speedy non competitor..

thats music to my ears because i don't belong to any club,i started in a club when i was 12,but just for training.i 'm 36 now but 4 or so years ago i returned to swimming properly,ie.not messing about ,i have steadily increased my speed and stamina and always check my times against my previous ones.i mainly do long distance instead of sprints,do you think sprinting would help me to do long distance faster?heres my usual recent workout 1x25m free,few seconds rest 1x25m ***,no rest 1x25m free,few seconds rest 1x25mbreast,1x25mfree,1x25m ***,few secs rest 1x25mfree,1x25mbreast,1x25mfree,1x25mbreast,30secs rest =250metres warmup then main set of 100x25m *** stroke(last time in 54.5mins)=2500metres i then do the warmup in reverse to warm down making total workout=3000metres in about an hour and 5 mins(i have been doing this 3 times per week recently)

i believe that if you want to get faster you need to compete. that doesn't necessarily mean you have to swim in meets. when i train a meet is the last thing on my mind, i don't think you should ever 'train' just for a meet . every time you practice you should compete with yourself. challenge yourself to do faster intervals, to try harder sets. push your limits and the speed will come with the effort. give it time though, don't expect overnight results.

Some people are great workout swimmers, and some are great competitors. And some are both. To answer your question I think that you can be fast without entering many meets. But you have to become involved in meets to become more of a "racer". The meet conditions will put your body through much more physical stress than one could ever imagine during normal workout conditions. Not many of us will want to train to such extremes where one's body is absolutely spent. The bottom line is that lactic acid "death sets" are not the norm for the average lap swimmer. If you've ever gone all out on a two hundred yard distance you'll know what this feels like. The best monitor for hard work is the "how close to tossing your cookies in the pool" test. If you're anywhere near these conditions, that's a workout! But at this age who needs that? (Unless you're training for some serious competition.) Work on technique, and get faster the dignified way. Swim smarter, not harder. Then you can take your game to a meet, and see what kind of pay-off all that training brings.

thanks for the good advice,i had trouble a while back with knees that's why i do a few free style on warm up and down.I think i'll do the 2500metres split down as suggested maybe the 10x25 for a trial.What rest would you reccomend between sets of 10x25?also i may try all freestyle on the warmup/down,by the way i do flip turns but only at the deep end the shallow end is tricky as i'm 6ft and the waters only3ft,its possible to do it but it's also possible to injury.

See if you can find a coached workout, maybe a masters swim club. There are a number of ways that you could improve this workout. 1- start using drills: for breaststroke you can use arms only, kick only, kick on back, 2 kicks for each arm pull, 2 up 3 down, fast arm pull with fly kick, etc. 2- Vary speed: swim - easy, medium and fast pace in same workout. This will improve your conditioning more quickly. 3- a set of 100 by 25m ***. If you must swim 2500m *** in one go ( although no elite breaststroker would do this set) then break it down into 10 or better still - 10 by 25m, 10 by 50 m 5 by 100m, 10 by 50m, 10 by 25m. With some goal: descending time for repeats or hold stroke count or hold same pace time throughout. You could alternate 1 fast length , 1 slow length or 1 length swim, 1 length drill. 4- In your workout you have swum 3000m + without doing 1 turn ! 5- More creatively you could mix fly with ***: 3 strokes fly , 3 strokes *** repeat for a 2 - 4 lengths. You set has a lot of breaststroke swimming, this is hard on the knees. As we get older it would be wise to do less *** kick in one go. Do low intensity kicking for the first 500m. I would change the workout to do less breaststroke, more variety using drills, focused targets, turns (50m + repeats) and bring in more of other strokes. I was looking at " Katiyama's " workout the other day, 100m world breaststoke champion, and he uses a lot of free for his workout, as you can't swim long sets all breaststroke and expect your knees to survive in the long term. There are some good workouts, on this site, try them out and get a coach if you can.

Shorter rests will help build your endurance (10-15 sec), longer rests (20-30 sec of more) will allow you to recoup so you can do more all out sprints. Our coach mixes those throughout the week. On 'distance days' we do shorter rests and 80% effort, and on sprints days we go all out and get a longer rest. Each one had a slightly different purpose. You're not likely to build up a lot of speed by not training sprints, and you're not likely to build a lot of endurance by doing sprints only. Since I have a long way to build up my cardio, I gage my rests by... for short rest, just enough to stop panting and breathing more normally. For a longer rest, additional 30 sec, or till my heartrate drops slightly, on heavy sprints days, after about 5 or 6 sprints my rests can extend up to a minute. So, it's all kind of relative to the shape you're in. As you get in better shape, slowly decrease the rest times.

i was just wondering if it was possible to train up to such a standard where winning becomes possible without having to enter loads of competitions,or if the adrenaline rush of competition was a good element for speed progress.The pool is at a health centre in barlby,uk. but is not 24 hour,opens at 6am till about 9pm but schedules public swims for about 2x2hours morning and night,there are classes and clubs but they only seem to cater for non-swimmers or fast schoolkids.I think the nearest larger pool is about an hour or more away and my time schedule is tight,still i'm not complaining i enjoy swimming and only started for fun,it's just i need direction from time to time and my speed is improving(but so is my age)i tried the new workout tonight 1x25 free,1x25breast+1x25free,1xbreast +1xfree +1xbreast,1xfree+1x ***+1xfree+1xbreast..warmups then main sets 1xfree+8xbreast+1xfree=250metres ten lots of these=2500,then warmup in reverse=250m total=3000metres,seemed to test me having the rests in between because i normally do them all at once,i started to sprint a bit more and the additional freestyle lengths made for good exercise and speed,very tired now but not excessively.

Sparx, you asked a question where you already knew the answer. Is it possible, to swim great times without competing? Of course it is. The real question is, why do you ask? What it sounds like to me is that you are trying to talk yourself out of competing. Success is most easily measured through structured competition. Therefore a lot of people here choose to swim at meets, track their times, and see how they compare meet to meet, year to year. However as an individual you can measure your swimming success in whatever manner you see fit. Keep up the hard work! And definitely mix in some longer swims! Oh and this is just a hunch: Are you swimming at a 24 hour fitness (25m, shallow pool's are common).