Lap swimming rates

stephenrhinton

Ok So I just logged 1625 meters (a mile and change) in 51:30

From brief general reading I've done an in-condition swimmer should have a under 30 minute mile. And a 'vigorous' swim is faster than 50m/min. (My numbers break down to 31.5m/min or 50m/1:35)

Now I'm a big dude. And I wouldn't consider myself even close to being 'fit' or athletic. I've only been swimming daily for about 2 months. But it is still hard for me to imagine ever being able to achieve those numbers.

Anyone out there actually putting in daily workouts in those ranges? Is 'vigorous swimming' perhaps really more of a 'sprinting' activity?

What are some other MFP regular swimmers doing for duration and pace?
(and if you want to use terms like lap,or length can you define them once in meters so we can compare apples to apples?) (or yards or feet ...i can handle math conversions, but I don't know how long your pool is or if you consider a lap one trip or, down and back, etc)

P.S. I put this up in the general fitness and exercise group and got no response because it got scrolled off the front page almost immediately

Robertus

You can certainly achieve those times. If I can, anyone can. It will take some time as you get more fit, and some guidance to improve your stroke, but it is certainly within your reach. Congratulations on swimming a mile! Is that a mile continuous or do you do sets of a particular distance with rest in between? Do you do flip-turns? I have to run this morning, but will post later some tips that have been helpful to me. After about 3 months of swimming, I am now doing a mile in about 30 minutes and 3 miles in 97 minutes. I swam competitively as a freshman in high school so I already had a pretty decent stroke, but when I got back in the pool, I could only do about 3 laps without stopping.

stephenrhinton

It is continuous, but no flip turns. I do crawl in one direction and backstroke in the other. The return backstroke helps me recover my breath. My crawl form is atrocious(head up) and I always feel like I am struggling for air.

Bruceapple

I am an old fat guy and regularly swim 2 miles a day. My time is generally around 34-35 minutes. My personal best is 32 minute mile. I have been trying to break the 30 minute barrier for about a year now.

Kida_Adeylne

I presume the 1 mile in 30 minutes in continuous free? I Swim 2km in about an hour, but that's with warm-up, drills, other strokes, and cool-down all thrown in. I've swum 1km continuous, but I didn't time myself. I would guess 20minutes.
Sprinting, I'm 46sec/50m in a 25 meter pool. For long stretches, I'm more 55sec/50m.

I took private swimming lessons a few years ago - before that I couldn't do freestyle for 1 length. After 10 weeks, I could swim continuously for about 150m. Dropped swimming lessons for a year or two, then came back to swimming on my own for the past year. Lessons focused a lot on drills and technical.

The biggest difference between the people in the fast lane at my pool, and those in the medium, isn't fitness. It's drills - I use all the toys (fins, pull boi, paddles, kickboard), and spend a lot of time focusing on the technique of my stroke/kick/body position. I rarely time myself - I count distance per stroke when I want to know how well my stroke is working. I watched youtube videos to get more things to work on.

fishgutzy

I swim 6000 yards every morning. 3.48 miles. Under 2 hours including short stops every 1000-2000 for MIO Fit water.
I was far closer to barge shaped in 2011 when I really went after getting fit.
Something that may help with your over all form and getting your legs and butt up it a pair of TRY Burner fins. I found these to be very helpful early on. They helped distribute the effort more as my upper body conditioning improved.
I now use the fins only for kick board laps.
I have been able to maintain under 60 second laps for a full 10km swim in the pool. (220 laps).
FYI, The MFP swim calculator assume 50 yards per minute for light/moderate (1 minute per lap). For Fast/Aggressive is assume 75 yards per minute.
These days I'm between 53 to 55 seconds per lap. I enter 1 minute per lap for tacking purposes.
Lots of great and helpful swimmers on here too. Far better than I am.
When you are swimming, and feeling like you done enough, just think yourself 'just one more lap.'
Whatever your lap count is this week, next week add one more lap.

AquaticQuests

I would say, take it step by step, day by day, set yourself your own mini goals and work on it.
We are at varied levels of ability on here which is why I love this group.
There are some incredibly fast swimmers on here! Others like Robertus who are already setting blazing times mere months after getting back in the pool which I have yet to achieve after 2 years at it!
There are others on here that swim incredible distances on a daily basis. Others that are seeking to put in place the correct basics of swimming! Others at beginner level!
It's all good!

So my encouragement to you would be, concentrate more on picking up the tips on technique (stroke, posture, etc), drills and the varied training styles you will see on here!
Then continue your own journey, and catalogue it in some way (eg tracking your times for a certain set distance, on MFP - App or online)! Others (including me) have blogs where we catalogue our experiences: eg see Noel Figart's blog http://swimasslowaschristmas.blogspot.com/
Posting on the did you swim today thread is also another good way to keep track of your progress.
It's good to look back after a couple of months and surprise yourself with the progress!

Push yourself to do better than you did yesterday - every day - working not only hard, but smart. Swimming is technical - be smart about it - learn the techniques, work on them repetitively, experiment, see what the best do, and learn, learn, learn!
Raw power, and fitness, and weight loss alone will not necessarily get you any faster.

