Swim Times for New Swimmers

I cannot get faster than 2:30/100.  I have no idea what my problem is but I guess I am stuck with it for now.

When I first started back in Feb I was anywhere from 1:50-2:00.  5 months later, if I'm doing a hard workout I'm about 1:35/100yd.

In my opinion, if you are breaking 2:00, not doing flip turns and have only been swimming for a few weeks you are doing really, really well. Also a 40 second 50 with no turn is really quite fast.  If you could hold near that for 100, you will be under 1:30. Have you had swim instruction prior to this? (swim team, some sort of coaching?)  I know for me it took a month or so to get any sort of swim fitness back. So once you keep at it, build your swim stamina up, you should be really cruising. Good luck to you!

After a year of working on my swimming I was able to get my average 100y time down to about 2:20 over an extended swim (I was well over 3:00 when I started); my fastest ever 100 was 2:10. I? Am really slow. I can bilateral breathe just fine, I've worked with a couple of coaches, I've taken classes, I can swim a mile straight no problem (when I'm trained -- I haven't been in a pool in months, so I'm sure I couldn't do it now). I'm just slow.

My point to the OP: You're doing great! You'll find a broad range of "starter" times here, and it looks to me like you're coming along just fine. Work with a coach if you can (didn't help me much, but I know TONS of people have really benefited from coaching), practice your drills, get in the pool a lot. Have fun with it. Oh, and don't forget the OWS practice!

I just tried to time myself last night at the Y. I do breast strokes and managed to swim my first 100 m in 2:21. I don't know how to do flips so I just turn.
500 m in about 15 min and then I tried to do free style for 50 m, but almost drowned myself.
I really need some practice with my free style.

Thanks for everyone's input.  I have never had formal training or been on a swim team when I was younger. 

I've heard about many people having a good experience from coaching, so I may go that route eventually.  I think, being so new at the sport will allow me hopefully improve rapidly on my own, although I understand I run some risks of ingraining bad habits with this method.

I've tried hard to grab good advice from these boards and other youtube videos about freestyle.  I have a decent no-kick, 2-beat kick going on. (I honestly don't know what my feet are doing, but I try to have them not do much for the sake of oxygen).  I always think about keeping my elbows high, and I think I have a good body rotation going on.  Head seems very still, but high in the water.  My swim cap has made it very easy for me to breath because of an added buoyancy I've noticed.  I still think my breathing needs work.

I'm feeling happy about my swimming overall, except for having a little trouble breathing to my left side consistently.

It seems my times are decent for a beginner, and that makes me feel somewhat productive!

This sounds like me--but I think my best time was closer to 2:40 and sometimes I'm still over 3:00. And I second that you're doing great.

Even for a complete beginner coaching is incredibly valuable. Swimming is all about technique and being efficient. A coach can help you drop lot's of time in a short amount of time.

I started learning to swim in April, after about a month I was doing about 3:00/100m. Now I'm up to about 2:13/100m and can sustain the pace for about 1000m. I don't know how to do flip turns either and had a lot of trouble breathing on my left side. I forced myself to use bilateral breathing though and I feel pretty comfortable on both sides now, plus it helps me swim straighter.

Sounds like you are doing very good!

how much time do flip turns save?  I was guessing a few seconds each one, so on a 50 it saves a bit of time, but over a 500 that can add up to a half-minute or so. 

I would say that a good turn would save a second or so. However, from what I have seen from people learning they tend to "hang out" a bit at the wall. That is why I stated the 50 time was really good. Not saying the OP does that, just generalizing.  Over a 500 it would definately add up. Do I think flip turns are needed? Not really, I just do them because I always have. No flip turns in an open water swim. One thing I really like about them though, you have to hold your breath obviously when doing them. So in MY opinion, I think they are worth doing just for the sake of getting your body used to a slight heart rate spike every 25 yards. That way in an open water swim if you get swam over, you may not panic quite as much if you get dunked and have to hold your breath or your breathing pattern gets disrupted. That's just my opinion though.

Edited by jammers 2009-07-02 8:04 AM

I am in the same boat, I can do 100m in 1:58 but longer distances I slow down.   Did 600 meters and avg 2:22.  I know what the issue is, in the first 100m I can do 3 stroke bi-lat breathing.  After the first 100m I am breathing every right hand stroke with the occasional 3 stroke bi-lat.  I suspect that my form falls apart a little when I go with the breath every 2 strokes.  Hoping better fitness will help this.

