Swimming like Phelps !

supraspinaswim

Hi ,

I swim at least 3 -4 days a week , and do at least 1800m in an hour . The only problem is continuity - doing more than 100m without stopping .Im with a club in uni , and want to get into competitions / inter-varsities .

Any advice ?

sock puppet

Maybe join a club outside college? Varsity swimming is much more social.

Killgore Trout

Often when I’m training I see people who could improve their swimming; but they spend what looks like half their session standing at the end of the pool taking a break.

When they do swim they seem to have a reasonable pace, however they don’t have the stamina to keep it up for the session.

The desire to go fast is getting in the way of building good stamina. They need to slow it down before they can get fast.

interested

Killgore Trout wrote: »

standing at the end of the pool taking a break.

they're busy discussing their next triathlon

mad m

Killgore Trout wrote: »

Often when I’m training I see people who could improve their swimming; but they spend what looks like half their session standing at the end of the pool taking a break.

When they do swim they seem to have a reasonable pace, however they don’t have the stamina to keep it up for the session.

The desire to go fast is getting in the way of building good stamina. They need to slow it down before they can get fast.

See this very often, a great bit of advice from Killgore Trout...

One thing I hate is when I'm doing a session, I'm trying my hardest to keep up with the front swimmers, then someone behind me who has a longer break than the rest of us is on my heels touching my toe's doing a 100m or more....And then the next 100m they are dead in the water

Ben D Bus

interested wrote: »

they're busy discussing their next triathlon

And getting in the way of those of us who are trying to do laps

kris71

I'm going to give you a different advice as to be honest 1800m in an hour is not a great distance, so either you actually spend 30% of that hour talking or I would take a step back and add more technique work out with drills to improve your technique, as based on your time I would say there is a lot of space for improvements there alone, and then move over to endurance/speed training, unless you want to keep reinforcing bad habits.

there is an easy way to deal with people hanging on the wall in your way, close tumble turn will do the job, trust me they will get the point quickly and move away from the cross, just aim close to them not at them (safety first), what bothers me more is a holiday breaststroke in a fast lane. I also have to say I'm myself guilty of wasting my pool time chatting with people, but if I go for a recreational swim i can't see why someone would have a problem with it, most of the sport disciplines has social factor within them, in swimming it is slightly more difficult to maintain conversation during the workout so some people are using their brakes to socialize a bit, when I'm conducting the session I don't mind my swimmers to chat to each other, and when their brake is over they know themselves that 20s break is not 40s break and there is a reason why it has to be exactly 20s if they don't it's my job to remind them with a gentle "GO, GO, GO!!!"

supraspinaswim

Cheers , to be honest , its technique and just the push to keep going . At the moment ive a shoulder injury - rotator cuff ( 'sits' muscles , i did anatomy ) . Once i have someone pushing me i can do it , part of the reason why i dont do a such a great distance is mental more so than physical stamina .

Thanks for the advice though !

2old4dacold

interested wrote: »

they're busy discussing their next triathlon

supraspinaswim

one other question though is , im 20 , am i too old for major tournaments ? Over the past 2 months I've gotten my freestyle way better and fly on the go too . Do I stand a chance at least doing something like nationals or further up the scale ? Would love to get that op .

okane1

What times are you doing for 50m and 100m in freestyle and fly?

supraspinaswim

eh , 50 free is 39s and 100m is about a min . Butterfly im not sure , guessing around 42 sec for 50 . Have some improvements to make on fly but just there

okane1

supraspinaswim wrote: »

eh , 50 free is 39s and 100m is about a min . Butterfly im not sure , guessing around 42 sec for 50 . Have some improvements to make on fly but just there

You sure about your 100m FS time? If you do 50m in 39sec, surely your 100m would be around 82secs?

You asked about nationals, I'm assuming your around 20?
With those times, sorry to say, but you wont be competing in nationals. Attached you can find the qualifying times for Div B and you need to be hitting 60secs to get into the event.

Another option would be enter a few master galas. I believe they do not have qualifying times.

Remember you don't need to go to galas to compete.
You can compete with your swimming mates during training or get into open water swimming.

opinion guy

Out of pure curiousity what are the division A qualifying times?

okane1

http://www.sundayswellsc.com/Standards/Division%201.htm

And if you're interested in our national high performance squads, see attached pdf.

opinion guy

lol merely curiousity - I'm way too old.

I'm wondering if I had tried harder would I have gotten anywhere. When I was in my mid twenties with a similar training schedule to the OP I was doing 100m freestyle in about 1:05 or so whilst nursing a dodgy shoulder. I probably had potential I never tapped and was pretty sure I could have gone sub 1minute even at that age (hell I'll say it - I'm sure I could go sub 1minute still )- I never took it seriously when I was younger and then that shoulder problem got worse the more I trained on it so that was the end of that.
On the plus side shoulder is much better now

supraspinaswim

Seems ridiculous but Im aiming to swim in less time , cheers for the help , its good to know what I'm up against
:eek:

opinion guy

supraspinaswim wrote: »

Seems ridiculous but Im aiming to swim in less time , cheers for the help , its good to know what I'm up against
:eek:

Well the real question if you wanted to be really serious about it is - are you prepared to get up at 6am every day to do your first of at least 2 daily in pool training sessions, plus gym work and whatever else on top of that ?

supraspinaswim

was doing at least 4 days a week in pool 3 days ~ in gym - rough indication

Ben D Bus

I've looked at the links provided by okane1

It's just so motivating to know I'd be annihilated in an under-12 girls race

okane1

^^^

Nanazolie

Killgore Trout wrote: »

Often when I’m training I see people who could improve their swimming; but they spend what looks like half their session standing at the end of the pool taking a break.

When they do swim they seem to have a reasonable pace, however they don’t have the stamina to keep it up for the session.

The desire to go fast is getting in the way of building good stamina. They need to slow it down before they can get fast.

+ 1

I never took swimming classes, I'm a selft taught and I'm pretty sure my "technique" is not very orthodox. But I can do 2km in under 45 minutes, I do 80 lenghts without stopping unless someone is making me.
It didn't come instantly, I started slow and could only manage 20mn without stopping at first. What really helped was to start running, it's great to build your endurance

Another thing that really helped me get faster and stronger: compete against swimmers who had obviously had the training I lacked. I find a strong swimmer, get in the line beside him / her (I'm a lady) and try to beat them. It's only for myself, I never boast about it.