why am i so sloooooooooow? i've been swimming since i was 21, i'm now 30. When i was 21 i basically taught myself to swim and with a few tips here and there from lifeguards, i was able to swim 3 miles in the pool at approximately 35 minutes a mile.
fast forward a few years, i would consider myself a much better swimmer now, i've gotten a few lessons with coaches and i've been told my technique has gotten better. but my speed has BARELY improved!!! i'm talking major changes in technique and training, and it still takes me 34 minutes to do a mile! that's a 1 minute improvement over the time when i had taught myself to swim! it's ridiculous. and i swim so much...i swim in open water and have been doing master's for 7 months now.
is it possible that i was just born slow, or do you think i need further refinement to my technique? none of it adds up--i work very hard in the pool, my technique sounds like it's decent, and i am physically in very good shape. i can swim 9 miles in open water, but i just cannot bring up my speed! it's ridiculous. i don't want to be fast, i just want to be somewhere near 30 minutes per mile!
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Former Member
I'm going to throw my :2cents: worth in, having very recently managed to get down to the 19-20 stroke range. :bliss:
First of all, considering you are a self-taught swimmer, you are actually doing really well. I had swim lessons as a kid, but apparently they didn't "take", because when I had to take up swimming after a car accident in '99, I averaged 38 strokes per 25 meters. This didn't change even after two separate "Adult Stroke Improvement" classes. One was just a one-hour workout, while the one was full of conflicting advice and was run by a bored young man more interested in chatting up the pretty young girls on the pool deck than teaching middle-aged women.
After working on the drills in the original Total Immersion book, I got down to 28 strokes and plateaued there for a few years. An eight week class with a local T.I. coach brought me down another four strokes, but for a couple of months after I felt like the wheels had fallen off my stroke. Then, suddenly, it clicked. Last winter I got down to the 20/21 range but then it climbed up again after I started doing speed intervals. Now I'm back to doing a one-hour group session once a week with the same coach. (He spends the first three months of every season just working on technique.)
So, what I've learned is...
1.) Progress isn't linear. There will be times when you seem to be standing still, then suddenly there will be a breakthrough.
2.) Sometimes you have to go more slowly to get faster. I want to cement the feel of these 18-20 stroke lengths very firmly into my central nervous system, so I won't jump into any speed work until I can consistently knock off 19s, length after length, without having to focus really hard on it.
3.) Changing your stroke takes time. It doesn't happen overnight. I figure I've taken off an average of 2.5 strokes per year since 2000.
Good luck, and keep looking for the right coach.
I'm going to throw my :2cents: worth in, having very recently managed to get down to the 19-20 stroke range. :bliss:
First of all, considering you are a self-taught swimmer, you are actually doing really well. I had swim lessons as a kid, but apparently they didn't "take", because when I had to take up swimming after a car accident in '99, I averaged 38 strokes per 25 meters. This didn't change even after two separate "Adult Stroke Improvement" classes. One was just a one-hour workout, while the one was full of conflicting advice and was run by a bored young man more interested in chatting up the pretty young girls on the pool deck than teaching middle-aged women.
After working on the drills in the original Total Immersion book, I got down to 28 strokes and plateaued there for a few years. An eight week class with a local T.I. coach brought me down another four strokes, but for a couple of months after I felt like the wheels had fallen off my stroke. Then, suddenly, it clicked. Last winter I got down to the 20/21 range but then it climbed up again after I started doing speed intervals. Now I'm back to doing a one-hour group session once a week with the same coach. (He spends the first three months of every season just working on technique.)
So, what I've learned is...
1.) Progress isn't linear. There will be times when you seem to be standing still, then suddenly there will be a breakthrough.
2.) Sometimes you have to go more slowly to get faster. I want to cement the feel of these 18-20 stroke lengths very firmly into my central nervous system, so I won't jump into any speed work until I can consistently knock off 19s, length after length, without having to focus really hard on it.
3.) Changing your stroke takes time. It doesn't happen overnight. I figure I've taken off an average of 2.5 strokes per year since 2000.
Good luck, and keep looking for the right coach.
