Did you swim today?
Replies
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Nuffer - oh my, that is tough. Good luck with the treatment and exploring options that will work for you...
Monkey - I was taught to do similar kick drills to SwimmyD and I like doing butterfly legs - I was also doing breastroke arms with them, but now I am trying an arms 'across water' drill (is not fully up and over) and that is going ok Ish. I like doing them as I really like the undulating feeling, and being so under the water.... And I guess that I am pretty unusual in my pool to do it! But mainly I like the variation. I am not a Fishgutzy who can go up and down on one stroke. Anything to break it up!2 -
I'm gonna try this to help me learn bilateral breathing. Any other tips to help with learning bilateral breathing? Thanks!...
I personally prefer to work my freestyle kick by using no board and leading straight out with one arm. After about 4 to 6 seconds of kicking I switch arms to breathe. Can you bilaterally breathe? If not this drill will also help with that. It's harder than pure board kicking because less air, however will develop your kicking to be more efficient for the actual freestyle stroke. Also try kicking on your back with no board to work your abs and hip extensor strength. Backstroke kicking and freestyle kicking are complimentary to each other.
The main thing is to focus on (for freestyle and back stroke kick) is that it is originating from your hips, not your knees. When you're on your back your knees should not really be breaking water so much as your feet do. You don't want to "bicycle" the water either. Have fun!
For me, learning new tricks to improve my technique takes a lot of repetition. Over the years I have asked many proficient swimmers and even lifeguards who have a competitive swimming background for tips. They are usually watching you and can point out specific problems with stroke.
The most common thing I see in the pool is people swimming on an angle. Their heads are held too high and raised to breathe. This makes their legs sink too low, and makes it near impossible to roll from side to side while breathing. Then their kick becomes wide and scissor like as they try to compensate for the angle. The big scissor makes it near impossible to roll. Or worse, they kick out far into the lane with the bottom leg when they take a breath because they are compensating for that big angle.
Body roll is so important, so check that you are rolling equally as you stroke with each arm (not just when to breathe). My daughter told me years ago that when she was learning to swim with bilateral breathing she'd say to herself: Pepsi, coke, 7-up. Too funny!
When I'm working on something I have to isolate my stroke. I'll use a pull buoy to work on roll, and that might be the best way to work on bilateral breathing too. That way you can forget about your legs while you're thinking about breathing and rolling to both sides.
It takes a long time sometimes to learn something new, at least for me. I learned to flip turn at 32 and it took me a year to get really good at it without scraping my face on the bottom. When I started back at the pool after my 14 year absence, I was afraid to flip and go narrow between people. After 8 months in the pool I'm not afraid anymore. Practice practice practice!!!0 -
Yaz I duz. 54 laps ~ 72 minutes. And I did one length of butterfly for the first time in about 9 months. Shoulder isn't so sure it liked that.0
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So I started back in the pool about a month ago. First day swam 600 yards (24 lengths) and now a month later I am up to 2100 yards (84 lengths) and it takes me about 50 minutes. My goal by the end of May is to be around 3200 yards.
How often do you guys get in the pool?2 -
Good job. It varies quite a bit. Many here are daily swimmers. At the other extreme, after a very long swim (3-6 miles), it is not unusual for me to take a week off. I need to be careful to to exacerbate shoulder/elbow issues that surfaced last year. Other weeks, I might do 2-3 miles about 3 times a week. Depends on the weather. On nice days, I may bike 35 miles to and from work over the 'mountain'. I added biking and walking to my fitness pursuits so that I would not have to rely too much on swimming and save my shoulder/elbow.Montepulciano wrote: »So I started back in the pool about a month ago. First day swam 600 yards (24 lengths) and now a month later I am up to 2100 yards (84 lengths) and it takes me about 50 minutes. My goal by the end of May is to be around 3200 yards.
How often do you guys get in the pool?
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Montepulciano wrote: »So I started back in the pool about a month ago. First day swam 600 yards (24 lengths) and now a month later I am up to 2100 yards (84 lengths) and it takes me about 50 minutes. My goal by the end of May is to be around 3200 yards.
How often do you guys get in the pool?
I aim for four times a week, and lifting weights the other three days, but this past week I made it five days in a row (did both, one day...followed by going to bed four hours early
), and on a bad week, I'm lucky to make it twice, i.e. to my two classes.
