How far do you swim each week? - 2022 update

Hi there, swimtolive.  I swim to live AND live to swim!  When I'm not traveling, I swim six days per week, because I love it!  I'm 60 years old, and I have some physical issues that have forced me to dial back my yardage and intensity; so, in order to to stay in the pool six days per week, I limit my daily yardage to 2,500 yards.  If I have put in a hard workout and do a hard post-swim deck workout, I will limit my yardage to 2,000 yards the following day and do mostly drills and stroke technique work.  I will also limit my deck workout to yoga.

I love swimming all four strokes, so a typical work is a mixed bag of training them all.  I mix in "speed" work (such as it is), aerobic endurance,-- a bit of everything. 

I used to show up to the pool with a set workout for the day, but now my workouts are 100% based on how well I slept the night before, how I am feeling, and what may be my medical situation at the moment.  After my warm-up, I evaluate, and then go from there.  An example:  I have dysautonomia (autonomic neuropathy) that is triggered heat intolerance.  Even though I like warm weather, my body HATES it, and I have to be very careful during the summer.  Now that our weather has cooled down, I am sleeping better, and my body is responding favorably.  As a result, I am able to put in some harder workouts without repercussions.  I love October! 

My recommendation to EVERYBODY, regardless of your age:  LISTEN TO YOUR BODY!  If you feel good, ramp it up.  If you don't, back off.  Swim all four strokes to avoid repetitive stress injuries, and get feedback on your strokes to make sure you are using good (safe!) technique to avoid injuries.

Swimtolive, I'm sorry about your cancer, but congratulations on getting through your treatments!  I hope you will have a healthy, long future ahead of you.  

Best wishes!

Elaine

I'd say 15-18,000 when things are normal and settledm. I was doing 25,000 per week last Summer leading to a 10K open water swim.  

I am now swimming 3 or 4 days per week @ about 3,100 yards per work out. 
I’ll up it to about 5 days per week very soon. I also do some weight lifting and indoor soccer league for my dry land fitness. 

Just invested in some new googles and jammers. Will be competing in at least (1) Meet per month this year including Summer Nationals. 

Inspiring story swimtolive! I often hear that 2,500-3,000 is about the average for an hour-long workout and 2-3 times a week. It varies greatly depending on goals, especially if you are training for an event. 

Never far enough. But my time is divided between swimming and bicycling (And an occasional jog. I’m a former triathlete who can’t really run much anymore due to bad knees.). These days my weekly distance is around five miles total (8800 yards) in two or three swim sessions. (Other days I’m on the bike for a weekly total of about 100 miles.) If I’m training for an open water race, my weekly distance naturally goes up to 10-15 miles.

Dan

Check out the USMS Go the Distance program to track your yardage throughout the year, stay motivated, and compare with your fellow swimmers. https://www.usms.org/events/fitness-events/go-the-distance 

15,000 to 18,000 in a usual week for me.  5-6 practices per week, averaging about 3k per workout.  at least a third of that workout is race pace work (either P100, P200, or P400/500).  I also lift 3 times per week.  I practice to compete and do 8-10 meets a year.  I post a lot of my workouts to twitter now, since there is no nifty blog set up here like there was on the old forums.  You can check me out if you are curious about what I do (not fishing for followers...don't give a damn about that sort of thing).

" I post a lot of my workouts to twitter now, since there is no nifty blog set up here like there was on the old forums.  You can check me out if you are curious about what I do"

Can I buy a vowel?  (i.e. what's your twitter handle or address or @thingee or whatever you call it)

Same as my forum name.  I think my @ is @OJee_Showtime

First of all, all my best wishes to you on a continued recovery.

For what its worth- 

My training changes depending on my focus during the year. When it's open water season here in the Midwest (May- Sept) my volume and distance become a focus and my yardage will increase to between 15k -20k per week. I still do speed work and focus on hitting different pace goals, its still racing after all- but not the same as pool racing for me. 

During meet season leading into State and Nationals my training becomes very focused on bringing speed work into focus. My work outs will very from over 3k a session to just over 1k when doing lactate sets. So weekly yardage is more around 10-12k 

I firmly believe that you need to train differently and have goals in mind in order to swim differently. I also hear the moans of "not getting any faster" from lanes with people logging the same work out day in and day out-  but in contrast to that I watch as my teammates set new PR's and break old records by following a plan and working it. 

That being said- listen to your body :-) Maybe find a coach or program you like and reach out for some tailored advice.