How to increase swimming endurance and power?

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  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    Ah this thread seems so old.

    Small update. Stuck with the swimming for obvious reasons, my triathlon is on saturday, I'm a little nervous, but I know I can do it. A lot of the advice here was really helpful and stuck with me.

    The distance is a sprint, so I'll be doing a half mile swim, over last weekend I did a mile on saturday and a mile on sunday in the lake I'll be swimming the tri in.

    I ended up going with a good coach for swimming at the Y, nice guy that really got down into technique with me, and gave me solid workouts. I'm a lot better swimmer, I still have some faults, but I'll be pounding out this tri. I figure with all the craziness and such, I'll be in a 20 minute swim or less, which is fine by me, I'll really need to drop weight and focus on technique in order to bring that time down from here. Not hard to do at all.

    I've gotten my biking to a good spot, hoping to average about 18mph for the race, and the path is a lot less hilly than I've been doing in practice. Then of course, the run. I've gotten myself to 10.5 min miles during my bricks, so I think I'm going to be good to go. My best mile time ever was a 9:52, so I think I'm doing pretty well there.

    Just tired of waiting for the event...
  • mumx5
    mumx5 Posts: 325 Member
    bump to read later
  • ohpiper
    ohpiper Posts: 697 Member
    I used to have the same issue where I would have to stop for a breather every 25 yards. Then, a number of years ago, I took a program at the Y called "Total Immersion." It basically retaught swimming from the very foundations. It's not about swimming harder, but instead, taught one how to swim efficiently. By virtue of the skills taught to me in this course, I'm readily able to swim a mile non-stop. There is a book available on Total Immersion which can explain the concepts, but it's, of course, a better option to have someone who can evaluate your strokes and provide you with feedback. Check with your local Y for a triathlon club and they may be a good resource for you.
  • FarAway02
    FarAway02 Posts: 211
    I used an elliptical machine 6 days a week for 30/45 mins to increase my swimming endurance. Worked wonders. Luckily I've always had a good swimming technique so my problem was purely fitness/endurance as opposed to struggling with breathing and getting myself moving through the water.

    Build it up slowly and do other endurance exercise/workouts out of the pool to speed up the process.

    Good luck to you!
  • bakemma
    bakemma Posts: 161 Member
    Commenting to follow up on this later! Thanks for the post. :)

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