When I first started a few months ago, I had so little confidence going into the pool on my own--not that I might drown, mind you, just that I would suck at accomplishing anything--that I did four classes a week. Now that I have some independent practice skills, I'm saving a lot of money
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Swimmers Envy7km last night. Some people actually moved out of the "fast" lane after I started swimming. So I had the lane to myself for most of the 2h15m I was in the lane.
So now you will be at the pool giving lessons and "supplementing" your income?One guy that spoke some English asked me how he could swim as well as I do. This was after I was done. I suggested he take lessons. But he said they are very expensive.
I agree with @Robertus Slightly above average?It is still funny to me to hear anyone say I am a top swimmer. I'm not fast. Maybe average for my age. I just do slightly above average distance. Adapt or get fat.
@Robertus On breathing I forgot to add I also used Fins during my Bi-Lateral Breathing improvement drills.
Noon Hour Swim today. The pool was HOT
so it felt like I was swimming uphill. A modest 1000m front crawl plus
6 x 75 Kick Drills ( 50kick 25 swim )
2 x 100 Catch-up. Trying to improve my stroke length - Glide
2 x 100 Catch-up. Trying to improve Body roll for weak side breathing
2 x 100 Catch-up. Trying to improve left arm entry into the water
An example of using one drill 3 different ways concentrating on different parts of the stroke.2 -
Montepulciano wrote: »So I started back in the pool about a month ago. First day swam 600 yards (24 lengths) and now a month later I am up to 2100 yards (84 lengths) and it takes me about 50 minutes. My goal by the end of May is to be around 3200 yards.
How often do you guys get in the pool?
Right now, I am training to do a four mile swim in June and a mile and a half one in August.
Honest? I get in the pool for 2000 yards five days a week. That's about all I do. (I'm slow as hell, so that takes me about 53-55 minutes)
When the weather warms up a wee bit, I'll be swimming six days a week. Still with the pool stuff on weekdays and some open water training for a mile or two on weekends.1 -
I'm just curious...how do you all keep track of your longer distance swims??? usually in my head I'm all "la la la, breath, water in my mouth, oops, ok now breath, la la la" and have no idea what lap I'm on, lmao3
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MonkeyMel21 wrote: »I'm just curious...how do you all keep track of your longer distance swims??? usually in my head I'm all "la la la, breath, water in my mouth, oops, ok now breath, la la la" and have no idea what lap I'm on, lmao
Hahaha so much this!0 -
MightyLolo wrote: »MonkeyMel21 wrote: »I'm just curious...how do you all keep track of your longer distance swims??? usually in my head I'm all "la la la, breath, water in my mouth, oops, ok now breath, la la la" and have no idea what lap I'm on, lmao
Hahaha so much this!
I even remember during my time on the swim team that anyone doing the 500 would have someone outside of the pool to help them count!0 -
MonkeyMel21 wrote: »I'm just curious...how do you all keep track of your longer distance swims??? usually in my head I'm all "la la la, breath, water in my mouth, oops, ok now breath, la la la" and have no idea what lap I'm on, lmao
Well, I don't swim "long" distances, lol. A mile is usually all I can fit in, sometimes a little more. I thought I bought myself a nice little lap counter, but I got my swim stuff in the mail, and apparently I didn't
I do sets, which helps me remember. I also move things from one side of my lane to the other (if it's a set of 10 laps of the same thing). Still, I lose count and get mixed up. I have also employed the use of the alphabet as someone here suggested. I think of a "girl" name on my way down, and a "boy" name on my return, so A-Z is 26 laps, add in another 10 and I'm at a mile. Really for me, I need to break it up.
I'm in the water 4-6 days a week, but only doing laps 2-3 right now. I started swimming laps around a year ago, and while I enjoy it, it's incredibly challenging without muscle memory (but lots of terror memory from childhood to mess with my head). Mostly, I do a cardio class because it is different sets on different days, working different muscles really hard, etc. Basically, I get a much better workout because I don't push myself to swim hard. When I do, my technique suffers, and I'm already there from a running injury, so I'm not interested in a swimming one. That would leave me with a gym or a bike. And I hate bikes.0 -
MonkeyMel21 wrote: »I'm just curious...how do you all keep track of your longer distance swims??? usually in my head I'm all "la la la, breath, water in my mouth, oops, ok now breath, la la la" and have no idea what lap I'm on, lmao
I can't keep track of anything past 600m. So I plan and write down every single workout and put it in a ziplock bag. Then I wet it and slap it to the lane sign. That way I'm only keeping track of small chunks of stuff. Like this - today's workout:
600 warm
400 kick IM order
10x100 hard free on 2min
4x100 breast alternate pull/kick by 100s
4x50 breast on 1:15
2x200 1) swim free hard 2) choice (i did back)
2x200 1)kick with fins 2) pull free
100 cool
3500m - 90 min0 -
Hi guys! You sure have been busy around here.
