Swimming frequency vs. duration

Less then 3X per week causes injury in my back, shoulders or knees:toohurt:. More then 5 makes me tired all of the time.:snore: Yardage - between 1000 and 4000 seem sufficient, less and it does nothing for me, more and I'm trashed for the day. Getting in the water is the key, although. My 13 year old does 4000-5000 6 days per week. She is use to it. (standard send off of 1:10 - ouch).:fish2:

as far as "Optimize fitness and health " I found that swimming 3 times a week with atleast one days rest has been best for me. I am on my way to the "competitive/hard core swimmer", but currently i just want to get back into shape. In may case my body gets more from a 3x90 minute works outs than it does from 5x40 (lunch time work outs)

My current schedule restricts me to about 45 min a workout. I wish so bad I had more time. I do this 4x a week because it requires me getting out the door by 5:15am. I have to take one day a week to sleep in or I am a basket case. So for me..there isn't much of an option. I'd like to fit in a longer workout on the weekends but it really is family time and the pool hours are shorter and more restricted (team practices and such).

(1) frequency vs duration I find that there are limits. It seems that if I swim more frequently, the distance each time can be increased. These limits have stayed quite steady for me between ages 17 through 41 now. (a) If I swim once per day, 5 times per week, I can do 5000+ yds each (about two hours). (total 25000+ yds per week) (b) If I do doubles (twice per day), 4-5 times per week, I can haul about 3000-4000 yds each. (about an hour each) (total up to 40000 yds per week) (c) If I swim once per day, 3 times per week, I can not do more than about 3000 yds each time. (about an hour each)(total 9000 yds per week) (d) If I swim once per day, only 2 times per week, I can not do more than 2500 yds each and I need a day between. (about an hour each)(total 5000 yds per week) If I do 5000 yds just twice per week, my body gets hurt and torn up. For scenarios (a) and (b), serious lifestyle alterations have to occur--major changes in eating habits. I need a lot more fuel, up to 4000 calories per day. If I'm working, (b) is impossible to fit in my schedule. With family responsibilities, (a) and even (c) become hard to fit in the schedule. For (c) and (d), I can get by with just normal food intake at 2000 calories per day. I heard rumor that Michael Phelps did 28000 yds per day, seven days per week. (That's nearly 200000 yds per week!!!) I have a hard time conceptualizing that without absolutely nothing but eating, sleeping and swimming. (2) chlorine. I'm not even sure why I shower immediately after getting out of the pool. I smell the chlorine come up in the few hours after anyway. It seems that a good shower a few hours after the swim works best. Wearing a cap really keeps the chlorine out of my hair, especially if I soak my hair in fresh water before I put the cap on, before I swim.

For me, an hour 3-4 days a week works best. Allows me to work on some distance, add some sprints and stroke work if the mood allows. IOW, a well-rounded workout. With 30 minutes I barely get a chance to warm up. This morning I swam 25 minutes due to not feeling well, and I reek of chlorine just as much as if I had swum 90 minutes, so that's a moot point as far as I'm concerned.

I read an article about Phelps and his training where he swims 50 miles a week minimum. That's 82,500 yards if the miles are swimming miles, 88,000 if a standard mile. That's still nearly 14,000 yards a day, which is 2,000 more than I do a week. As for myself, I prefer to swim frequently and at length. I swim 5 days a week right now and do dryland the other 2. If I didn't have to go to school, I'd swim twice a day. I guess I could wake up at 6 or 7 and go swimming before class, but then I'd never get any homework done. 30-45 minutes is not nearly enough. My warmup takes about 30 minutes, sometimes 45.

Which is better, swimming more frequently with shorter duration, or less frequently with longer duration? For example, (a) 7 days a week, each time 30 min, versus (b) 3-4 times a week, each time 1 hour? I think one or two rest days in week would do good. Altough 30min at a time isn't that much, like going to walk. I would prefer b.

I did about 2000 yards of fly yesterday. It was awesome until I got home and tried to grab the shower head. Owies. I'm better today though. I love having a fast metabolism.