Hello all,
I'm new here and I have a question that I hope maybe someone could help me with. I've been finding it difficult to improve my swim splits over the longer distances. I've been trying for about 3 years now with minimal improvement. I can swim a sub 30 sec.-50 yards and a sub 1 minute in a 100 yards but cannot hold a fast pace over the longer distances. My best distance splits are:
500yds. = 6:18 (=1:15.7 per 100 yds.) - (pool swim)
1.5K = 22:10 (=1:21 per 100 yds.) - (open water w/wetsuit)
2.4 mile = 1:03:50 (=1:30 per 100 yds.) - (open water w/wetsuit)
I've been swimming 3-4x per week about 3,000-4,000 yards per day. Mostly sets like 20x100's w/10-15 sec rest and 10x200's w/20 sec rest and 5x400's w/30 sec rest. My 20x100's are average about 1:17-1:18 per 100 yards, and that's the fastest I can go and still do 20 of them.
I swim alone at the pool mostly and I don't lift weights much. I have good form in water and a 2 beat kick. Could it be a strength issue? I use paddles and the pull bouy occasionally. My main goal is to go sub 20 in 1.5K swim in open water, with a wetsuit. What workouts or things should I be doing to do this?
Thanks much for your feedback,
Terry
Respectfully, my opinion would differ. If I were advising someone who said, "I can swim a sub 20:00 1500 but I would really like to go under 1:00 for 100," I would absolutely advise switching to a six-beat kick for the shorter race. But if a two-beat kick works for you most of the time, it's probably your best kick for 1500, especially if you are going to follow up that 1500 with a 40K bike and a 10K run.
Maybe I am missing something, but I don't see a mention of this 1 mile swim as a portion of a triathlon.
Terry, could you clarify your goal a bit and let us know if ourswimmer's assumption is correct?
Terry has been stuck on a swim plateau for three years... and I think a pretty drastic change is needed to achieve the desired results. That is why I suggested earlier that he switch things up a little bit and try something new. Simply joining a team and swimming with people could be that change. So could the kicking.
That "motorboat" 500 I mention, I swam in a 5:01. the year before I was at 5:12.9 w/ a two-beat kick. The drastic change was a broken wrist that forced me to do kick-only workouts for 6 weeks and realize the importance of kicking. For me, building my leg strength meant shredding off over 2 seconds per 100 in 1 year.
Kicking is an integral and oft-neglected part of the crawl. To illustrate the importance of one's kick, lets do a "3-second glide" drill with a 2 beat kick. The swim feels and looks like a 15-year old trying to drive stick shift for the first time. Now lets do the glide again with a 6 beat kick. A lot smoother. I know it isn't practical to do that drill in a race/timed environment, but I think it illustrates how a two-beat kick can quickly become one long start/stop/start/stop process, and why my opinion on kicking is that even with distance, the more beats the better.
Respectfully, my opinion would differ. If I were advising someone who said, "I can swim a sub 20:00 1500 but I would really like to go under 1:00 for 100," I would absolutely advise switching to a six-beat kick for the shorter race. But if a two-beat kick works for you most of the time, it's probably your best kick for 1500, especially if you are going to follow up that 1500 with a 40K bike and a 10K run.
Maybe I am missing something, but I don't see a mention of this 1 mile swim as a portion of a triathlon.
Terry, could you clarify your goal a bit and let us know if ourswimmer's assumption is correct?
Terry has been stuck on a swim plateau for three years... and I think a pretty drastic change is needed to achieve the desired results. That is why I suggested earlier that he switch things up a little bit and try something new. Simply joining a team and swimming with people could be that change. So could the kicking.
That "motorboat" 500 I mention, I swam in a 5:01. the year before I was at 5:12.9 w/ a two-beat kick. The drastic change was a broken wrist that forced me to do kick-only workouts for 6 weeks and realize the importance of kicking. For me, building my leg strength meant shredding off over 2 seconds per 100 in 1 year.
Kicking is an integral and oft-neglected part of the crawl. To illustrate the importance of one's kick, lets do a "3-second glide" drill with a 2 beat kick. The swim feels and looks like a 15-year old trying to drive stick shift for the first time. Now lets do the glide again with a 6 beat kick. A lot smoother. I know it isn't practical to do that drill in a race/timed environment, but I think it illustrates how a two-beat kick can quickly become one long start/stop/start/stop process, and why my opinion on kicking is that even with distance, the more beats the better.
