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.
Parents
Former Member
The "slow and easy" advice all sounds good to me. Maybe if you slow down and decrease your stroke turnover when your arms start to disobey your brain, you'll be able to swim free a little longer/farther, thus developing more endurance? Even doing what you're doing with the short sets, I'd think your stroke/enudrance would improve - I mean, it's only been two weeks!
Maybe somebody who knows about muscle fibers (which would not be me) would have advice about trying to push through vs. switching strokes/taking short rests. What would you do as a runner if this were happening with your legs? Seems like you'd have to do the run/walk thing - which is sort of what you're doing with mixing in ***.
The "slow and easy" advice all sounds good to me. Maybe if you slow down and decrease your stroke turnover when your arms start to disobey your brain, you'll be able to swim free a little longer/farther, thus developing more endurance? Even doing what you're doing with the short sets, I'd think your stroke/enudrance would improve - I mean, it's only been two weeks!
Maybe somebody who knows about muscle fibers (which would not be me) would have advice about trying to push through vs. switching strokes/taking short rests. What would you do as a runner if this were happening with your legs? Seems like you'd have to do the run/walk thing - which is sort of what you're doing with mixing in ***.
