How to make swimming more interesting?

niceonetom

Hi there

I'm a cyclist who, due to an achilles injury, finds himself doing some swimming to retain some fitness while unable to cycle. I've only been at it a couple of weeks but I confess that boredom is already setting in a little - probably because I don't really know what I should be doing in the pool. Maybe you guys could give me some tips on how to progress.

Just to give you an idea of where I'm at - the last few sessions I've just been trying to find my technique again after many many years away from swimming. I used to swim competitively up to the age of about 14 so the body remembers some of it but only vaguely - I'm in my thirties now and have only been in a pool a few times since my childhood. I set out to see how far I'd get in an 60 minutes and made it to a nice round number of 120 lengths (25m obviously). That includes a bit of faffing with goggles and stuff and was at a pace I would call "steady" or "endurance" if I was on the bike.

Do those of you who swim regularly break your sessions down into different blocs? 60 minutes feels like a long time to just go up and down (though I'm used to training being much longer on the bike so it's more mental stamina than physical stamina that I'm struggling with). What drills do people do? Are there any specific things I should be aiming at, or aiming to avoid? Goals? How could I add some variety or challenge for myself?

TL;DR
What would you suggest to make swimming more interesting?

Finelli

Find a group if possible to train with - that'll keep you motivated & give you a benchmark.

otherwise, it's very hard to stay motivated doing lengths on your own

mad m

I have to agree with Finelli, nothing like trying to catch someone in front of you who is faster, then swap it around and you become the hunted one:D

As for session's try and mix it up, like tonight we did as a group.

300 warmup
6 sets of 3 X 100's (3rd 100m was B/S)
4 X 75m,50m,25m

Total was 2.7k.......

Try and time what you can do for a 100m...Try and do a 100m in lets say 1m 35s...or 1m 40s...Give yourself 10second break and then go again and try and keep it at 1m 35s etc...

Killgore Trout

3*3k sets from my records:

---

100 warmup

10*100
50 easy
12*75
50 easy
2*100
4*50
8*25
400 easy

---

300 warmup

Pyramid:
50
-100
--150
---200
----250

---

300
----250
---200
--150
-100
50

6*50
4*50 mixed

400 easy

---

100 warmup
8*75 (3rd len backstroke)
4*100
4*100 pull
4*100 IM
4*100 (50 brs 50 legs)
4*100
300 easy

okane1

You come from a cycling background, I myself also cycle.

I'll try and relate swimming with cycling.
On my club spins (2hrs+), I won't get bored as your engaged in conversations and rotating around in the group.
On solo cycles with no music or anything interesting to look at, I would get bored if just cycle with no plan.
This boredom would pass if I started doing intervals session or start to race / catch-up with traffic!

This is all very similar to swimming. As the previous posters have advised, swimming with a group is a sure way to make your swims.
If you just do a 1hr straight swim in the pool, you will become very bored. I often get bored during my warm-up/warm-down (400m).

You need to swim to a plan.
Warm-up 200-400m
Technical - Kick/arm - 10x50
Main set - 10x100m
Second set - 4x200,
Warm-down - 200-400m

something along those lines.
Perhaps make a target for yourself, do some open water swimming come the summer, etc.

niceonetom

Thanks for the feedback everyone - some good stuff for me to be getting on with there (though I admit I'm struggling with the jargon a little at times). I'm fairly used to interval sessions and pyramid workouts on the bike so I'll try that kind of thing in the pool and see how I get on.

First thing is to find out what I'm capable of when I try to actually go faster - at the moment all I've done is sort of plod along. Any attempt to go faster results in much less breath, much more splashing and almost no increase in speed at all. There may be technique issues here. That and the puny upper-body strength you'd expect of a cyclist. I might even try to remember how to tumble turn.

Thanks again all.