Ms_J1 Member

I pretty much agree with everything that has been said here. Your arm should be straight as it enters the water and one thing that may help with that is to rotate your shoulder and hip slightly more with each stroke while keeping your head as still as possible (except to breathe) so that you can get a longer reach without…

I'm still here but have a lot on my plate right now (all good but time consuming). Please stand by.

Hi all! Again, I apologize for the long delay in responding back. It's been chaotic here with the weather. Communications were down where I live for a few days. But I am no longer a refugee and all is well now - I'm fine, our house survived, and all is well. I was without a pool for over a week, but I had a great start…

I'll post more later on these workouts and respond to all of your feedback soon. At the moment, we're having flash flood problems where I live and I am temporarily living as a refuge at my friend's house.

I think you understand the bilateral breathing correctly. It's stroke stroke, stroke/breathe, stroke, stroke, stroke/breathe, etc. When you're kicking on your back, your hands should be over your head in a streamline position (or over your head with a kick board, if you streamlining is too difficult for you right now).…

AQ, the only interval times you need to be concerned about are the ones that are laid out. There is no specified time between the warm up, pre-set, and main set or between each set of intervals. However, try not to rest for more than about 30 seconds before starting the next set of intervals within the main set. You want…

It really depends on what your goals are. If you're trying to improve your physical fitness, 5-6 days a week is needed. But if you're trying to maintain your level of fitness, 3-4 times a week is all you need (of any activity, it doesn't have to be swimming).

So, I decided to start off with only one workout in case my workouts are unreasonable. I've written one workout for each of you. Try out your workout and then let me know how it went. Based on your feedback, I'll write more workouts that better suit each of you. If you don't understand the workout terminology, don't…

Sorry for the long delay in responding. Been a busy week. I'm working on the workouts today and should have them posted by the end of the day. I'm going to try to cover 5 workouts for each swimmer.

Does the pool where you swim have a pace clock? If so, swim three 100s and let me know what your times are for each 100. If your pool doesn't have a pace clock and if you don't have one of those fancy swim watches, bring a watch with you and use it to time your three 100s. It doesn't have to be accurate down to the tenth…

Awesome! I'll start working on coming up with some workouts this week.

Seriously, that's just wrong!

AQ, a negative split is swimming the second half of an interval faster than first. For example, on a 400, you would swim the second 200 faster than the first 200. I don't like negative splits because they're too easy to cheat at. All I would have to do is swim the last length faster. I much prefer builds - increasing your…

I swam 2700m. It was suppose to be an easy day - mostly drills but swimming 1200m in drills, especially 6-kick drills where you stroke 3 and then kick 6 while rotated on your side when you breathe, is exhausting!

2,900 meters. I hate ending on a 900. 2,900 feels like an incomplete 3,000. Coach was easy on me today. The main set was.. Swim for 15 minutes 5 x (100 at pace on 2:15, 200 negative split on 4:30) I could have napped while waiting for 4:30 to come around.

Swam 3000m. Our coaches know many of us are swimming in the 2k this weekend so I think they're going easy on us by giving us more drills and fewer sprints this week. Warm Up: 3 x 200 swim, :20RI Main Set 10 x 100 pull w/paddles on 2:15 6 x 150 w/fins (50 drill, 100 spd) on 1:30 8 x 50 (50 drill, 50 sprint *) Cool Down: 100…

I gotta remember this one and do it. It looks like it would kill me... which is why I gotta do it. I swam 3000 yards. A ton of kicks. Our Main set was 6 x 150 pull, build, on 2:45 2 x 500 kick w/fins (25 fast/25 easy, 50 fast/25 easy, 75 fast/25 easy, 100 fast/25 easy, 125 fast/25 easy), :10 RI 12 x 25 catch up drills with…

Oh, Macstraw! I hope everything works out well for you.

I swam 3000 yards (we go back and forth between SCY and LCM). It was an intense workout, especially the 6 x 125 sprints on 3:00. I'm sorry but 6 x 125 sprints are impossible even on a 3 minute interval. I was still huffing and puffing after each one minute and 10 seconds rest I got on the first two intervals. I pooped out…

Well said.

I would just like to add that using swim fins, especially in the beginning, will help. Fly is a stroke that requires a significant amount of forward momentum. Without a strong forward momentum the hips sink every time you lift your head to breathe. Fins will help you maintain that strong forward momentum while you're still…

Today was a short course yards day. 3500 yards of 300 builds and some 50 yard kick sets. And for once, we had rest intervals instead of send off intervals which was a relief. I think our coaches are starting to taper down the workouts because they know a big group of us swimmers are swimming the 2k next weekend. I have a…

You can also get a safety buoy. It's a bright colored buoy attached to a cord that straps around your waist, making you visible to others. But I do agree with Robertus, having someone kayak or canoe next to you is best.

I swam 2800 meters today with Masters. I got so discouraged today but it ended well once I figured it all out. I have to swim the 2k in 40 minutes or less which comes out to a 2 minute per 100 meters pace. Today, my coach had me doing a couple of 300 meters on a 5:30 interval but I swam the first 300 in 5:36 so we extended…

I started swimming again a year ago after a 30 year hiatus so I could lose weight and now I swim to keep off the weight and to see how far I can go with it. When I swam as a child, my best stroke was backstroke and my worst was fly. Now, backstroke is my second worst stroke (breast being me worst) and fly is my second best…

This is so me! I'll start logging and then sometime after dinner, I'll eat something ridiculous and totally inappropriate - like 12 cups of popcorn or three Quest bars (or.. gulp.. both!). Albeit, the popcorn is air popped but who am I kidding? - I spray on at least 10 servings of popcorn spray and sprinkle on at least 4…

3100 meters. Today was one of my better workouts because my main set was easy to remember - 20 x 100 on 2:15 which I later adjusted to 2:10 and then to 2:05 because I was getting too much rest (I was averaging 1:55/100m). If I can just maintain a 1:55 pace on 100 meters, I can pull off this upcoming 2k in under 40 minutes…

I'm like you except I started swimming as a child and then stopped for 30 years before starting again. I actually took the class for my own benefit rather than to become a coach. I thought it was a good opportunity to improve my own swimming and maybe coach some day after I have more experience watching others swim and can…

How did the course go?

3000m with Masters. I'm 5'0" and I outsprinted 6'4" Speedy Gonzales in the lane next to me on the 50s and then I got slower and slower and slower on the rest of the ladder intervals. But then I have a dislocated wrist so I'm lucky to have survived the workout at all.