Subject: RE: Swim Speed Per 100 tracking (novice swimmer) I'm new to swimming too, but started to swim "seriously" (for me, a runner) after a foot injury over the past 14 weeks. No real swim background to speak of short of at least knowing how to swim. Studied the heck out of Total Immersion, and did 100% focus on form and not speed (as the book said), and built up to 60 minutes of near-continuous swim times. My progress roughly: - First week of swimming: 2:10-2:20/100m, 400-500m at a time before needing rest. 18 strokes/100m after reading Total immersion. - Yesterday's swim: Freestyle right side breathing: 1:47/100m for nearly 45 minutes continuous, 11-12 strokes/100m Freestyle left side breathing: 1:55/100m for nearly 45 minutes continouous, 11-12 strokes/100m Being a beginner improving on the swim is great fun. I really do believe that the technique is super-critical, and I'm still horrified with the gross inefficiencies that I have learned to easily spot even as a beginner, that some of the "fast" people in the pool (faster than me, that is) still cling to. I found it very interesting that my freestyle left is 10sec/slower than my freestyle right breathing, despite very similar roll technique and obviously the same arm strength. I practice each side near equally, but am a natural "right" person. For me, the main difference I notice is that my arm scull on the right side breathing is far more effective - I feel like I'm really gripping a lot of water, whereas rightnow, when I'm left breathing like it's ineffectively dragging through the water despite focusing mentally on the same exact motion. I think the details of the technique make a huge difference, although I'll also say that the swim-specific fitness is equally huge at my stage in the game, and it took 3 months of 4-6x/wk of steady swimming to build up enough endurance to go the distance. I suspect most of my time gains from here will be endurance-related and less technique. |