I find that this is what makes this all so interesting. What has kept me motivated to keep pushing even after I achieved my weight loss goals, that were the primary driver when I first joined MFP!

Are you excited? You should be! It's a hard slog! Sometimes, boring, monotonous, difficult, frustrating. But what a journey it is!

So yes, keep an eye on the times people are doing. They ensure that you don't get complacent. But don't beat yourself on the head about the speed you are swimming in relation to person y.
Set your own realistic benchmarks, work to beat them, then set new ones!

And by the way, the distance converter must be one of my most used apps, simply because most on here are on imperial measurements (miles/yards) while I'm metric.
So yeah - you are going to be doing a whole lot of yard/meter mile/km conversions going forward!

gentlygently

Quite a few of us regularly do 1 k or 1.25 k swims ... One of my ambitions for the year is to get to swim a mile regulatory (once a week or month, can't remember which! When I start doing it I'll sort the frequency). We do it at varying speed (I am around 27-37 mins depending on what stokes/drills) and mid-range I suspect.

But we are all on different journeys. My body for example can't actually take big increases in excercise pace/length - I have to make gentle next steps, and do a lot of 'getting back to where I was'.

So the advice to set goals that suit you is spot on.

I posted a similar question a while back - and had a similar range of answers. My favourite was - whatever speed you are making, you are faster than the people on the couch.

When I got out of the pool today the (lovely) people who use my pool for a Derby and JoaN warm water club with the occasional length thrown in, were teaching a newbee better position. Bum up, bum up - they encouraged. Too true - I said as I went past. Oh you have to listen to her, she's a swimmer - one commented. Made my day!

Kida_Adeylne

Out of curiosity, I timed myself on a 1k continuous during today's swim - 20:50. Not bad. I think I shall aim to improve that.

stephenrhinton

On my brother's suggestion that my backstroke length was like a 'rest' I tried doing 2 crawls to one backstroke today. I actually LOST time. Going forward I'm going to try doing 2:1 in the other direction, and then a set of all backstrokes to see how much speed I might pick up that way.

Longer term I think I'll probably settle back to an 1:1 rotation but I may replace crawl with breaststroke. Work some different muscles, put off dealing with side-breathing issues.

starseedxo

If you do switch to breaststroke, please be sure that you are doing your kick correctly, if you're doing that much with a poor kick, you'll ruin your knees in no time.

Macstraw

On my "distance" days I swim 6500 yards in 114 minutes by doing sets as follows: 250 yards in 5:30, 500 yards in 8:30, 1000 yards in 17:00, 1500 yards in 26:00, then the same sets in reverse order. Rest intervals vary based on how I feel for the day. On my short days I take out the 2 1500 yard sets & do some IM's with a little freestyle in the middle.....

AQ hit the nail on the head - there are so many variables in trying to compare to what somebody else is doing, so figure out what it is you want to accomplish & work your way there. Ask any questions in the group, there are plenty of knowledgeable swimmers here more than happy to help out.....

Macstraw

Also, keep in mind that when you went to the 2:1 ratio you upped your effort which would lead to a rise in time due to tiring yourself out more - as you get stronger that time will drop back down.....

I can see adding breaststroke to work different muscles, mix things up, etc. but why put off the side breathing? It's still something that you'll need to address at some point, so jump in & work on it. It doesn't have to be the sole focus of your swims, take a long term view in understanding that it will take time to get it to where you want it to be.....

I think changing to the 2:1 ratio was a great way to push yourself, I'd hate to see you back off on that because you lost a little time. Instead, KEEP pushing yourself. As AQ said, push yourself every day - a little further, or add another length of crawl, or push for just 1 length that's a little faster. Add people here in the Swimmer's group as friends - they can be very supportive & definitely help to motivate.....

stephenrhinton

Losing the time isn't a big deal. Getting my times down, is a tertiary or quaternary goal at best. Mostly at this point I am wanting to 'put in the minutes', and establish the habit. I haven't exercised regularly since high school. I'm doing this because of a diabetes diagnosis. My doc says muscle contraction burns off excess sugar in a method that doesn't require/involve insulin. So, really, repetitive motion is more important to me than weight loss, strength development, aerobic or cardio benefits, even overall fitness. I just gotta MOVE! Started at 30 min/day, I'm up to 50.

I like swimming because I don't sweat (or at least I can't tell if I am). I stay comfortably cool. It isn't hard on my joints like any other body-weight exercise would be at my size. My size actually makes me buoyant (but not streamlined). The pool is usually less crowded and distracting than the rest of the gym. With some waterproof gear I get to listen to my audiobooks while I work. Docs all rave about what great exercise it is. Plus its just more fun ...I've always been confident and enjoyed myself in the water. But I've never been a 'swimmer' in the athletic sense.

