Off-Season Swim Challenge - get off your duff!

I've just been swimming regulary now for about a year and I am slow around 1:50 to 2 min per 100 but i can maintain that for what seems like hours. I know a lot of my lack of speed may have to do with my technique but I don't have the money to get a coach and I can't seem to find a Masters class to try and jump into for someone to look at my technique.

All that being said can we have some workouts tailored around speed work or ladders or something that a person like me can use to work on improving their speed.

I know this is kind of individual request but I think a lot of us newbies fall into this category.

Edin

Edin,

First, I think you are seriously overestimating how fast other folks are.  Sure, thecaptin, Rocketman and crazyalaskian were all year-round or collegiate swimmers and natnegsplit is fast, but the rest of us are not so much.  1:50 is my forever pace too.  : ) 

That said, sometimes a nice workout or someone to race will help raise your game.  If folks do not come up with any workout favorites in a given week, I fully intend to fall-back on Coach Sara's speed or technique workouts from www.clermontmastersswim.blogspot.com.  So yes, it is no problem to include speed work/ladders/etc.

Steph

Thanks Steph,

I'd like to get down to about 1-45 per 100 on shorter races and that is my goal for the next year but I have a long way to go

Just an FYI Link seems to be broken

Edin

Now you are just poking fun at us slow swimmers.

Anything below 2 mins/100 is solid.  I'm sure there are somethings you could work on, but you are doing really well.

Sorry, Edin. The link was broken because I typed the title instead of the webaddress.

  http://ntcmastersswim.blogspot.com/

Thanks Steph,

That web site is great, I'll have to decipher some of the workouts but it seems straightforward. I also hope that some of the strenght training I am doing in the winter will pay off in the pool once i finally start swimming again .

Doug- by "slow swimmer" you are referring to the people that swim OVER me and then haul a$$ while I am trying to figure out what happened

Thanks again for posting all this it will definitly help whatever the format is

Edin

I am in.  I am a tad behind on the volume of you folks for I will be modifying MTC to have a D.  That does also measure my skill level

It will be next week before I hit the pool for anything not casual.

All right fishes, here is your swim workout for this week.  And it is a doozy. 

Some guidelines:  Do meters or yards, whichever you have in your pool.  Swimming shorthand is pretty easy once you get the hang of it.  1x500 means one set of 500 meters/yards, while 5x100 means 5 sets of 100 meters/yards each.  Free means freestyle.  Not-free means any other stroke.  Breathe 3/5/7 means for the first 75 breathe every 3 strokes, the second 75 breathe every 5 strokes, etc.  Build means starting slow and building to fast by the end of the set (I imagine a wave behind me pushing me faster and faster).  Easy/fast by 25 means that you complete each interval alternating 25s (usually one length of the pool) of easy and fast (in this workout you start with easy because of the hard set before this one).

Now, this is your workout and the idea is to get your behind in the pool, so adjust the workout to fit your fitness level and likes/dislikes.  If you don't like "not free" sets, do freestyle for the not-free intervals.  Kick with or without a kickboard.  For the pushups, do however many you feel like (see who can do the most!), do them miltary-style, knees-down or skip them entirely. If you skip the pushups, I suggest doing an up-n-out (getting out of the pool by pushing yourself out with your arms on the side, stepping up to a standing position and then jumping back in) because they are hard also.  If your pool prohibits diving and even if not, please just jump back in.  I find that by the end of the push-up sets, I am not coordinated enough to dive anyway and I would hate for anyone to get hurt.

I am swimming in the morning on Monday, so anyone who swims at LifeTime Mountain Brook is welcome to join me at 5/5:30am in the lap pool.  Pink bathing suit and googles and a GU bottle at the end of my lane.  No laughing at my ridiculously bad pushups, though.

750 completed this morning.

Positive= I got out of bed and swam, not a lot of people in the pool. got an idea of where i am on my swimming condition.

needs work- finding the proper pace, endurance.

