swim sets

[mon-goose]

a set I want to do tom

 

100: easy freestyle

200: back stroke

300: 100 kick/breast/free

400: 2x200 fast

500: pull

600: 2x150easy/150fast

700: 100easy50fast…repeat

200: easy cool down

[davem]

Ja, some of these guys.... My arms start hurting just looking at some of these sets :/

 

I normally swim with a squad, but when I'm on my own I do one of the following:

 

Set 1

100m warm up

20x100m coming in under 1:30, leaving on 2:00.

200m cool down

 

Set 2

100m warm up

6x500m coming in at 8:15-8:30, leaving on 9:30.

200m cool down

 

Very boring, I know, but when I'm on my own I keep losing track of complicated sets, especially when I get tired.

 

I'll step up the sets when I get closer to full IM.

 

What is your 3.8km swim time?

[sluiper]

What is your 3.8km swim time?

 

Did about 1:15, but I was going very easy because I had a marathon and a 180km ride coming up:) Will try to aim for 1:05 or less this year.

[Red Zone]

Not a bad set that I did today

 

500 m warm up

5 x 50 m (250 m) (sprint)

4 x 75 m (300 m) (1st 50 easy, 2nd flat out, 3rd easy)

5 x 100 m (500 m) (fast pace)

5 x 200 m (1000 m) (tempo pace)

2 x 100 m (200 m) (fast pace)

2 x 75 m (150 m) (fast pace)

1 x 50 m (sprint)

100 m cool down

 

Total 3050 m

[Mr Winter]

So when I swim in the pool I can swim very straight thanks to the line they painted at the bottom of the pool, however when I'm swimming in open water I don't pull extremely skew to the right so much so that i'm convinced if I did 40 strokes I'd swim in a complete circle.

 

How can I fix this

[Disylizzy]

So when I swim in the pool I can swim very straight thanks to the line they painted at the bottom of the pool, however when I'm swimming in open water I don't pull extremely skew to the right so much so that i'm convinced if I did 40 strokes I'd swim in a complete circle.

 

How can I fix this

 

I think everyone has a more dominant arm. For open water, you obviously have to sight.

 

One thing that I've started doing though, which has seemed to start even out both sides, is to get comfortable breathing to both sides. I dominantly breath to my right, and seem to always move off in the right direction. Since I started breathing more to the left, it's not been as predominant.

[Red Zone]

So when I swim in the pool I can swim very straight thanks to the line they painted at the bottom of the pool, however when I'm swimming in open water I don't pull extremely skew to the right so much so that i'm convinced if I did 40 strokes I'd swim in a complete circle.

 

How can I fix this

Do you breath both sides? one sided breathing is the most likely reason for going off course. Otherwise your stroke is out of balance, it could be anything to your hand entry point the path through the water. Best go see someone for some stroke correction, there is no way you are going to solve this problem on-line

[JGR]

Do you breath both sides? one sided breathing is the most likely reason for going off course. Otherwise your stroke is out of balance, it could be anything to your hand entry point the path through the water. Best go see someone for some stroke correction, there is no way you are going to solve this problem on-line

I went to see Natalie Tissink for analysis, best R350 I spent. 45 min session, plus DVD and feedback session. Im a decent swimmer but hoping to go under 30 mins and her input was great

[sluiper]

So when I swim in the pool I can swim very straight thanks to the line they painted at the bottom of the pool, however when I'm swimming in open water I don't pull extremely skew to the right so much so that i'm convinced if I did 40 strokes I'd swim in a complete circle.

 

How can I fix this

 

I had the same problem and it seems to have come right over time.

 

From my experience:

• The more you do open water swims, the better you become at swimming straight
  
• Learn how to sight every 15-20 strokes, i.e. learn how to lift your head straight up out of the water to see if you're still on track without interrupting your stroke. This will give you an indication of how much you have to compensate in terms of where you're aiming.
  
• Swim on a stronger swimmer's feet. This has the triple advantage of allowing you to draft (thus swim faster), removing the necessity of frequently sighting and allowing you to feel how your stroke has to adjust to swim straight.
  

