I swam competitively in High School and College. The distance I used to swim turned me off from swimming for many yrs. 10-15k a day.
After 15 yrs ive decided to try it again. My best masters experience were workouts that averaged 2500. I felt 40 min of hard swimming was manageable with my other daily duties and did not scare me away.
A good warm up. 600 yards.
A kick or stroke set. 600 yards.
Then a core set -1000 yards. 10x 100, 5 x 200 im etc.
Warm down.
Can this cut it 3-5 days a week to get in primo shape?
... My best masters experience were workouts that averaged 2500. I felt 40 min of hard swimming was manageable with my other daily duties and did not scare me away.
...
Can this cut it 3-5 days a week to get in primo shape?
I think the answer to your question is basically "yes".
My experience is that the number of times I swim per week is more important than the distance per workout (within reason of course, it wouldn't do much good to swim 100 yds/day 7 days per week.) I find that 2500-3000 yds/workout 3x per week gives me ok overall fitness, but doesn't get me into competitive swimming shape. At 4x per week I make slow progress, but at 5x per week I feel like I can put out what are for me strong performances. Last year I averaged about 3100 yds/workout slightly more than 4x per week and my times steadily improved. For spring & summer this year I averaged close to 3500 yds/practice 5x per week. I got within a few tenths of my HS best 100 free time and within a second or two of my best 100 back time. I'm 46 yo and train mostly to race backstroke. I should point out that my focus events in HS were the 500 free and 200 IM. I don't do those now. I suspect that I would be 10 s off in the IM and 35+ s off in the 500.
YMMV. I know one guy that is just a few years younger than me who claims to swim 1700 yds/workout 2x per week, yet he has a very fast 50 free and a respectable 100. I'm glad he isn't in my age group, yet.
... My best masters experience were workouts that averaged 2500. I felt 40 min of hard swimming was manageable with my other daily duties and did not scare me away.
...
Can this cut it 3-5 days a week to get in primo shape?
I think the answer to your question is basically "yes".
My experience is that the number of times I swim per week is more important than the distance per workout (within reason of course, it wouldn't do much good to swim 100 yds/day 7 days per week.) I find that 2500-3000 yds/workout 3x per week gives me ok overall fitness, but doesn't get me into competitive swimming shape. At 4x per week I make slow progress, but at 5x per week I feel like I can put out what are for me strong performances. Last year I averaged about 3100 yds/workout slightly more than 4x per week and my times steadily improved. For spring & summer this year I averaged close to 3500 yds/practice 5x per week. I got within a few tenths of my HS best 100 free time and within a second or two of my best 100 back time. I'm 46 yo and train mostly to race backstroke. I should point out that my focus events in HS were the 500 free and 200 IM. I don't do those now. I suspect that I would be 10 s off in the IM and 35+ s off in the 500.
YMMV. I know one guy that is just a few years younger than me who claims to swim 1700 yds/workout 2x per week, yet he has a very fast 50 free and a respectable 100. I'm glad he isn't in my age group, yet.