I swam today and also last Monday. There was a vacation in between with lots of nature and hiking and stuff. I didn't swim much in the few months before that but now that our outdoor pool is open, I hope to get back to a 3 a week routine. I have been a 5 day a week swimmer and a 2 day a week swimmer but I can't remember being out of the pool as much as I was January through April. I really lost my motivation for a while. I'm not sure if it's back or not.
I haven't been regularly counting total distance for a while. Probably not since our Masters team disbanded last summer. I'll do 200 of this and then 400 of that and maybe 300 of something else and mix it up in the workout. I get out when I feel like it, usually somewhere between the 45-55 minute range. Today I did 6 timed 50's in the middle of my workout trying to cut my time each 50. Damn, I was out of breath! I'm a slow swimmer and moved my 50yd time from 1:08 down to :58 before I stopped improving. I also tried backstroke for one length and then realized they didn't have the backstroke flags up! Don't worry, I was only mildly concussed.
I have also been trying to worry less about my stroke and just enjoy my swimming and get my heart rate up. I think I have just about reached my technical limits and this constant need to improve my time has been a fun-sucker. I don't have bad technique, it's just not super fast or super fancy and I can deal with that (or at least that's what I keep telling myself).
One thing that was really cool this morning was that as the sun was coming up, there were a group of skydivers jumping that I could see as I swam. Our pool is near SkyDive Deland and I often see skydivers but just not at that time of day. It was quite impressive!
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MonkeyMel21 wrote: »I'm just curious...how do you all keep track of your longer distance swims??? usually in my head I'm all "la la la, breath, water in my mouth, oops, ok now breath, la la la" and have no idea what lap I'm on, lmao
I am terrible at keeping track of my distance. Like many other things in my life that I'm terrible at, I bought some technology to help me. I have a Garmin Swim watch that works quite well. REI has it on sale right now for a good price. It has a bunch of features that I find useful and can automatically sync with MFP through GarminConnect.
There are other much less expensive options out there. I think @fishgutzy uses a ring counter. These can be purchased at swim stores.1 -
It varies, but my target is twice a week (2700 yards each), and a third time if my schedule allows.Montepulciano wrote: »How often do you guys get in the pool?
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MonkeyMel21 wrote: »I'm just curious...how do you all keep track of your longer distance swims??? usually in my head I'm all "la la la, breath, water in my mouth, oops, ok now breath, la la la" and have no idea what lap I'm on, lmao
I have what I call my "affirmation alphabet"-- I can't seem to keep track of numbers when I swim, but I CAN keep a word or two rolling around in my head for a whole lap. So I've created a whole alphabet of words to count 26 laps (e.g., Alert and Alive; Balance and Breath; Creatively Centered, Delightfully Determined . . and so on.). I do that twice and throw in a couple of warmup and cool down laps, and I've done 54 laps or 1.5 miles!2 -
I use this:MonkeyMel21 wrote: »I'm just curious...how do you all keep track of your longer distance swims??? usually in my head I'm all "la la la, breath, water in my mouth, oops, ok now breath, la la la" and have no idea what lap I'm on, lmao
http://www.amazon.com/SportCount-Chrono-200-Counter-Timer/dp/B00NVR1Y0E?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s001 -
I'm gonna try this to help me learn bilateral breathing. Any other tips to help with learning bilateral breathing? Thanks!
For me, learning new tricks to improve my technique takes a lot of repetition.
The most common thing I see in the pool is people swimming on an angle. Their heads are held too high and raised to breathe. This makes their legs sink too low, and makes it near impossible to roll from side to side while breathing. Then their kick becomes wide and scissor like as they try to compensate for the angle. The big scissor makes it near impossible to roll. Or worse, they kick out far into the lane with the bottom leg when they take a breath because they are compensating for that big angle.
Body roll is so important, so check that you are rolling equally as you stroke with each arm (not just when to breathe). My daughter told me years ago that when she was learning to swim with bilateral breathing she'd say to herself: Pepsi, coke, 7-up. Too funny!
