Whenever I get in the pool, my fastest 100 or 200 or 400 or whatever I happen to do is always the fastest and easiest set that I do.
After that it's always downhill. I thought you are supposed to get faster as you warm up.
It's almost like if I was ever going to race that I should not warm up at all and just dive into the water and swim as fast as I can.
It's not like that with cycling. My second ten miles will always be faster than the first.
Am I doing something wrong in the water?
Former Member
How long have you been swimming? If you are relatively new at it, maybe your technique deteriorates after the first 100. When I returned to swimming after 20 years off, I could barely swim 100 yards without tiring out my arms.
Slow way down during your warm-up and focus on technique.
Sounds normal to me. When I'm relatively "in shape" (i.e., able to swim several times per week), the first part of swimming is a little rough, but does get better. When I'm relatively not "in shape" (i.e., haven't been in the water for several weeks), then the first 100 feels great, but then it all catches up and goes downhill.
-Rick
Its possible you are swimming to hard in warmup. If you jump in and swim 100 hardish then you're just wearing yourself out and not really "warming up". Warmup for me is usually really slow and long.
In a set I have problems since i generally swim close to all out in the begining of a set.. usually means you go a bit anaerobic and have problems recovering through the set.
In general it usually comes down to fitness and form. If you're not in shape you get tired... and your form suffers.