I find that when i'm going slow I feel like my form is totally out of wack. Though when I sprint I don't think about it. my body rotates, I look forward in stead of straight down, I have decent role.

we will see how the next one goes.

thanks for the work out.

Good job getting in the pool, Jason!  That was goal number one!

I didn't finish the whole workout either. 

I dropped to 5 pushups per 25 right off the bat because I knew I would be tight on time and since I am still walking like the tin man from Saturday's race, I decided it would be bad not to be able to move my upper body either (which is what happened the last time I did this workout).

So, I did 5 pushups each time and completed all but the easy/fast set because I ran out of time.  Can anyone do better than 5 pushups? 

I will be doing either workout 1 or 2 (not sure yet due to time) tomorrow morning. I'll let you know how it goes

Thanks

Steph-

This is awesome! Thanks!!!

BT ate my post from yesterday!

However, here are this week's workouts.  They involve a lot of drills because Karen needs to get back in the pool! : )  If you need more description than I have listed below, here is Coach Sara's page for Freestyle drills.

Workout #1:

500 warm up
4x50 @ 1:15 (25 right arm, 25 left arm)
4x50 @ 1:15 (25 catch up, 25 fingertip drag)
4x50 @ 1:15 (25 Tarzan, 25 6-3-6 drill)
4x50 @ 1:15 (25 fist drill, 25 underwater recovery)
6x150 @ 3:30 (50 free, 50 non-free, 50 free)
100 easy
6x100 pull @ 2:00 (odds: 3/5 evens:3/7 breathing pattern by 25)
200 cool down

*3,100 Total*

Workout #2:

300 warm up
3x50 w/:15 sec rest (25 right arm, 25 left arm)
3x50 w/:15 sec rest (25 catch up, 25 fingertip drag)
3x50 w/:15 sec rest (25 Tarzan, 25 6-3-6 drill)
3x50 w/:15 sec rest (25 fist drill, 25 underwater recovery)
6x100 w/:40 sec rest (75 free, 25 non-free)
100 easy
4x100 pull w/:30 rest (3/5/3/7 breathing pattern by 25)
100 cool down

*2,100 Total*

Workout #3:

200 warm up
2x50 w/:15 sec rest (25 right arm, 25 left arm)
2x50 w/:15 sec rest (25 catch up, 25 fingertip drag)
2x50 w/:15 sec rest (25 Tarzan, 25 6-3-6 drill)
2x50 w/:15 sec rest (25 fist drill, 25 underwater recovery)
4x100 pull w/:30 rest (3/5/3/5 breathing pattern by 25)
100 cool down

*1,100 Total*

Drill Descriptions:

Right Arm/Left Arm:  Complete each lap of freestyle using only the right or left arm.

Catch-Up:  Freestyle, but do not start stroke with second hand until the first hand has returned to the start position. 

Fingertip:  Freestyle, similar to catch-up, but do recovery of each arm with fingertips dragging in the water.

Tarzan:  Freestyle, but done keeping head completely out of the water.

6-3-6:  Take three strokes and pause on your right side with right arm extended forward and your left arm lying on left side. Remain in this position for six kicks. Take three more strokes and pause on your left side for six kicks. Repeat.

Fist:  Freestyle, but keeping hands in fists for whole lap.

I remember plenty of workouts like this in my swim team years. jumping the pool wed. morning. can't wait. thanks for the updated workout.

thanks steph.. btw I love the fist swim.

more than 5 push ups.. I may have the first round (from the pool ledge) but trust me it was all downhill and funny from there last week.

How is everyone doing on the never-bored drills this week? 

I am swimming Friday morning at LTF Mountain Brook (5am ish) and then running on the treadmills in the back if anyone wants to join me.

Whoa.  I REALLY wanted to skip the swim this week, but with a little encouragement from Doug, I got out the door and into the pool this morning.

The never-bored drills were just that.  Never boring.  Hard, but not boring.  : )

Hope you enjoyed them!  I'll post next week's workout on Sunday.  It is a contribution from thecaptin, so get ready to suffer!