[Mr Winter]

Do you breath both sides? one sided breathing is the most likely reason for going off course. Otherwise your stroke is out of balance, it could be anything to your hand entry point the path through the water. Best go see someone for some stroke correction, there is no way you are going to solve this problem on-line

 

I only breath to my right, i'm currently working on breathing every 3rd stroke to force myself to breath both sides but its difficult to break the habit.

I had the same problem and it seems to have come right over time.

 

From my experience:

• The more you do open water swims, the better you become at swimming straight
  
• Learn how to sight every 15-20 strokes, i.e. learn how to lift your head straight up out of the water to see if you're still on track without interrupting your stroke. This will give you an indication of how much you have to compensate in terms of where you're aiming.
  
• Swim on a stronger swimmer's feet. This has the triple advantage of allowing you to draft (thus swim faster), removing the necessity of frequently sighting and allowing you to feel how your stroke has to adjust to swim straight.
  

 

At the moment I try hang on the feet of a stronger swimmer to keep myself straight but I still find myself at times with no one around and me swimming in circles.

 

Does anybody know of a good coach I can see in the centurion area?

[breaker]

Was just about to ask something similar about swimming straight and about how to look up without interrupting your stroke when swimming in open water. Some good info here

[SwissVan]

 

I only breath to my right, i'm currently working on breathing every 3rd stroke to force myself to breath both sides but its difficult to break the habit.

 

 

At the moment I try hang on the feet of a stronger swimmer to keep myself straight but I still find myself at times with no one around and me swimming in circles.

 

 

+1 for what has already been said i.e. bilateral breathing, looking up and sighting on something more often.

 

I found that a slightly wider arm entry (i.e. hands in front of shoulder or left / right of your center line) helped me swim straighter and to lift my head for sighting. When my hands get to close to or even cross over the center line then my legs kick out wider (for balance) i.e. towards the sides of the pool instead of towards the backwall, resulting in a S shaped or snake like motion through the water.

 

When you lift your head to look where your going a wider arm entry... kind of like a water polo player (imagine your swimming with a ball in front of your face / between your hands which you now must look over) helps you raise your head high / long enough to see. It can be tiring to do so its a good idea to practice swimming a few strokes at a time during training with your head out looking forwards.

[Ostrich]

The reverse of this is that feeling having half the field pass you on the bike ....

I constantly have to come up with witty chirps as the slow swimmers go motoring past on the bike.

[Dinamic]

Something I do to reinforce the importance of this when I run courses for coaches, is to have them pull their caps over their eyes and put the goggles on effectively blinding them.

 

Position them mid lane and ask them to swim as far as possible until coming into contact with a lane rope. 70% or so can't get halfway down a pool and less then 10% get close to 25m. Just shows how out of balance most swimmers are and how they rely on the line to micro correct.

 

As others have said bilateral breathing helps, but you also need to have good rotation on both sides otherwise your entry can cross over and result in a pull which goes out and wide thus pushing you across.

 

Video analysis is really usefull in showing you what is going on and allows you to cognitively understand what is wrong and therefore more easily rectify it.

[MTBc]

Do you count strokes in openwater swims? Had my first pool session yesterday, and I make sure that I always breathe facing the same side of the pool, so relatively 1 length left, next length right. I don't find it that easy to switch per-stroke.

 

Do you know more or less your distance to stroke count ratio too, is this useful at all? I counted for the first time yesterday, and doing 20 strokes per 25m.

 

Last question: if you're using interval training, do you try and use those same intervals in an openwater race?

 

My training and openwater swims have always just been "get in and swim"

[Ilana]

Bilateral breathing is one of the easiest ways to fix swimming skew.

 

Other advantage of learning to breath bilaterally is when you are in the open water and a cross wind comes from the direction that you are used to breathing on you will be able to switch sides and reduce swallowing tons of water ;-)

 

Practice sighting drills in the pool also swim with your eyes closed and see what happens ;-)

 

I breath bilaterally in the pool however have a dominant side in the open water. However have swam that way all my life i have a pretty straight stroke and hence minimise the zig-zagging in a race.

 

Swimming is ALL about getting the right technique, if you have a good swim stroke most of the hard work is done for you. Google swim drills and spend your time in the pool for warm ups doing them! Every swim! It will benefit you in the long run.

 

(and if you can get a coach)