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!
Are you doing interval work? Having been a masters coach, I can tell you that you will find that you will drop time much faster by doing interval work at fast speeds rather than doing straight one mile swims. Rather than swim a straight one mile, consider doing the following:
300 warm-up - Your choice - try to put some kicking in there.
6 x 50 Pull with 15 seconds rest - keep heart rate in an aerobic zone
5 x 100 descend each 100 - get faster on each 100 - take 15 seconds rest between each 100
5 x 100 - 85% -90% efforts with 1 minute rest between each 100. Try to hold same time on each swim. Should be within 10 seconds of what you would do on an all-out 100 yard swim in a race.
100 recovery swim
8 x 25 on free on 1:00 - sprint hard on each one
200 easy cool-down
Try doing a workout like this a couple of times a week. On a third day, you could consider doing some easier longs swims, but make them drills. You could also do sets of 200s or 300s. Do your straight mile swim once a month to track your progress.
Use a pull bouy. Don't let your hand entry cross the midplane of your body. don't rush the catch, let your hand drop while maintaining a high elbow and from a good anchor. Accelerate your pull and and with a nice body roll, reach and extend for your other hand's entry. Get a freestyle snorkel so breathing does not screw you up. Learn to breathe later. Use fins. Get this feeling right first, then you can work on breathing without effecting your stroke and kicking to maintain body position.
Has the coach of the masters group made any comments about your stroke? Also, are you doing other workouts besides swimming such as running or biking? If so, how much are you training?
Have you considered attending a swim clinic such as Total Immersion or other similar clinics? Clinics are great for critical analysis of your stroke and learning about ways to improve your stroke.
Also, if you are looking to improve speed, you may need to cut back a little on your total working out during the week. Running 21 miles a week, swimming 12,000 yards a week in the pool, and doing open water swims is a bunch. If you are perpetually broken down, you will not get faster. To have speed (which requires power), you must give yourself time to recover from your workouts.
Having been a runner and a swimmer, I caution you that it is hard to train for both at the same time. Consider just swimming for 4 months and doing just one 7 mile run a week. I bet at the end of 4 months, you will see a drop in your one mile swim time.
Interval training is a great way to learn how to swim and improve at distance swimming. I was a sprinter but by swimming with a team that focused on distance I eventually learned how to hold a pace. My first mile I think I held 45 sec per 50 yards. Over time I learned to drop it by a second, then another second until currently I am holding 39 seconds. This year I will try to hold 38 seconds per 50.
If you find your turnover is always the same pace you might try finding a song you like with a faster beat and try to swim to the beat in your head or an SwiMP3 player. In a race I will sometimes have the same song in my head for 21 minutes.
You might try some strength training or you could do what I love and use paddles to help build strength. Another thing you can do is push yourself alittle out of your comfort zone. If you do it in practice you will be more likely to do it in a race.
You talk about your mile time, but what about your short distance times?
Has, for instance, your 100 yard free improved at all?
Are you one of those swimmers who "only have one speed"? You can go at a decent pace and hold it forever, but you can't go much faster when sprinting all out?
I sometimes think athletes that are predominantly equipped with slow twitch muscle fibers have trouble adjusting speeds. You might need to do some REAL sprint practices--50s, 25s, even 12.5s with lots and lots of rest, but all out. This can help you recruit a few switch-hitter muscle fibers to help your speed.
In terms of speed and endurance, you can help by gradually upping the pressure of training.
One thing our coach does on distance days is slowly, over the course of a season, decrease the intervals. For example, two months ago, we might have been doing do 4 x 500 on 7:00 or sets of 10 x 100 on 1:30 then 1:25.
Now we have worked our way down to 500s on 6:30 and 100s on 1:20 and 1:15. I am sure my mile time now would be better than it was in September. Good luck. I know it's frustrating, but sometimes people just reach their hull speed, so to speak, and huge differences in training don't translate into huge differences in performance. I would think that it would be easier to drop a mile time significantly, however, than a short sprint, if for no other reason than enhanced ability to suffer without quitting!
oh yeah! my distance per stroke SUCKS! it takes me like 25 strokes to go 25 yards. if i try really really hard i can get it down to MAYBE 24. i don't know how to work on that other than the obvious--try to do longer strokes and pull more water per stroke
HUGE RED FLAG!!!! You have an extremely inefficient stroke if you are taking 25 strokes/25. Also find a different coach.