When I'm working on something I have to isolate my stroke. I'll use a pull buoy to work on roll, and that might be the best way to work on bilateral breathing too. That way you can forget about your legs while you're thinking about breathing and rolling to both sides.
It takes a long time sometimes to learn something new, at least for me. I learned to flip turn at 32 and it took me a year to get really good at it without scraping my face on the bottom. When I started back at the pool after my 14 year absence, I was afraid to flip and go narrow between people. After 8 months in the pool I'm not afraid anymore. Practice practice practice!!!
I thought that I had replied to @Robertus ( at noon when I posted my Swim ) on his Bi-Lateral Breathing question with a description of a Drill I used to Learn and then improve my Bi-lateral Breathing. I must have exited without posting it. I did mention using Fins. @SwimmyD had a really good description above.
I had a drill introduced to me by one of the Swimming Instructors in my pool.
Using a Pool Buoy swim 2 lengths doing Lateral breathing on your good side.
Swim so that you are looking at the Lane Ropes when you rotate to breath.
Note the position of your pulling arm as you initiate your Roll. With me on my good side it is at about 1/4 to 1/3 through the pull.
Note the position of your Head in reference to the Top of the Water and use the Rope as a secondary guide for this. Top eye clear of water, bottom eye just barely out of the water giving you a Hole in the Water to breath.
Now switch which side of the Lane you are swimming in so that your Weak side is closest to the Rope. Do 2 lengths - Lateral Breathing Weak side only - concentrating on the positions noted above.
My common fault is I Roll To Late in the Pull ( at 1/2 stroke ) which then causes the funky kicking sequence that @SwimmyD mentioned. This then causes my other Fault which is lifting my Head out of the water ( instead of a clean roll ) which drives your Hips down.
After you have completed a few lengths of Lateral Weak Side Breathing switch over to Bi-Lateral for a length or 2.
Analysis your improvements and weakness and re-peat.
You can augment the Pool Buoy with Fins when you first start this drill and then eliminate Fins or Pool Buoy as you progress.0 -
@nuffer The thing I missed that doctor told me to stop was martial arts training. My feet, as a I have mentioned before. One surgery and don't want any more. That is why I swim "slightly above average" distances.
No running for me. No walking for exercise. I can do hiking from time to time with my kids. That bothers me much less than walking on concrete.
Thankfully I love swimming. And it has the added advantage of not feeling myself sweat. 0 -
I use this:MonkeyMel21 wrote: »I'm just curious...how do you all keep track of your longer distance swims??? usually in my head I'm all "la la la, breath, water in my mouth, oops, ok now breath, la la la" and have no idea what lap I'm on, lmao
http://www.amazon.com/SportCount-Chrono-200-Counter-Timer/dp/B00NVR1Y0E?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00
I use the one without the clock function. Love it.
Re Bilateral breathing. I had to force myself to learn after spending the previous 50 odd years breathing only out pf my left side.
Swimming longer distances it became apparent that I had to learn bilateral to keep my body in balance.
It took maybe 100 miles before it finally felt natural.
Just do it. And keep doing it until it feels natural.0 -
I like the clock function because I can easily identify the the laps where I forgot to click the lap counter. My laps are around 50 seconds, but when I see 1:40 or 2:30 I realize that I did 2 or 3 laps at that point. Occasionally I forget to click the counter and sometimes I think it does not register because the button is not always reliable, I think.
I use this:MonkeyMel21 wrote: »I'm just curious...how do you all keep track of your longer distance swims??? usually in my head I'm all "la la la, breath, water in my mouth, oops, ok now breath, la la la" and have no idea what lap I'm on, lmao
http://www.amazon.com/SportCount-Chrono-200-Counter-Timer/dp/B00NVR1Y0E?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00
I use the one without the clock function. Love it.
Re Bilateral breathing. I had to force myself to learn after spending the previous 50 odd years breathing only out pf my left side.
Swimming longer distances it became apparent that I had to learn bilateral to keep my body in balance.
It took maybe 100 miles before it finally felt natural.
Just do it. And keep doing it until it feels natural.
