SWBKRUN- Miles and Miles ahead!!!! CLOSED (Page 173)

Quick question, is there anything wrong with swimming four days a week, and maybe cutting back on the run or the bike.  I'm really getting frustrated with my lack of endurance in the water.  I'm thinking of making March a swim month or is this a bad idea?

Ben

Any thoughts on using hand paddles, and what is the proper way to do so.  I've been told that if you use them wrong it could screw up your shoulders.  I've got to get where I'm not dragging my legs on the bottom of the pool, so I was going to use a pull buoy and hand paddles.  Is this correct?

right on.  plenty of time between now and Cache Valley.  my only suggestion is get a few swim lessons if you can swing it.  well worth the investment. 

I have lessons every Tuesday, and love them, we do a lot of tech. work.  As far as endurance goes, I started swimming in Jan. I can swim freestyle continuous for 75 yards, at that point I side stroke for 25 yards rest for a minute and then go aging.  If I tried to get the 100 yards freestyle I drowned.  Is this normal or should I be further along?

two things.

1. very important!!!   don't get hung up on whats normal and whats not.   its incredibly difficult to do, i know, but focus on what its going to take YOU to build this up.  i still suck on the bike, bad, and it kills me when i see all kinds of people cruise by but i'm working on it.

2. don't get hung up on "toys".  to be a little more blunt, if you're not going 100 straight, get some other thing fixed before you think about paddles, pb, etc...  most of us, if not all were all in the same position as you are right now.  don't worry about, work hard at it and CRUSH it!  one more thing... its not going to take you long before you're at > 500 yds straight

great that you are getting lessons!  how do you think they are going? 



edit to add the fish will show up shortly to give you better advice.  it seems a lazy one in seattle just checked in.  ;-)




Edited by fattyfatfat 2010-03-02 12:59 PM

Thanks for the advice, the lessons are great, I guess I just need to be more patient with my progress, if swimming four to five days a week won't hurt anything I think that is what I will do in March. 

Thanks

 Absolutely agree with John. Focus on endurance and learn from these lessons. Distance will come. As a beginning swimmer, its all about form. Wait until Trains gets on here. She recently had a major breakthrough as a new swimmer. She can help.

sure thing.  ask away.  we need to get your post count up. ;-) 

btw she in bellvue i think not seattle.

Paddles are good, but be careful.  If not used correctly, or over used, you will have shoulder issues. 
Work the form.  Long, strong strokes.

Be patient...progress is progress.  Keep at it and refer back to this post in a few months.....you'll be knocking out the
100's.

see ^^^^

hey we have it covered.  east coast (linda) central (robert) and west coast (kyla).  always thinkin' spatially...

OK, OK, OK, Seattle/Metro fish at the ready...!! Aye-aye!!

For icky:

Paddles: I, personally, never use paddles. Used to years ago, but at the first mention of anything related to shoulder pain in college, our coach made us ditch 'em and never go back. They can be very hard on your shoulders if your stroke is not spot-on (and even if your stroke is, when we fatigue we all tend to lose some form and often drop the elbow during pull which puts crazy-bad tension on the shoulder/rotator cuff.

Pull Buoys: I LOVE them. But some people find them tricky to use. If you have sinking legs, they can help. But probably good to get some more endurance under your belt (er, in the water, whatever). If you find it comfy and it  helps with the swim, by all means, use one!

A thought: Have you tried using fins or zoomers? I've never used zoomers, honestly (they didn't make them back in the olden days), but a girlfriend I train with frequently uses them when she does her drill work and it helps her keep her legs going and lets her really think about her arms and her form. Plus it just makes her enough faster that she doesn't get frustrated burning tons of time in the pool on drill work.

Drills, drills, drills... That's what you should be doing lots of during your pool time. My favorites are catch-up (hold an arm out in front, don't start your pull until the other arm comes around and taps the front arm), fist, DPS (distance per stroke -- swim with nice loonnnnnnggggg glides, maybe even extra kicks, rotate the body nicely on its skewer while you glide). 

Hope that helps!! I love it when people get their chlorine on and have a breakthrough! Swimming is my first and truest love in the world of sports... something about the water just makes everything right in my world. Enjoy!! 

Last year around this time I made the move from 2 days of swimming per week to 3-4 days per week.  It made a huge difference.  Part of that time was with a masters group where I spent a lot of time just trying to keep up with them and the other days was just me, working more on concentrating on my stroke and thinking while I was swimming instead of just hammering out sets.  I don't do as many drills as I should so I am no example there but I think more quality time in the pool is going to help you.

So here is the bike, I am going to order this week.http://www.cannondale.com/usa/usaeng/Products/Bikes/Road/Elite-Road/CAAD9/Details/1244-0RA95D_0RA95C-CAAD9-5

Any thoughts on the color? I am torn as I like them both.

Thank you all so much for the advice. I just got off the phone with my coach.  I have asked her to write down all the drills that she knows of that focus on balance and staying long in the water, so that on our next lesson she can go over each one with me.  She has done drills many in our lessons before, but when I swim alone I've only worried about the yards and not the quility.  *** New Goal *** Swim 500 yard freestyle non-stop by the end of March...

Great goal.

Cool goal....I bet you'll be there + some

All this talk of swimming... I had a short swim but with an RPE8 set of 600 yards tonight.  It happens to be the length of my indoor tri, so it gives me a good benchmark of where I am at.  There was first an RPE4 600 that I did right about in line with what I expected on my longer distance pace.  

My RPE8 set resulted in 9:32, I shocked myself, the last couple of laps I felt like my guts could come out at any point, but managed to push through.  I have 2 months until the race, wonder if I can get down sub 9  

Keep it up and the question will be "How far under 9 can I go"!!! 

So does this strike anyone else as odd.

Got this today for a Sprint that Sam and I are doing next month.  Granted it's 300M in a pool but still.

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