I could use some direction

Al, I replied to another one of your threads that you put on a different forum. Either way, welcome back to the swimming world. Suit = jammer, goggles = whatever is comfortable and doesn't fog, workouts = look under other topics in this forum. My best suggestion would be to join the Master's program if you definitely want the workout, or find a good swim instructor/coach that is up to date on current technique to help you get back into the swim of things! All the best, and if you need any help please feel free to let me know with regard to workouts, drills, etc.

Thanks Andy, After swimming for 2 days now, I have definitely figured out that it is probably going to take 3-4 weeks to get my arms used to swimming. Here is what I have done so far. Day 1: I just went and swam laps, getting used to breathing again. I was very surprised at how difficult it was in the beginning to breath. By the end of my session (20-24 laps, I lost count) I was able to do 2 lengths without stopping. Day 2: I put a little more concentration in this day. I did 30 laps. I did 2 lengths at a time, changing the breathing pattern each time. My biggest problem by the end of the second lap is my arms get fatigued. I could probably do 3-5 laps without stopping if my arms would hold in there. My game plan was to swim every other day for the first 2 weeks to get my arms a chance to recover. However I am on my way to the Y now to see if they will respond or not. If I dont post back up it means I have drowned. My game plan is to increase the number of laps each time out. Now that I have reached 30 I am shooting for 40 today, I think my goal is 100. Seems reasonable ( at least to me) The other goal would to be able to do it non stop, I think that will come with getting into some general swimming shape. Feel free to suggest other directions I should take then the course I am setting for myself. Thanks Al

Well I survived 60 Laps today. I was surprised how good my arms felt, as they are the part that gets the most fatiuged. I did the first 10 laps freestyle ( 2 at a time) Then I did 2 kicking and 2 pulling Did another 6 Free style ( 2 at a time) 2 kicking 4 pulling 2 freestyle 3 freestyle ( lap 29,30,31 in a row for my first 3x) I chugged along for a while and then at lap 41 I did my first 4 in a row:bliss: I was so surprised, not only did i make my goal of 40 laps I passed it and in doing so I actually did 4 in a row on just my 3rd day in the pool. OK no big deal to you guys but it was to me. I did a bunch more laps pulling and even got up to 6 in a row. Man I never realized how much kicking wipes you out. I am definitely going to add more kicking to my practice. I noticed a lot of people (much stronger than I am) using flippers while using the kick boards. I kind of see this as cheating, or does this make you stronger? I would think you are better off not using them but I am not sure.

Well I survived 60 Laps today.... I did a bunch more laps pulling and even got up to 6 in a row ....I noticed a lot of people (much stronger than I am) using flippers while using the kick boards. I kind of see this as cheating, or does this make you stronger? I would think you are better off not using them but I am not sure. Heythorp, I just saw this thread and welcome back to swimming ... sorry you had to get here grudgingly off the bike, but I hope you'll find a lot of good advice scattered throughout the discussion forums. Here are a few thoughts on getting back into shape. (1) As you get back into the pool, spend A LOT of your early training focused on technique. This will not only make you more efficient in the water, you'll enjoy your training more as your technique improves and, I believe, will be able to focus more on your cardio/training once a solid stroke works its way into your muscle memory. There are a lot of posts here on technique -- check out the Ask Ande thread -- but also a lot of good technique books, videos. I'm a big fan of Terry Laughlin's Total Immersion (www.totalimmersion.net) particularly if you're focused on freestyle. (2) Although I've only ever swum, from watching my wife train for half marathons and talking with Ironman trainers, I think there is a fairly big difference in the way you train for those long distance events and the way most swimmers train. As you begin your workouts, think about discrete sets and think about interval training. This both reduces the boredom factor of staring at the black line, but also allows you to switch your focal points throughout the workout. Again, the workouts forum is great. (3) Once you've got a relatively solid stroke and are feeling more comfortable in the water, ratchet up the intensity. If I'm doing an 75 minute workout in the pool, I like to do about 15 to 20 minutes of warmup/technique work, followed by pretty high intensity sets for the next 45 to 50 minutes, followed by a 5 to 10 minute cool down. The message is that swimming longer and slowly, while comfortable, won't do as much for your heart and muscles as swimming hard. (4) I'd second the recommendation to find a master's team. If you don't, though, develop a weekly workout plan that makes sense for you. For example, on our team we typically do: Mondays: longer distance, but high intensity with short rest intervals Tuesdays: "yoga swimming" -- this contradicts my point 3, but this tends to be long swims at a moderate pace and is a good recovery after Monday Wednesday: sprints / all out -- tends to be shorter total yardage, but MAX intensity with relatively generous rest Thursday: generally "yoga swimming" but maybe a little harder than Tuesday Friday: I think our coach is calling this "Fanatical Fridays" or something like that ... tends to be high intensity, but not quite at max like Wednesday and mid-distance Saturday: tends to be more similar to Mondays, though we often add in more IM Good luck

