After a 24 year absence from competitive swimming I started back two weeks ago. My stroke (crawl) falls apart after about 200 yrds. I can keep going but with a terribly poor stroke. After a short rest my stroke comes back to normal.
I've been swimming a 400 yrd warm up (I'll mix about 50yrds of *** in to save my stroke) then 10 x 50s on the 1:15. After that my stroke is breaking so I swim 25s then my stroke breaks again and I'll swim every other 25 ***. I've been swimming 30 to 45 minutes a day and running the same.
Cardio wise I am in good shape (I've been running everyday for a long time). I can swim *** for long distances with no problem.
Should I keep resting to let my stroke recover or just pound it out? Will swimming *** ever help my free? I would be thankful for any advise. At one time I was "real" swimmer and now I am embarrassed trying to get back.
When I first returned to swimming I was 26 and I had not swum for exercise in about ten years. I decided to start swimming again because I had just run a marathon and thought triathlon would be a more interesting way to spend a few hours. 500 seemed like a very long workout then, and no way could I have done it without stopping. My triceps especially got very tired very fast, screwing up my follow-through and my recovery.
After a few months I did my first triathlon, an itty-bitty sprint. I was first out of the water by like 30 seconds in a race with just a 400m swim. (People started passing me pretty quickly on the bike, though!) I went to my first masters meet about 18 months later (at 27) and my first-ever masters race was 1500m. Twelve years later (at 39) I swam 1500m 1:10 faster than I had at that first-ever meet.
Just keep it up and you'll recover your ability soon enough. Also, you may as well start right now with your shoulder-stabilizing exercises, because I assume you haven't been doing them during your running years. You don't want to an injury to derail you just when you feel able to increase your swim time and distance.
When I first returned to swimming I was 26 and I had not swum for exercise in about ten years. I decided to start swimming again because I had just run a marathon and thought triathlon would be a more interesting way to spend a few hours. 500 seemed like a very long workout then, and no way could I have done it without stopping. My triceps especially got very tired very fast, screwing up my follow-through and my recovery.
After a few months I did my first triathlon, an itty-bitty sprint. I was first out of the water by like 30 seconds in a race with just a 400m swim. (People started passing me pretty quickly on the bike, though!) I went to my first masters meet about 18 months later (at 27) and my first-ever masters race was 1500m. Twelve years later (at 39) I swam 1500m 1:10 faster than I had at that first-ever meet.
Just keep it up and you'll recover your ability soon enough. Also, you may as well start right now with your shoulder-stabilizing exercises, because I assume you haven't been doing them during your running years. You don't want to an injury to derail you just when you feel able to increase your swim time and distance.
