swimming help

Dude:

I was 43 when I started this tri stuff. I hadn't swam (other than on tropical vacations/body surfing stuff) since I was 12. The first time I got into the pool I was crushed when I could hardly swim 25 meters without practically needing mouth to mouth!!!  I had done swim team way back then and had basic swimming skills but really needed help. SO, I took some lessons at my Y. Luckily there was just 2 of us in the class (for adults) so we had lots of one on one. I then did a clinic through our local tri club that helped with specific drills. Bottom line, there are NO short cuts to endurance. It is a matter of doing laps, laps and more laps. 

You'll be fine, just brush up on the basics and get some time in the pool. 

Your endurance will come with time and if you're consistent with your training it can come pretty quick. When I picked up swimming again, 2 laps was a real challenge. Fast forward 3 months and I'm regularly swimming 1.5 to 2 miles in one shot.

Lessons are a great idea to help get your form set correctly before you build bad habits but endurance only comes with getting the pool and hitting up those laps. Try doing reasonable sets with rest and work your way up.

last year i started back swimming, also.  I remember when 25 yard kicked my butt.  What help me, was remember to relax and flow with the water.  After that i went from struggling wit h100 yds, to 45+ min, non stop, almost over night.  OWS, that is a different story.

kevin

Get some good quality coaching. You will gain more by learning to swim correctly than just doing laps with poor technique. Learning to swim with poor technique means it takes longer to break those bad habits later...trust me I know about this.

I'm going on my 6th year of training and am finally after 5 winters of swim lessons improving. 

This looooooong post might help you out.  Best to print it out and read it over time:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=117554&start=1

Good Luck!

Wait until you can swim a mile, non-stop, in 25 minutes or less, before calling me a stud.  While I threw out the nuggets, it's the performance improvement on YOUR part that I'm most interested in!  Good luck!

for me, the bad thing about swimming is that if you take any time off, it seems SO hard to get back into it.  I get tired pretty easily...

BUT, the good thing about swimming, it doesn't seem to take long to get back into shape for it...

First of all, I would like to thank everyone that has given me some pointers.  I really appreciate it.  Although, slow, I have gone from 400yds to 1000 yds in a few weeks time.  I will meet with a swim coach probably next week, when her championships are done.  Until then, when you build endurance in the pool should I do nothing but endurance, or should I try speed drills, or both.  Right now I am doing 50 yds (4x) resting between each one then 25 yds resting after each one.  I am not worried about speed right now, just want to make it without stopping every 25 yds.

Thanks

Tim 

I've just started training for my first tri (YAY!) and I am doing two swim sessions a week.  One is a short swim and the other a long swim.  So... my question is:  Should I be more focused on distance or on the amount of time spent?  And, how does that work when breaking it up between speed on my short swim and endurance on my long swim?