The Mile Swim

scoobydoojoe

Today was a milestone for me. I swam the mile swim in 56 minutes, alternating laps between freestyle and breast stroke. At 350 lbs current weight, this burned a lot of calories for me, and was a major challenge and goal achieved. I lost 19 lbs since starting swimming 3 weeks ago, and reached the goal about twice as fast as I thought I would, swimming 3 times a week (plus a little extra on Sundays when my kids have swim lessons).

Anyone else out there swimming for distance rather than speed? I am setting new goals to do the mile using just 1 stroke, and to do my combo stroke in less than 50 minutes. 1 hour is about the limit of my workout time per day, but I am working out 5 times a week (3 pool, 2 non pool). So I think speeding it up or changing strokes is about the only way to add onto the mile swim goal.

spottedlee

Anyone else out there swimming for distance rather than speed? I am setting new goals to do the mile using just 1 stroke, and to do my combo stroke in less than 50 minutes. 1 hour is about the limit of my workout time per day, but I am working out 5 times a week (3 pool, 2 non pool). So I think speeding it up or changing strokes is about the only way to add onto the mile swim goal.

I swim for distance. I dont time myself bcuase of injuries i got years ago. I find it's better for me to swim as long as i can rather than swim few lap for speed.. I alternate between backstroke ( i can only do that) and water jogging (20 min each set),, as you said, we can burn alot of calories.

Also, I don't swim for mile, but more like,,, time, but not speed,, am I making sense? Because of my disabity, i can't keep track of my laps.

scoobydoojoe

This makes total sense. And there is nothing wrong with setting your goal based on time vs. distance or speed. I am sure your workout is much harder than mine due to these factors.

I don't have a disability, but I am a big person yet, still weighing 350 as of Monday morning, so running and other activity can really hurt my feet and knees. Swimming is great because it spreads the strain out over my whole body, so it is more about building lung capacity and burning calories so that when I shrink some more, running or other activities will be easier.

spottedlee

Try water jogging!

I love doing it as it gain leg muscles, something that can't really be done by swimming which it is more of arm thing. What I do, I jog up and down the lane,, not in place as many people do for some reason. The resistance is not as strong in place compare to going up/down the lane. This is why I do swim/jog in 15 or 20 minutes set.

Don't worry about being 350ish, I am 250ish now and I see many heavier people doing water jogging as well.

Many trainers recommend it if runners are injured for one reason or another. I guess trainers knows that water help keep the leg muscles in check while runner is in recovery because water is so easy on joints.

nerdieprofessor

Anyone else out there swimming for distance rather than speed? I am setting new goals to do the mile using just 1 stroke, and to do my combo stroke in less than 50 minutes. 1 hour is about the limit of my workout time per day, but I am working out 5 times a week (3 pool, 2 non pool). So I think speeding it up or changing strokes is about the only way to add onto the mile swim goal.

My days of swimming for speed are long gone. 50 minutes for a mile is a great goal, scooby! You can do it. An hour a day five days a week of working out is great!

I once weighed 270 (I'm short!) and got the weight loss started by swimming loads. Distance is good. I'm about 212 now and desperately seeking to break the 200 mark this year.

I did an 1800 yard swim for time last night (That's the closest round number to an actual statute mile and since I do triathlons now I use that for my distance time benchmark). I did it in 36 minutes, which was much better than I thought I could do at this time and this level of (lack of) swim fitness. Anything under 40 minutes would have been good enough this week. I'm pretty stocked.

I'll do another one for time in about a month and see if I can inch it down farther.

I swim mostly freestyle (front crawl) since that's what I use in a triathlon and I suck at breaststroke (knee issues) and backstroke. When I was a child, I was a great butterflyer so I try to do one length of the pool butterfly every few weeks just to see if I still can without having a heart attack. Short fat woman doing butterfly is not pretty! :noway:

I love swimming!

Dory_42

I swim in the sea, so I actually don't know how far I swim. I am just starting out so stick to the main swimming beach and use the bouys off shore to do laps. I currently swim for 30 mins and aim to increase the number of laps I can do in that time. As I get fitter I will start swimming along the shore. My aim is to complete the Bell Bouy swim next year, which is out into the Bay to a Bouy over a reef and back, it is about 7kms! (http://www.bellbuoychallenge.co.za/)

tinkermommc

I swim for time. I swim during my daughter's swim lesson so it's as much swimming as I can do in 30 minutes! But next she moves to the next level and swim team is at that time so I'm going to start swimming during her preschool class and I'm trying to decide how to sent my goal for that yet.

lucor001

I followed the 0 to 1650 in 6 weeks program from Ruth Kazez - and it took 6 weeks (great program!). I was extremely surprised that I could do couch to a mile (swimmers ) in 6 weeks - I started more out of curiosity (or some joke on myself) that expecting to succeed. I'm by no means fast - I'm usually the slowest in the pool, but I don't care - I burn a lot of calories and I'm losing weight. I can do breaststroke, backstroke and crawl - but I usually only do crawl stroke. It seems the most intense and I'm only there really to burn calories anyway. After I finished the mile I started two new goals: 1) Swim 2000 yards non-stop (just recently completed) 2) learn to do flip turns (not completed yet - I'm still very clumsy). My next goals are likely to be something like, learn the butterfly stroke and start doing interval training - I can't help that I want to go faster . Also, I plan to keep increasing my distance as I become faster - I try to always swim at least an hour, and 2000 yards takes 63 minutes. Hopefully I'll reach a point where I can do 3000 yards in an hour, but I suspect that'll take a long time.

