Swim Milestones for a Beginner/Intermediate

Former Member
Former Member
Hi everyone, I'm looking for ideas for near/medium/long term goals to set for myself. I'm 28 and got back into swimming about 5 months ago. Previously I swam for a club team when I was 12. I swim by myself and get in to the pool 4x a week and run 2-3x a week (on off days). A typical workout for me is 3x500 freestyle and then a couple hundred in kicking. I would like to get a lot faster and swim a lot farther. Swimming as fast as I can, I manage a 34 second 50. I swim a 500 in ~11 min. I can breathe bilaterally and do flip turns in my freestyle sets (it took me a few months to get those into my workouts because I didn't have the cardiovascular system to handle both for a long time). What are some milestones that you've set for yourself? What skills/times should a beginner be able to accomplish? How about an intermediate swimmer? Thanks, Nick