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MonkeyMel21 wrote: »I'm just curious...how do you all keep track of your longer distance swims??? usually in my head I'm all "la la la, breath, water in my mouth, oops, ok now breath, la la la" and have no idea what lap I'm on, lmao
A sports watch that's waaaayyyy too fancy for my current athletic abilities. But it does keep track of laps and has a GPS for open water.0 -
2000y 54:520
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I like the clock function because I can easily identify the the laps where I forgot to click the lap counter. My laps are around 50 seconds, but when I see 1:40 or 2:30 I realize that I did 2 or 3 laps at that point. Occasionally I forget to click the counter and sometimes I think it does not register because the button is not always reliable, I think.
I use this:MonkeyMel21 wrote: »I'm just curious...how do you all keep track of your longer distance swims??? usually in my head I'm all "la la la, breath, water in my mouth, oops, ok now breath, la la la" and have no idea what lap I'm on, lmao
http://www.amazon.com/SportCount-Chrono-200-Counter-Timer/dp/B00NVR1Y0E?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00
I use the one without the clock function. Love it.
Re Bilateral breathing. I had to force myself to learn after spending the previous 50 odd years breathing only out pf my left side.
Swimming longer distances it became apparent that I had to learn bilateral to keep my body in balance.
It took maybe 100 miles before it finally felt natural.
Just do it. And keep doing it until it feels natural.
But it only stores 50 laps. So it doesn't help me when I'm swimming 141 0 -
7KM tonight.
The guy that asked me about swooning the other night was there. He recorded a couple laps of me swimming for his own training. Ha!
Layer he asked if he could take a picture with me. Pretty funny.
At one point tonight there were the of us in the fast lane doing free style. The other two guys kept stopping to rest though. Every 2 or three laps.0 -
Good job. It varies quite a bit. Many here are daily swimmers. At the other extreme, after a very long swim (3-6 miles), it is not unusual for me to take a week off. I need to be careful to to exacerbate shoulder/elbow issues that surfaced last year. Other weeks, I might do 2-3 miles about 3 times a week. Depends on the weather. On nice days, I may bike 35 miles to and from work over the 'mountain'. I added biking and walking to my fitness pursuits so that I would not have to rely too much on swimming and save my shoulder/elbow.Montepulciano wrote: »So I started back in the pool about a month ago. First day swam 600 yards (24 lengths) and now a month later I am up to 2100 yards (84 lengths) and it takes me about 50 minutes. My goal by the end of May is to be around 3200 yards.
How often do you guys get in the pool?
Robertus, I've just put two and two together. Is your bad shoulder/elbow on the opposite side of your breathing side? If yes, then it could be the position of your arm/elbow hand as you pulling and turning to breathe. It's possible to put your arm into an impingement position for the rotator cuff tendons of the shoulder. Also, have you had your neck looked at?0 -
MonkeyMel21 wrote: »I'm just curious...how do you all keep track of your longer distance swims??? usually in my head I'm all "la la la, breath, water in my mouth, oops, ok now breath, la la la" and have no idea what lap I'm on, lmao
I am terrible at keeping track of my distance. Like many other things in my life that I'm terrible at, I bought some technology to help me. I have a Garmin Swim watch that works quite well. REI has it on sale right now for a good price. It has a bunch of features that I find useful and can automatically sync with MFP through GarminConnect.
There are other much less expensive options out there. I think @fishgutzy uses a ring counter. These can be purchased at swim stores.
Got mine on Amazon.com. about 1/10th the price of the Garmin.
No tables to correct when it muses a turn. It counts kick board laps where the Garmin doesn't.0 -
YES,
Monday 1 mile @ 78 minutes
Today 0.5 mile @ 36 minutes1 -
MonkeyMel21 wrote: »I'm just curious...how do you all keep track of your longer distance swims??? usually in my head I'm all "la la la, breath, water in my mouth, oops, ok now breath, la la la" and have no idea what lap I'm on, lmao
Oh, I can't just swim straight and this is coming from someone who was a distance swimmer decades ago.
I break it up into sets for example today, did 2400 yards:
200 warm up
8 x 50's freestyle
200 stroke drills (catch up and one arm)
400 kick (fins) flutter
200 kick (fins) dolphin down/flutter back
200 kick (fins) 50 backstroke/50 flutter
8 x 25's focus on technique
8 x 50 freestyle
200 warm down
@Robertus
One sure fire way to have shoulder/elbow problems is to press down with your hand in the water, rather than catch the water and pull it towards your body. People raising their heads to breathe, rather than turning, will often see that injury. Maybe you have already sorted it out, but thought it was worth mentioning.0