Day 4 in the pool: Wow is all I can say. After 20 Laps of warming up. I put together a 20 lap set of pulls without stopping. I was so surprised how easy it was and how good i felt when I stopped. I put the floaty ( i dont know what they are called) up on top, took a few deep breaths and started to do my first 20 lap set of freestyle without stopping. I am not sure how doing 3 or 4 the day before almost killed me, yet a day later I was able to knock out 20 in relative ease. By the time I was done with the 20 they were becoming laborsome, but wow 20 in a row. I am very surprised at how fast this is escalating. I did a total of 64 laps and would have gone longer but time ran out on me for this session.

Day 5: Well this morning was a tough one for me even though I set some new marks for myself. First the day started with waking at 4am, why? I have no idea, but I figured thats OK my GF was getting up at 5, so I watched a little tv turned the car on to warm it up (22 degrees this morning) and woke my GF at 5. She then told me she wasnt going to the gym... That kind of demotivated me and I sat on the couch until 5:30 until i told myself I was a *** for the 50th time and I got up and went to the Y. I am pretty sure I was laughed at this morning by all the fast kids. I came in sporting my new lap counter on my finger. Pretty sure I heard some snickering. Wow the first 10 laps are really hard for me. 2 at a time is all i can manage. After some kicking with a board ( should i be using fins? I am not), I settled into 20 laps of pulls ( is it a lap or a length? I really need swimmers vocab for dummies). Took a few minutes to play with my trusty dusty counter, reset it and off I went for 32 laps/lenghts without stopping. This is really intriguing me now. How in the world in 5 days in the pool can I get this far? My arms are not sore at night a little tired but I can swim the next day. Tomorrows goal? I dont know yet, my arms were definitely tired today and by the time I got to 30 I was mentally fighting the repetiveness of swimming. I thought biking was boring and repetitive, not even close to the swim. So a few things from today: 1. Get your ass up and go. Being tired or pissed because your GF doesnt want to goto the gym is no reason not to go. (this really isnt a problem for me as I ride 4-5k miles a year so I know what it takes to get out the door, but sometimes you have to kick yourself in the ass) 2. F U fast guys, wait until i show up with my swimman, lap counter, goggles, swim cap, board and flippers, then you can laugh at me. Get on the bike and see how you do in 5 days. ( I am really joking about this, i dont think they were laughing but if they were thats ok too) 3. I like the lap counter, i think it was great to see that it took me 18+ minutes to do the 32 laps. I think the total time was 18:32 or something like that. My times during warm up were 28 seconds a lap so I was able to slow things down a bit to swim a longer distance but it was not by much.

Heythorp, I just saw this thread and welcome back to swimming ... sorry you had to get here grudgingly off the bike, but I hope you'll find a lot of good advice scattered throughout the discussion forums. Here are a few thoughts on getting back into shape. Ah thank you for the advise this actually seems like something I can live with. I do have a question though. In cycling, at the beginning of the year I work on my base fitness. I wont do intervals or hill repeats for almost 1000 miles. Certainly there is a base fitness I need to gain in swimming for me to do some of this, no? How many yards do I need to do to obtain a base in swimming before really starting to push for speed (which to be honest with you is not my main goal, but I wouldn't mind getting faster). I figured i would need at least a good 4 weeks of doing what I am doing before starting to really work on speed. My arms just need some time. But I am amazed at my results already. I have been reading some interesting things on this site, I am very interested in trying some of the training ideas/techniques. Thanks for the input I think I am going to start implementing your example slowly while I work on my base. Thanks for the help.

