Average Weekly Training?

Average probably from 9,000 to 11,500. Low as probably 8,000 yards and a high of 16,500 when I was on vacation from work and swam 6 days that week. As for the 1970's, the early part of the decade was not that high of yardage because goggles didn't come into being by almost every swimmer into practice until late 1971. Many clubs top yardage in 1972 was probably around 10,000 to 12,000 a day. It was around 1973 that swim clubs like Mission Viejo started to up it to 15,000 a day and then 20,000 yards a day.

There was a poll conducted on this board a while ago, entitled "How far do you swim per week" You can see it at: forums.usms.org/showthread.php It also has some interesting discussion of your questions balancing life's obligations and swimming. I didn't swim when I was young ... but with a family and other obligations I top out at 10K per week and a more usual week for me is between 6500 and 8500 yards. I try to swim 5 times per week, seldom more than an hour, and it's often 4 times with one or two cut down to 45 minutes due to other obligations/activities/whatever.

My workouts depend on the season. In short course yards season (winter) I'm like our friend Lefty here I try to get in 12K per week in 4 workouts. This too is WAY less than what I did in college but it is what I can squeeze in and still keep everything in scope due to a family and other obligations. During the long course meter season (summer) I swim each morning and swim about 2500 yards. I do more strength training and cross traing in the summer for long course. I think depending your time commitment, your ability to get to a pool, your background, and what goals you are trying to accomplish will determine how you train. Thanks & good luck, :D

Hi, Perkunas. I started the poll regarding weekly yardage, and it seemed to me most masters swimmers fell into the 9-15k range, with a small number doing 30k+. A friend of mine who is an excellent swimmer told me that he believes performance parallels practice yardage. He also believes that it doesn't matter terribly much if this is "quality" yards or just grind it out "quantity" yards. I have been keeping track of my own swimming for the past few years, and it's ranged from a low of 7200 per week (when I was on the road a lot) to this past year's high of about 14,000. I should note that this is an average for the whole year, and that if I am sick or out of range of a pool, it doesn't matter--whatever I swim (or don't swim) gets put into the spread sheet at the end of that week. I've found that doubling the yardage has had a beneficial effect on almost all my races with the exception of the shorter distance events--50s and to some extent 100s. My 200s and up are much better. I am going to try to see if I can pump things up this year to 20k per week, and see if this makes any further difference. I'll keep you posted. Note: a couple people in the poll indicated they swim 40k a week. I find this kind of dedication amazing--and wonder, perhaps unfairly, if Prozac might make a difference...

Perkunas, My weekly routine is pretty similar. I also add yoga once per week for about an hour. There are others who do more yardage (some who do A LOT MORE yardage). What may be of interest to you is that about a year or two ago this subject came up. Paul Smith, who won the 40-44 500 free at Nationals last month, and who is regularly a winner, or close second in sprint freestyle and fly events at Nationals, swims only a bit more than that weekly total. Yes, family commitments, etc., can get in the way of working out as much as we used to (as well as how much working out our bodies can take at our age ;) ). But, as you get slower in the legs, you can get smarter in the head. Nuff said. Matt

I try to get in 12K Meters per week in 4 workouts with one of the workouts being mostly kicking. This is WAY less than what I did in college but it is what I can squeeze in. I do more strength training than before though, and have been happy with the results. Buy a couple of dumbells and do some weight training at home.

i'm on the lower end of the scale- i average about 9000 meters per week, including 3 masters practices and one open water swim. having said that, i've recently just started masters swimming and i plan on upping the mileage once my body has acclimated itself to early am workouts... peace

I find that total yardage is only one measure of what kind of training I am doing. The interval between workouts seems to matter a lot to me. 48 hours is ok, more than 72 and I lose my stroke. A while back I heard about some way to do minimal yardage and still swim fast, but as I recall it involved a fair amount of rest (like late taper workouts all the time) so the elapsed time for workouts was still pretty high, which is not much of a help to me. I am extremely fortunate to have a pool across the street from my office, so I can sneak out and back fairly easily. Some days I do what I call an executive workout that maximizes yardage in a short time frame. An executive workout might be 20x100 on short rest, using the first few as warmup. That is enough to bridge the gap to a longer workout. You have to do what you can to fit swimming in to the rest of your life, but I know that I am better off mentally if I maintain a certain level of training that has more to do with how I feel than how far I go.

I must be a snail about 2400 a week. About 800 x 3 or 4 But I dont count each lap or really look at the clock, takes all the fun out getting too serious!

I'm a snail too. About half the yardage per week as most of you seem to do. I've recently focused more on time than yards. I'm not very fast so doing 2500 yards was taking up too much of my time. Now I try for at least 60 minutes of quality swimming and don't worry much about how far. (When I'm focusing on fly I swim a lot less but my heart rate is right up there while I'm gasping for air.) It's probably a comment on my general fitness level, but I improved my overall cardio levels when I started swimming less often and cross training more.