Changing up my routine is mostly about curiosity about how it compares. I suspect I am much more efficient, and have better natural form at the backstroke. I've only ever done the breaststroke for a few lengths, but it seems like I'd have better breath control. Heck I might give butterfly a try, but I doubt I have the upper body strength for that.

juliet3455

stephenrhinton wrote: »

Longer term I think I'll probably settle back to an 1:1 rotation but I may replace crawl with breaststroke. Work some different muscles, put off dealing with side-breathing issues.

These links will take you to discussion(s) on Kickboard technique-Breathing drills with some great tips and suggestions from many of us " regular water rats " about the different drills we have used to improve our technique.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10114724/kick-board-techniques#Item_29

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10074880/swimming-newbie-appreciate-suggestions-etc#latest

gentlygently wrote: »

So the advice to set goals that suit you is spot on.

When I got out of the pool today the (lovely) people who use my pool for a Derby and JoaN warm water club with the occasional length thrown in, were teaching a newbee better position. Bum up, bum up - they encouraged. Too true - I said as I went past. Oh you have to listen to her, she's a swimmer - one commented. Made my day!

That's one of the greatest compliments - when some one else in the pool uses you as a reference/guide for a newbee. In my last lessons the instructor in the beginners class pointed at me and said something like " he started last year in this class and look at him go ".
Of course I didn't know about it until later when one of the newbees asked me if it was true. Can you say Ego Boost.

@stephenrhinton never hesitate to ask a question, as a wise person once said there are no stupid questions. The best place is probably the Did you Swim Today, Linked below.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1342951/did-you-swim-today#latest

AquaticQuests

stephenrhinton wrote: »

Mostly at this point I am wanting to 'put in the minutes', and establish the habit. I haven't exercised regularly since high school. I'm doing this because of a diabetes diagnosis. My doc says muscle contraction burns off excess sugar in a method that doesn't require/involve insulin. So, really, repetitive motion is more important to me than weight loss, strength development, aerobic or cardio benefits, even overall fitness. I just gotta MOVE! Started at 30 min/day, I'm up to 50.

Good idea! Establishing it as a habit is the single most beneficial and effective lifestyle modification thing you can do. Once you're in the habit of swimming x number of times a week, then you can then build on that!
Great job on building up the time to 50 min. Keep at it.
In future, maybe in 6 months to a year, I'll recommend starting to alternate sprint sets with the long swims. You'll also in the longer run, begin to look at upping the distance covered in those 50 min.
But for now, 50 min a day, is great and will do you a world of good, and you'll be surprised the effect that it has on your body and outlook!
You're off to a great start!

I urge you to keep a log/ diary of distances, times, strokes, etc. it is really satisfying to look back on it after awhile, and see the progress that you are making, or motivate yourself to break through a plateau!

AquaticQuests

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NoelFigart1

I can count on swimming a mile in about fifty minutes with a best of 47 minutes. This is down from about six months ago when my average was 56 minutes and my best more like about fifty.

I am trying like crazy to get my swim times down, but I tellya now, consistency and form is where it's at.

Also, you're doing much better when getting started than I did!

http://swimasslowaschristmas.blogspot.com/2015/03/450-yards.html

Robertus

AquaticQuests wrote: »

There are some incredibly fast swimmers on here! Others like Robertus who are already setting blazing times mere months after getting back in the pool which I have yet to achieve after 2 years at it!

There's really only one secret to increasing endurance. Exhaust yourself in each work-out. Completely. If you're already doing longer distances, when you think you're done, do as many sprints as you can, as fast as you can, until you think you are nearly dead and have nothing at all left. Then rest as much as need before getting back into the pool. Forget about hitting daily work-out calorie goals and really let your body rebuild and replenish. Seriously, take a week off. And then exhaust yourself again. It might seem counter-intuitive or counter-productive, but it is during the rest times that you are gaining fitness and endurance. The body has an amazing capacity to rebuild itself stronger as long as you allow it to do so by letting it rest. The most dramatic progress that I've made was swimming only once a week like this and not doing any or at very little gym work-outs during the rest time.

Robertus

Robertus wrote: »

You can certainly achieve those times. If I can, anyone can. It will take some time as you get more fit, and some guidance to improve your stroke, but it is certainly within your reach. Congratulations on swimming a mile! Is that a mile continuous or do you do sets of a particular distance with rest in between? Do you do flip-turns? I have to run this morning, but will post later some tips that have been helpful to me. After about 3 months of swimming, I am now doing a mile in about 30 minutes and 3 miles in 97 minutes. I swam competitively as a freshman in high school so I already had a pretty decent stroke, but when I got back in the pool, I could only do about 3 laps without stopping.

Poor form is keeping you from increasing your speed, but it also means that you are burning more calories with a less efficient stroke so your swimming 1 mile is gaining you more benefit from the same distance with a more efficient stroke. If you join a team or take some individual lessons with a swim coach (doing both is better), they can help you dramatically improve your stroke very quickly. Is there a Master Swim team at your pool? I'm thinking of practicing with the team at my pool if I can manage to get myself out of bed early enough. You will end up doing many sets of shorter distances and work on your kick and stroke separately, which will not give you as much distance, but it does wonders for getting into shape and practicing the pointers given you by your coach and improving your stroke.