So I guess when all is said and done, I swim for time - but I keep hoping to pack more yards into that same time .

scoobydoojoe

6 weeks is a good goal to go from none to 1 mile. That was about my overall goal, so I was thrilled when 3 weeks in (3 times a week) I hit the mile. I was really sucking wind early, but now it is more about my muscles getting tired than my lungs being ready to burst.

I did a 45 minute mile using just 1 stroke (I do 1800 yards and count that as a mile, since my pool is 25 yards a length and 1760 is the actual mile, it gets rounded. I don't do the flip to change laps, instead touching the wall, then shifting around and going again. It would be faster if I learned this flip.

This morning my back was hurting something aweful, so I swam kinda slow and steady, did 24 laps in 45 minutes, which is crap time, but still good exercise, and my back was no worse for it.

I wish I had the ocean to swim in. Swimming while your kids are in swim lessons is a great idea, I did this one once, but my kids didn't see where i went and it made them unhappy, so now I sit on the bleachers and do my swimming at other times. Things will change once they move from the very beginners section though I think.

I might give water jogging a try. Now that I don't float so well, I might try treading water on a bad back day too. I think I need to work on my kicking, they have these mini surfboards you can use to hold up your chest while you just kick in the pool, I might try that too to get better at the kicking.

tinkermommc

I wish I had the ocean to swim in. Swimming while your kids are in swim lessons is a great idea, I did this one once, but my kids didn't see where i went and it made them unhappy, so now I sit on the bleachers and do my swimming at other times. Things will change once they move from the very beginners section though I think.

Ditto the ocean. No ocean in Colorado ;-)

My daughter and I discussed it before I did it. She's 5 and in the preschool levels(passes to the big levels this week..I'm sad!) So she knew I was swimming and could look over and see me by I was too far away to talk to. Every once in awhile I'd see her looking and give her the thumbs up :-) Her swimming improved seeing me swim too! Gotta love good side effects!!

PkrDlr81

Great job!! I, personally, don't really swim for speed as I swim for time/laps. I am always confused on how to count laps but I go ahead and count one length down as a lap and one length back as a lap. So I do about 50 up and down and that takes about 50 minutes. Not sure of the distance as I do not know how long my gym's pool is. Definitely longer than a home pool. I have been trying to add more freestyle into my swimming, but I also do a breastroke with my head above water, use the kickboard for my legs, and then like on the kickboard, using my core to balance, and pull myself up and down the pool with my arms.

daycraig

Do you ever use paddles or flippers? I use flippers and go on my back. I find it much easier to handle the flip turns when I can breathe for the 10 seconds before. I do 40 laps (2000 yards). I have started doing 10 laps to start- 5 free and 5 breast, then I do 10 with flippers -5 with a kickboard and 5 on my back, 10 wth paddles - 5 breast and 5 free, then finish with 10 more laps- 5 free and 5 breast. What I like about this is I am swimming 20 laps with no help. I find that I am able to push myself more when I can focus on my arms or legs. It takes me about 50 minutes and I can really feel the muscles in my legs and arms starting to gain some definition.

scoobydoojoe

I am always confused on how to count laps but I go ahead and count one length down as a lap and one length back as a lap. So I do about 50 up and down and that takes about 50 minutes.

Up and down is 1 lap. What you are counting is called lengths. A standard sized olympic pool is 25 meters, or approx 25 yards per length. 1 mile is 1760 yards, so 36 completed laps would be a mile. 1 minute per lap is a good time considering how many you are doing. It is possible it is shorter than olympic pool, but even if it is 20 yards instead of 25 in length, you are hitting at least a mile, and a 50 minute mile isn't bad in my book. I did a mile Wednesday in 45 minutes.

Do you ever use paddles or flippers?

I have not used paddles or flippers, but since it is more about the effort exerted vs. the speed or slowness of the movement, these might make it more fun since you can go faster on the same effort. There was a guy in the next lane yesterday using them, first I saw them. I was happy to match his backstroke pace when I was doing freestyle. His freestyle pace was much faster than mine with those though. I am also battling 342 lbs of drag, that guy was lucky to be 150. I am noticing 342 is easier to drag through the water than 369 was though.

nerdieprofessor

A standard sized olympic pool is 25 meters, or approx 25 yards per length. 1 mile is 1760 yards, so 36 completed laps would be a mile.

