The official IMUSA swimming thread
Well, with Race Prep starting less than 2 weeks from now, and a semi-'big week' in the plans next week, I'm back to game on with swimming. Got in the pool today to do a 1000 yard set for T-pace. Considering that I'm really out of swim-shape, I'm pretty happy with where I ended up. Time was 17:14, averaging 1:43 pace.
For perspective, last year, my first test (almost 1 year ago to the day) was 17:43. And the best part was that I know that I've got room for improvement just from some basic swim consistency (as the muscles were giving me a big time WTF about 250 in this morning!).
How's it going for you?
Mike
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Hey Mike,
Thanks for getting this thread going. Tried to swim last night, got in 500 warm up before I was kicked out of the pool due to lightning. Had a nice run instead. Lemons/lemonade, right?
Went back this am and did the 5x250 tpace, 16x25 sprint workout.
I loved the 16x25. It was fun. I have no anxiety around swimming at all. It'll be what it'll be.
Dave
Dave,
either you swim outdoors, or you have one VERY conservative lifeguard at the pool
I'm hoping for the first time to commit to just getting in the work of the program. I've skipped more swim workouts than I've made in my time as a triathlete.
My swim time will fall out somewhere that will have very little bearing on my enjoyment or satisfaction in my day. But I'd like to look out at Mirror Lake on that morning, and say "yeah, I feel good about this part".
Mike
I jumped in the pool with two weeks left in the November OS. Just doing the progressions RnP had laid out in the swim book. Took a couple weeks off and got back in two weeks ago for GP2. It made for a pretty decent transition back to the water. I wasn't jumping right in to do sets, I had a couple of weeks in the water to start to get the feel back. I was all proud when I got out and saw that my T-Pace dropped from last year. Then I started to think about it. I could have just been well rested but more likely, I need to go back and check the pools because I had to be going from meters to yards. Shorter pool is my only explanation.
I confess that I did not drink the kool-aid on swimming because I felt I could make the greatest potential gains on my weakest leg. I've been to a TI camp and an advanced TI camp in the past. In Dec 09, I went to a camp with Sarah McLarty - of never been beaten on the swim leg fame - and made some major gains. I did the Miami Int'l Tri in March and dropped my Olympic swim leg PR by 3 minutes and felt fresher than I ever had before. That was a huge ROI for me.
Last week was my big bike week. This week I went out of town for several days and made a swim camp out of it. I stayed at the Gaylord Opryland hotel in Nashville. They have a 4 lane, 25 meter indoor pool (open 6 to10 with lifeguards and a pool clock). With a 3 day surge swim surge there, plus my regular swims, I'll break 15,000 yards this week. I'm racing the Hurricane Man 2.4 mile "rough water swim" in the Gulf of Mexico in 2 weeks. Two years ago, I did it when it lived up to it's billing, but I'm hoping for glass this year. It's a great way to get in an IM race distance swim before IMCDA.
I jumped back into the pool about 3 weeks ago after vacation and a transition week also. Been doing a lot of drills etc... up until today and did the 1000m pool test also. I was really happy with the results and for some weird reason swimming this year (haven't been in pool since IMLou) feels much more comfortable and stress free, hence the faster times already I guess. I went 15:48 and probably left a little too much in the tank (about right for 2.4 though).
I'm stoked to see if I can improve a little in this area that before has meant little to me and haven't worked on at all in the past.( max of 2 swims a week ever and mostly only 1 time a week). That way I too can come down to Mirror lake July 25th and say "Yeah, bring it on"
Starting 4 weeks ago I started doing 2000yds in the pool. Now with masters class starting next week, I think we would be hitting roughly 3500-4000yds every session. I only plan to do it 2days a week max.
The last 1000yd test was 2 weeks back at around 17:10 .
Question for the group. If I am doing masters should I follow the swim workout in the 12 week plan or would the master workout work well?
Have been a little inconsistent in pool until last 2 weeks. was doing drill stuff. feel like I am about to make a new break through on my stroke. I am at a point where my stroke is pretty solid but there are little things I can do to help. I plan to get a little help with my fine tuning. Also plan to do some workouts on my own and some with masters.
Tonight i felt good doing 2400 yds. each time it feels better! Only thing that was frustrating is when i pick up my pace, like on 10x 25yds hard, stroke count goes up by 1 or 2, so losing efficiency? Other thing I find is when I do a pull set, much more efficient the when I add my kick. So keep on keepin on