My swim times are pretty slow, too.  If I'm really pushing it, I can drop down below 2:00/hundred (probably 1:50 or 1:45), but I can't sustain that for more than 100 or so without needing to dial the pace back down.  I can swim a mile or more without resting, but that would be at more like 2:30 or 2:45 pace.

For new swimmers who think they can't afford a swim coach -- I would check with the local Y.  My Y offers adult swim lessons for $75 for 5 lessons.  That's only about $15/lesson, which is what you would probably pay for a DVD anyway.  I have had 2 lessons, and I've noticed significant improvements.  My teacher is on one of the local university swim teams, she's a great teacher with certificates in advanced swim instruction, she's coached beginning triathletes before, and she's pointed out problems in my stroke that have been wasting a lot of energy (over-rotating to breathe, not keeping my core engaged/allowing my pelvis to not stay parallel to the water, etc.).  My times have probably gotten faster, but what I really have been noticing is that I'm swimming a greater distance but not feeling as wiped-out at the end of it.  She also has given me a lot of good ideas for different workouts to do.  I feel like one-on-one, individualized instruction is a lot more valuable than a prepackaged DVD.

Several people have suggested the value of coaching for swimming.  This really can't be overemphasized.  Swimming is different from biking and running in that TECHNIQUE is everything.  Since you are fairly new and you seem to be able to swim reasonably well already, it is possible you could easily become a FOP swimmer with good, efficient technique.  Do it now while you are in the early part of your learning curve so you don't have to waste time unlearning bad form later.  If you get some coaching now, you could probably enjoy twice the benefit in half the time.

FWIW,
Greg

^^^ very good advice. Practicing bad technique ingrains those bad habits and they are much much harder to break later. My swim coach tells me that I have about 500,000 yards of doing things wrong it will take a long time to break those habits and improve. Best to learn right when you start. I wish I had better instruction when I first started.

Also learn to bilateral breath as it evens out your stroke.

Get a coach and take some lessons if you are a newbie!

I feel the same relief to know that others are as slow as me. But I don't know where weight factors in. I train with a group of women and I am in the best shape and about the slowest, the fastest swimmer in the group is the heaviest and quite a bit overweight. She finished the swim at Iron Girl in 15 minutes without a wetsuit. From what I've read on here, that would be normal I guess, but to me it is lightening fast. I'm intimidated when I share a lane with her--it is like sharing a lane with a dolphin.

The bolded is something I thought before I got a swim coach. But if you don't know what your feet are doing, they are probably lower in the water than the rest you, creating a ton of drag. You don't have to do much with them, but you don't want them hurting you.

A swim coach helps immensely. A swim coach with an underwater camera helps even more, so you can see your technique, and see what they are yelling at you for

Get a swim coach now, if you think you are going to go that route.

Learn the RIGHT WAY the first time. Swimming is all about form. You can't fake it. If you have bad habits that you teach your body now... the swim coach will just have to make you relearn how to swim properly.

One time I saw a guy in the pool doing something with his stroke that made him completely inefficient in the water. I gave him a tip on how to improve and he did it for 25 yards. Then he said he was going back to his other way because it felt better and the new way just felt wrong... and it felt wrong because his body was trained to do it the wrong way.

25-M  (Is it wierd that I always go to type or say that I'm 26 since that is my "triathlon age"?)

When I started swimming in January, I started around 2:00-2:10 pace for 400yd swims. and about 1:45 for repeat hundreds.

After 6 months, I usually do my workouts more in the 1:35 range.  for longer swims (600yd+) I'll do just under 1:40s and for repeat hundreds I'll be in the 1:28 area.

No flip turns, 25yd pool, and I probably take longer rests between sets than most people (25-30 seconds)


For the first 3 months or so nearly the only thing I ever did in the pool was drills, and now they are about 30-50% of my workouts.  These definately improved my form early on and have definately had the largest effect on times.

Edited by V1per41 2009-07-02 10:10 AM

In the Pool, I am right at 2:00/100m. I can hold that pace for a bit and I don't do flip turns. However in an OWS, I slow down. Granted I have only done two open water swims (1 mile non-competitive and 550m triathlon with a run in start) but for some reason I am not pushing myself in open water.

I have been told countless times I have go to get into a masters swim program. I just wish it was at a more convenient time.