Ah thank you for the advise this actually seems like something I can live with. I do have a question though. In cycling, at the beginning of the year I work on my base fitness. I wont do intervals or hill repeats for almost 1000 miles. Certainly there is a base fitness I need to gain in swimming for me to do some of this, no? How many yards do I need to do to obtain a base in swimming before really starting to push for speed (which to be honest with you is not my main goal, but I wouldn't mind getting faster). I figured i would need at least a good 4 weeks of doing what I am doing before starting to really work on speed. My arms just need some time. But I am amazed at my results already. Good points. I still tend to do interval work even in the "early season," but do longer distances. For example, rather than doing a straight 2000 yard swim, I'd do either 10 x 200 or, more likely, 5 x 400. Maybe I just have some ADD, but I generally don't do a lot of straight swims that are much more than 500/600 unless it's a long warm-up where I might mix up some swimming, kicking and drilling. Now, while I'm admittedly training primarily for pool swimming and primarily to go faster, here's how I'm thinking about training for my next "season." I wrapping up a "season" in a couple of weeks (1st weekend in December) after which I'll take a full week off and do absolutely no swimming, no running, no weightlifting, no physical activity greater than walking around. From there, I'll have a target to swim fast in about 4.5 months. I don't know if this will be of any help to you, but I also want to break up the season into intervals to keep the variety up: ~2.5 months: swim 3 to 4 times per week, focusing mainly on longer sets (e.g., 200s to 500s repeats), with workouts like I described in my original post. I'll aim for 12k to 16k yards per week. full body weight lifting two times a week (going to try to follow Jason Lezak's program ... google his name and weight training and I think you can find it) try to run ~3 miles on those weightlifting days (I personally HATE running, but there are these great splash-n-dash races here in Arizona that I like to do so I have to run) 1 core or flow yoga class on Sundays (my "rest" day) ~1.5 months swim 5 to 6 times per week, focusing more more speedwork (e.g., most sets likely to be 50 to 200 repeats), but still keeping yardage and intensity up. I'll aim for 20k to 25K yards per week. weight lifting twice per week keep running, but I just do these to get through them aim to keep up core or yoga Last two weeks before trying to swim fast One week very focused on speed work, drop running, lighten weights considerably, do core Last week: dramatically drop swim yards, no weights, no run, no core, maybe only 15% of my workouts at race pace

Today was a tough day in the pool. the first 250 yards is just so hard for me to get going. i have found something that has worked for me over the past couple of days. 250 warm up Kicking drills pulls then as far as I can go freestyle ... the first 250 is mentally difficult, I constantly fight the desire to stop at 250 I totally get this. For me, especially if I'm working out by myself, the two biggest hurdles are getting there and getting through the first 400 to 600. I don't know if you bring a planned workout, but when I workout solo, I find that writing it in permanent marker and having that sheet by the poolside keeps me going. Also, I don't know about others, but I think you might always find the first part hard. If you know that, though, hopefully you just push through that every day and keep swimming forward.

Great. Thanks for the input. I think i am pretty close to getting into faster sets. I am amazed at the progress in one week. MY last 2 days in the pool have really been interesting to me. Today was day six in a row and 7 out of 8 (I started 8 days ago) but before I talk about today. Yesterday was my first mile. I didn't hit any new goals other than the total. When I was 8 or 9 or whatever, i raced backstroke, i threw in 50yards at the end of my work out. I can't believe how much it wore me out, even though you can breath the whole time. Today was a tough day in the pool. the first 250 yards is just so hard for me to get going. i have found something that has worked for me over the past couple of days. 250 warm up Kicking drills pulls then as far as I can go freestyle Today was 250 warm up(still really hard for me) 750 kicking (with flippers and board) this is good for me, i find that it tires my legs out and seems to help with keeping a good pace 750 pulls ( i do this without stopping) In the future, i might do faster sets of 250 750 free style ( i do this without stopping) In the future, i might do faster sets of 250 For fun at the end I did 50 of *** stroke and came to the conclusion that I will not be doing this, not because i cant, but because my left knee pops with every kick. I finished it off with 50 of back stroke. Wow at the end of 50 am I almost ready to drown. All in all its good. I find after i warm up and I start a set of 500 or 750, the first 250 is mentally difficult, I constantly fight the desire to stop at 250. But then it get to 300 and settle in and feel like I can go all day. Today I used the isH2 water proof case and headphones for the shuffle. It worked better than expected, but the complaints about the sized of the ear buds are valid. The left one worked flawlessly, but I had trouble with getting the right one to sit properly, once I did the product was transparent. Pretty good option then buying the swimman. I had a hard time justifying a third shuffle in the house along with a nano, 2 iphones and another ipod. I was going to send my shuffle into swimman to have them waterproof it but by the time you do that and buy headphones its faster and way cheaper to use the is2. The case is great the headphones work well.