Masters Swimming or Not

Best way to utilize a masters swim program is to do the workouts   

Lots of triathletes don't like to do anything but freestyle, usually because they don't know how and it's just harder (and they also say they want to maximize pool time with free).  There was a thread recently (last two weeks) on this subject, and bunch of folks listed the (very good) reasons why triathletes should do all the strokes.  

I mean, don't go crazy with it.  But for me, doing indiv. medley or other stroke work is usually limited to about 5-600 yds per 3K workout.  Sometimes none at all.

im guessing that you aren't good at the other strokes? 

you could start by doing FandB sets...25 fly, 25 free, 25 back, 25 free, 25 breast, 25 free on your own time until you are comforatble enough to do it in a crowded lane..

 personally, i love ims, and feel that it has improved my swimming greatly, but im sure youll be fine if you stick to free alone

If you can do all the strokes I would recommend doing all the strokes. It will help your freestyle and keep the workout more interesting. It all comes down to time and money when deciding whether to continue with the masters swimming. I always like swimming with others and an organized workout is a great bonus.

That being said, most of my workouts are done at the YMCA by myself. Occasionally there is another competitive swimmer in the pool that I workout with. Unfortunately for me, butterfly does a number on my shoulders and a lot of breaststroke gets to my ankles so most of my workouts are all free. (As boring as that is. )

I've been on my masters team for about a year now. I swim all the strokes, but that was one of the things I wanted out of it. It is still a small % (although not lately) and because of this, it's taken me a long time to be able to swim the non-free strokes.

I'm just curious, why do you NOT want to swim them?

Overall, I think swimming Masters has improved my swimming far over what I would be at if I swam on my own.

I've been pondering this exact question, as I am finishing up my first month in a Masters class.  I told the instructor right at the beginning I was only interested in freestyle and he created one slow freestyle workout for my lane   It's a small class and if anyone else wants to be the slow lane, they swim freestyle.  I simply don't know the other strokes and right now it's not worth trying.

Plusses:

1.  I've never tried to swim fast and just like any interval, doing this in class is an eye opener for me and has pushed me way beyond my comfort zone.

2.  I have gotten some personal stroke advice

3.  I know now what the workouts mean, like 4x200 in such and such time. 

Minuses:

1.  The stroke critique isn't going anywhere anymore.  I'm doing what you say, is there anything more?

2.  Now that I know the routines, I follow them virtually on my own.  I can do that without going to the class by visiting swimplan or using workouts from BT

3.  The pissy attitudes of the former college swimmers.  Give it up.   I can't tell you how many times I'm told "It's no big deal" when I ask my single other lane sharer if we can split instead of circle.  "When I was on the college swim team we'd have 300 people sharing a lane and it was no big deal".  Well sorry honey, but it's a Lifetime and we're all middle-aged now and there's just two of us... Seriously.  Or being asked to sprint for the long sets (to fit inside the timed sets) and trying to explain that I can't go from 0 to 60 in 3 sessions.  Masters is NOT for all levels.

My conclusion is that everyone is different.  If the coach is good and you thrive on the others in the group, having a set time to meet, etc, then there is a lot of value.  I would definitely recommend pushing the idea with the coach to have just freestyle sets (if you want) or seeking out a triathlon focused group.   It's definitely possible.

I must give props to my masters class!  On Oct. 16, I basically had to learn how to swim.  I mean ... I had a good "lake stroke".  Last night I did open swim to see how long I could swim without stopping.  I had not dont this before, and was concerned that I may only have 700 or 800 yds in me.  I was able to swim 1 mile in a little over 30 minutes.  I would never have been able to do this without Masters. 

Typically other strokes don't really bother me during the class.  I swim predominately using crawl and crawl when swimming choice.  I can not do butterfly and substitute crawl for fly, but look at back and breast as a rest from the crawl.  We have pretty laid back group and coaches, and seems like there is a lane for everyone to mix in according to ability.  Motivation is another plus with masters.  As in my last night's swim, I could see swimming laps on my own, but I don't think I would ever push myself as I do with the class. 

I guess your decision may be based on the structure of your particular class.  Good luck with your decision.

I tried swimming with our Masters program and couldn't keep up

I am a 1:55/100 swimmer... and they are doing 200 on 3:15.

It was too stressful and people were always swimming over me.

