what are the newb's swim times? (Page 2)

I'm M33, and a fairly decent runner/cyclist.

That said, I'm definitely MOP or even BOP when it comes to the swim, which I started 6 months ago.

During my 1st 3 months, my avg pace for swims of 20-40 mins was 2:00-2:15/100m.

I'm now at about 1:50-2:00/100m for those long swims.

I feel that for men in my age range, 2:00/100 is pretty average, based on race results I've seen. Probably add 15-20sec/100 for women, I'd guess - but there are some epxert women who absolutel tear it up going sub 1:10/100m for that duration during races. Yowzas!

I started swimming last year.  At my last (second) tri in September, I was swimming 925 yards in 47:45 minutes or 5.16/100!!!!

Wednesday, I swam 900 in 25:28 minutes or 2:50/100.  I'm certainly not as fast as I'd like, but I am thrilled with the improvement!

Good topic as I too wondered how I was doing.

I seem to average about 2:30/100 but it's faster than when I started a year ago and being a large clyde I think my time is ok for me. I've had a few lessons and a DVD for regular reivew so I think weightloss, consistent training and some more lessons/technique will help me improve.

I did a reverse tri order brick the other day and finished 1000yds in the 19min in change area.  I jogged a 5k and biked about 10miles on the stationary before that.  Been swimming for about 2.5 months.  I generally have only been swimming after working out and use it to cool down which probably isnt' the best approach.

I consider that good for me but hope to get in that 16 minute range for 1000 meters before my first race in June which is probably a lofty goal.  I think I need to lengthen my workouts.

I think in general if you can get about 10,000yds in a month for your first couple months you will realize some pretty good newbie gains.  I can tell already that I'm leveling off and need either a lesson or longer/harder/more focused training before I can see any big jump in improvement.

I was never a swimmer, but maybe it has to do with where I grew up. I am from South Africa originally. You are an exception to the rule if you do not have a swimming pool at home. They are not big but you grow up swimming and being outside, so that might help. I am 38 now, so not sure if that carries over.

I guess i read alot of forums like BT and Trinewbies before starting, so I knew going in about what I should basically be trying to do with regards to try rotating and trying to make yourself long.

Hopefully I counted laps correctly when I did that trial otherwise it will really suck if my 16:14 becomes 18:14 after putting in another 4 weeks of swimming.

Sunday's swim felt really good for me, did my first 500 in 10', did a 1500 in 30', then tried to do another 500, trying to pick up the pace and did it in 9'.  Looks like I'm going to try and do 4 500's at 9' or better next long swim. 

Also..  Should I just cap my total time in the pool to 80 minute?  That workout took me about 75 with warmups/cooldowns, so it seems like now I should focus on getting faster since I'm training for an xterra with a 3/4 mile swim. 

I think when I started it was over 3:00 per 100 yds

But now with moderate effort I think I'm about 2:30 per 100 and when I do an all out 100 yd sprint I can usually get just under 2:00, such as 1:55 or 1:58 ...

I think when I go for my longer swims, like 1500 and 2000 yds ... I avg around 2:45 per 100.

Started in Oct 2008 from nothing. i taught myself and watched others. i've prgessed to 1:35 for 100y repeats and 1:40's for longer swims. I swim three times a week around 2500-3200y per session. I don't to flip turns and can only breath on one side.  Each time i just try to breath both sides for a longer period. I can see that a coach will be needed to get faster but its not in the cards right now. 

Corey

Definitely super-slow category here (51M 6'/170#; ave 2:30-3'/100m in 25m lane no flip turns). Just started swimming before Christmas & only have about a dozen sessions in (inc. a rather worthless local swim clinic).  I'm much faster with breaststroke (2'/100m) than crawl, but realize I must learn decent crawl to save the legs for the bike/run.  Have not found a coach.  Watching videos of good endurance swimmers seems helpful to me.  I can describe solid technique (kick, body roll, breathing, catch, pull, etc.), but putting it together is tough. My swim improved quickly at first (could only do 25-50M, now up to 800-1000m/session), but then plateaued. 

Learning the crawl reminds me of learning/practicing a golf swing.  It's much harder than it looks, coordination is key, and too much effort = worse results (technique falls apart).   And like golf, I feel like I'll put together a few solid strokes (even a good 25m) but then loose it. 

After a 20 year hiatus, I started up again in the fall.  Right now, I'm in the low 1:40's for a 500, mid 1:40's for 1000  and high 1:40's for anything much longer than that, and have pretty much plateaued after swimming about 1 or 2 times a week. 

I fully agree with the numerous folks who have indicated that you have to be in the water at least 3x/week to get much improvement after your initial acclimation to the water.