on anything longer that 50 metres - especially as kicking hard tires me out. On my breath stroke I increase my kick (a six beat kick) and lax back into a 2 beat kick on non-breathing strokes. I am new to this idea, but so far I like what I feel.
4. You want to get faster: have you targeted a time, and broken it down into 50s or 25s, then drilled to meet or get close to these times? Aside from having to swim fast to swim fast, I think it's important that you learn what different speeds are like; at the same time you have to gauge your speed at different levels of tiredness.
Hope some of this was of use. Happy swimming!
Way to keep with swimming! To address a couple of your queries:
1. TI and getting faster...I'm kind of in the same boat, although my times did get faster last season (my first TI season...) they didn't get as fast as I'd like. However, I'm led to believe that it will take many metres, many months for muscle memory to kick in so that you can "pour it on" in a race and not regress to a choppy stroke. So bear with it!
2. Your stroke count sounds pretty good to me. You could aim to cut it by one or two strokes over the next year; a combination of stretching out at both ends of your stroke AND off the walls may make the difference. You could try adding some shoulder flexibility exercises so that you can get really streamline off the dive and turns.
3. I'm not an expert on TI, but a lane mate (who is a terrific swimmer, with times to prove it) changes the tempo of his kick when he breathes. This works for me on anything longer that 50 metres - especially as kicking hard tires me out. On my breath stroke I increase my kick (a six beat kick) and lax back into a 2 beat kick on non-breathing strokes. I am new to this idea, but so far I like what I feel.
4. You want to get faster: have you targeted a time, and broken it down into 50s or 25s, then drilled to meet or get close to these times? Aside from having to swim fast to swim fast, I think it's important that you learn what different speeds are like; at the same time you have to gauge your speed at different levels of tiredness.
Hope some of this was of use. Happy swimming!