Try it out and see how it works for you

If they post the workouts in advance, choose the ones that primarily are free style.  I originally had to focus on just getting basic endurance and swim mechanics.  Trying to swim fast and get the basic body position etc was hard so I swam quite a lot by myself for awhile. 

I have been hitting the Master's program many times a week the last few months, having gotten to a reasonable stroke.  Things have really progressed and I feel that the Master's program forces me to push way more than I could on my own.  My times are dropping and I am glad that I am in a Master's program.  I do believe there is a time and a place for the Master's program and feel fortunate to have a good one in my area.

You might need to find the right Masters group.  Mine is half swimmers and half triathletes and our coach does 2 workouts, one distance and mostly free and one for stroke work.  She encourages us to do a little bit of stroke work to keep up with what we have learned, but she knows what we all want to work on, so she humors us. 

I swim 1:45/100 and there are folks both faster and slower than me.  I swim in the mornings and there is a fairly small group, which I like.  More pesonalized attention.  The evening group is much larger and much faster from what I understand.

I change up strokes because I get board of just doing everything freestyle...or when I have a lot of kick work- doing things in IM order or reverse IM order keeps it fresh.

To answer your question: the master's program is a great set time to workout with a swim coach.  Using all the strokes will help build upper body strength and add variance to your workout. 

Sometimes I do fly with my zoomers on because I want to feel like a flying fish

I am not a seasoned triathlete.  I have done one race and have only been swimming since this past summer.

I am in a masters swim program.  I can do all the strokes but I dont like them.  I spoke to the instructor about the other strokes and he said it was helpful in preventing overuse injury and kept things "fresh"  I dont have shoulder issues *yet and I can swim 4000 meters of straight free and dont get bored, I do tend to lose count frequently becuase my mind wanders off.  

When the rest of the class does medley or other strokes I will do balance, stroke, or breathing drills to "mix" things up.

The biggest benefits I have found with the class are: 1) other swimmers 2) someone to hold me accountable to the interval training (which makes me swim faster) and someone to evaluate and tweak my technique which makes me a more efficient swimmer.

Masters is awesome.  I have not been a member but was the water safety instructor at OSU and interacted regularly with them.  I have done a couple workouts with them and watched hundreds. 

Doing all strokes will improve your overall fitness.  It will keep your workout interesting.  Yards pass by easier than doing it on your own. 

Having a coach and a team and a pool for the price of masters is outrageously cheap.

 I am an expert swimmer yet would like to join myself -unfortunately life doesn't allow it right now with my wife'swork schedule and my responsibilities.

Masters programs are great and most are flexible enough to accommodate distance freestylers.

 Pluses and minuses of doing different strokes:

 Plus: The variety can help, but remember being a triathlete you already have a fair amount of variety in your workouts.

 Plus: swimming different strokes well is fun and you can brag to your friends that you can swim butterfly

 Plus: There is some form carryover from the other strokes (but not breaststroke)

 Plus: can help with overuse injuries, but you are not swimming 5K a day 6 days a week

 Minus: You are trying to learn to swim freestyle better/faster and isn't that enough to learn with the limited pool time you have. And for this reason alone I'd suggest that if your goal is to improve your swim time in a triathlon, that you limit your training in other strokes. There is just so much time available.

The variety of strokes that you do in Masters is good for your freestyle. 

Learn fly.  It's good for gaining strength.  Kind of like a big gear workout on the bike or hill repeats on the run, except that you don't get to breath as much

Learn breast.  Concentrate on the pull.  The first part of the pull is similar to the freestyle pull and easier to work on the high elbows during the pull that you need for freestyle.

Learn back.  I'm sure there's some good crossover to freestyle but I don't know what it is... I like it because I get to breath lots and I can loaf a bit...

That being said, I have a shoulder problem that limits my ability to swim fly and back.  I'll do one-armed fly during fly parts of workouts.  I'll do back as long as I don't do more than 25m straight...

Brian 

Just to add to this, I find backstroke a good way to loosen up the shoulders and arms after doing a hard free workout or set.  Something about the arms rotating in the opposite direction seems to help.  That being said, I hate backstroke and I suck at it but it has it's purpose. 

To add to the discussion in general, I was just swimming on my own until just after Christmas when I started with Masters.  I find that I put in a lot more yardage with Masters and my speed and endurance has improved significantly.