I count my miles in the pool this way. 35 laps or 1,800 yards is a "mile" in my mind, although it's obviously slightly more than a mile (40 yards more).

An Olympic pool is 50 meters. This is often called a "long course pool." Of course, most of us do not have access to an Olympic sized pool. The standard for most lap swimming pools in the USA is 25 yards, with a few that are 25 meters. In the swimming world, these are referred to as "short course" pools and more specifically "short course yards" and "short course meters." That metric thing still hasn't caught on here in the USA, for some reason. In other countries, 25 meters is more common.

Lap = from one end of the pool to the other and then back where you started or 50 yards in most American pools

Length = 25 yards or from one end to the other in most American pools

I don't use flippers (i.e. FINS) because they put more stress on the knees and I don't need that. They are fun, though!

I also don't use paddles, although some folks swear by them. Again, they put more stress on the shoulders. However, some folks find them very helpful in improving stroke technique.

Of course, fins come in all sorts and types as do paddles, so it's not very useful to generalize.

If you are training for something in particular (say a triathlon), then you want to be careful not to get dependent on the fins or paddles or whatever other tool that you will not be using in the race.

gem_cat

Up and down is 1 lap. What you are counting is called lengths. A standard sized olympic pool is 25 meters, or approx 25 yards per length. 1 mile is 1760 yards, so 36 completed laps would be a mile.

I did 20 laps today. I'm also happy to know that I've actually swam a mile this year! (thanks to this post, I know how many laps are equal to a mile). I think that was around the first week of January when i did 40 laps, moderate effort. it took me an hour and 1o minutes to complete it. Since MFP doesnt log in the miles, I time my swim. 20 laps is about 40 minutes.

I'm new here by the way.

nerdieprofessor

You are doing great gem cat. I count 36 laps as a mile (I typoed up there) but it is really 35 laps + 10 yards.

Keep it up!

scoobydoojoe

I saw the typo but didn't respond. Thanks for the info on pool length, I have never seen an olympic sized pool in person then.

Great swimming there Gem_Cat. It is a fantastic cardio exercise. I have been doing 1 mile, 3 days a week, and it has helped build up significantly improved lung capacity. I keep challenging myself to get it done a little faster, and then a little faster again. Got my mile down to 39 minutes using freestyle, 44 minutes using half freestyle, half breast stroke. At first my pace was for a 1 hour 20 minute mile.

tinkermommc

So I've decided nothing. I've been swimming for 2 weeks not limited to the 30 minutes of swim lessons. I swam 42 laps in 61 mins, and then I swam 42 in 60, then 36 in 50 mins(kids had valentines parties). So I guess I'm swimming a mile minimum. But preferably an hour. I am going to try some freestyle today, I've been just doing breaststroke and backstroke. Hopefully I don't drown ;-)

SmudgerSmithRhino

Just got into swimming again and loving it. I swim 70 lengths, (1,850m) just over a mile 3 x week. The weight drops off you and really tones your whole body. I used to swim each length counting what number length I was on, e,g, 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1, 2,2,2,2,2,2,,3,3,3,3,33. Then I'd think about something else and completely forget what length I was on. I got a watch called PoolMate Pro and this thing actually counts the number of lengths you have completed, no more having to count. You can concentrate on your swimming style and think about what to have to tea instead of having to keep count. The best thing you can upload all your times and distance onto your PC so you can see your progress.

scoobydoojoe

That sounds like a fantastic tool smudger. I struggle to keep count. One of the reasons I like doing an alternating pattern of breast stroke and freestyle, it is easier to keep track of the count.

lucor001

Hmm, I guess I always consider a "Swimmer's Mile" - 1650 yards - which is 1.5km but technically short of a true mile (33 laps). So when I get asked "how far did you swim today?" I use swimmer's miles as the basis - gives me a little bit more . I read somewhere where "Swimmer's Mile" came from, but I can't recall off-hand - I remember it being an interesting story.

I second the Poolmate - I borrowed one from someone and it's very sweet. Currently I just have a timex HRM where I push the lap button each lap (down and back) - but I have to push the button above water, so no flip turns on that side. But I do like how the HRM actually works underwater (slips a little if I give it a vigorous push off the wall, but tightening it seems to work). If you have a few extra bucks (ok, more than a few extra) the FINIS Swimsense is extra cool. The software that they add to analyzing your swim is pretty mindblowing. I have a friend who's a very serial triathelete so he has a lot of these type toys and I was just amazed at what it can tell you about your swim. I think the Poolmate Pro is the most direct competition, but imho the Swimsense is better (not to say the Poolmate can't be recommended - it too is very cool).

Another way to think about it though - if anyone gives you the business for forgetting how far you went (and I bet you know based on time to within +/-2 laps) you can always say "it's such a high number I lost track" because 33 laps to most people is crazy far.