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?
:)
Originally posted by liala
4. I tend to swim the total distance in a set time, without breaking it down into 50’s or 25’s – how does breaking down times help? And how can you check the partial times without stopping?:(
The idea is that you cannot swim a given distance at race speed in practice. (Unless you practiced like you swim a meet: do a 100, recover for 30 minutes, etc.) But you can swim at that speed for a shorter distance. So you break up your longer swim into 50s and 25s, which are swum at the speed you would want to do during a race.
For example, you could do a set of broken 200s.
Method 1) Swim a 100, rest 15 seconds, swim a 50, rest 10 seconds, swim a 25, rest 5 seconds, swim a 25.
Method 2) Swim 4x 50s, with 10 seconds rest between each.
In both cases, you are trying to get you body used to swimming at close to race speed. The rest in between is to allow you to still swim the last length as fast as the first. When you finish, look at the clock, subtract 30 seconds (the rest time), and compare it to your race time. During training, you might want to be within 5 or 10 seconds of the race time, during taper you want to be at your goal time.
Remember to take a lot more rest between your 200s, because you want to give your muscles enough time to recover that you can sustain the effort for the whole set.
The example was 200s, but you can break up any distance from 100 on up.
Originally posted by liala
4. I tend to swim the total distance in a set time, without breaking it down into 50’s or 25’s – how does breaking down times help? And how can you check the partial times without stopping?:(
The idea is that you cannot swim a given distance at race speed in practice. (Unless you practiced like you swim a meet: do a 100, recover for 30 minutes, etc.) But you can swim at that speed for a shorter distance. So you break up your longer swim into 50s and 25s, which are swum at the speed you would want to do during a race.
For example, you could do a set of broken 200s.
Method 1) Swim a 100, rest 15 seconds, swim a 50, rest 10 seconds, swim a 25, rest 5 seconds, swim a 25.
Method 2) Swim 4x 50s, with 10 seconds rest between each.
In both cases, you are trying to get you body used to swimming at close to race speed. The rest in between is to allow you to still swim the last length as fast as the first. When you finish, look at the clock, subtract 30 seconds (the rest time), and compare it to your race time. During training, you might want to be within 5 or 10 seconds of the race time, during taper you want to be at your goal time.
Remember to take a lot more rest between your 200s, because you want to give your muscles enough time to recover that you can sustain the effort for the whole set.
The example was 200s, but you can break up any distance from 100 on up.
