What do YOU need to do to have a major swimming breakthrough?"

Originally posted by ande I suggest you spend your summer training the the best program you can find ande Idaho's not exactly a swim capitol for good programs. Any ideas of what I can do on my own? ~Kyra

Originally posted by gull80 Last spring I improved 25 seconds in the 500 (Jan. to May) but have not been able to swim faster since then. Do you attribute that improvement to anything in particular?

Originally posted by LindsayNB Do you attribute that improvement to anything in particular? I started training more seriously in October of 2003 (after going through rehab for my shoulder). I increased my yardage from 1500 to 3000 yards/workout over several months. I was consistent with my dryland program (still am). I added more endurance work as well as race pace sets. Ande--good questions. I'll get back to you on that--don't have time right now.

the point I want to make is that the people who are swimming really fast, like Trip Hedrick and Richard Abrams, do have talent, but they are also training to swim very fast. ande Trip Hedrick wrote a very interesting article about his training in the last edition of Minnesota's masters newsletter, if you are interested. I found it very inspiring and helpful; since I do not have regular pool access this year, I have been doing more dryland training. You can read it at www.minnesotamasters.com, just click on the Newsletter or Old Sternwheeler link.

thanks that's an excellent article www.minnesotamasters.com/.../sternwheeler.pdf Originally posted by kaffrinn Trip Hedrick wrote a very interesting article about his training in the last edition of Minnesota's masters newsletter, if you are interested. I found it very inspiring and helpful; since I do not have regular pool access this year, I have been doing more dryland training. You can read it at www.minnesotamasters.com, just click on the Newsletter or Old Sternwheeler link.

don't know what it would cost depends on where you went and your situation once you got there if you had a host family a family who had a daughter in the same program as you you might be able to stay somewhere for free though you might have to pay for some meals and such what are the good program near idaho how about the university of Utah in SLC? you can do anything you set your mind to how determined are you? anyone else out there wanna breakthrough? Originally posted by Seagurl51 That's something I hadn't thought of. One question though, how much would it cost? I'm a college student so that limits my options. Know of any good places with good swimming programs that are cheap to swim and live? ~Kyra

Originally posted by ande exactly, my point is why spend the summer in idaho trying to train yourself why not spend the summer in a different town with a great swimming program, like austin or some place where an awesome team trains, and work your but off with a great coach and fast team mates ande That's something I hadn't thought of. One question though, how much would it cost? I'm a college student so that limits my options. Know of any good places with good swimming programs that are cheap to swim and live? ~Kyra

Talking about break-throughs, I HAVE to share my today's experience with everyone, 'cause I have never been happier with my results since I started swimming.Anyways, today all of a sudden I was swimming like I did not for a long time.I cut my number of strokes from 15 to 14 per 25 m. free which I could not do comfortably for about at least 3 months, my butterfly FINALLY came together , felt awesome and I flew(well, for me) vs. two days ago. My body kinda woke up all of a sudden and it felt like I was a totally different person!!!I have no idea what that has to do with, maybe because I finally decided to stop killing myself and took a day off yesterday after about 9 straight days of work-outs(I know, that is crazy, but I love swimming, I should really give myself more rest, though :-))). So it could have been a mini-taper for me.Or there is another thing I thought about which is weird and I highly doubt it: today the water was extremely warm compared to the usual temperature.Could that have had any effect on my muscles, maybe some relaxing factor, but just like I said I do not think so ... Well, I just hope that I simply improved and that tomorrow I will still see 14 strokes per 25m and a graceful butterfly...It can't run away from me now, can it?lol

pool temp definitely effects your performance especially in longer swims i prefer pool temp a little on the cool side my masters group often trains in the diving well which is kept a little warmer for the sake of the divers when the main set arrives i tend to take off my cap if we're swimming long and hard ande Originally posted by Scansy The water temperature works the opposite for me. If it's warmer I don't swim as well. The pool I swim at is kept at about 82F - but one time the heat didn't work and it dropped to about 75F. Other than the initial shock, it was great. I felt like I could swim forever! Stronger, faster too.

The water temperature works the opposite for me. If it's warmer I don't swim as well. The pool I swim at is kept at about 82F - but one time the heat didn't work and it dropped to about 75F. Other than the initial shock, it was great. I felt like I could swim forever! Stronger, faster too.