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Swim frequency
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 2015-10-07 8:34 AM |
Extreme Veteran  1234    West Michigan |  Subject: Swim frequencyI typically swim 3x weekly, M, W and F, ~1,500 yards each, broken up in varying set distances. I break the sets into 100's or 50's, drill sets mixed in after 400 yards regardless of sets distances. I swim before work and have time constraints so about the longest distance I can get in is 2,000 however that's infrequent for various reasons. Lately due to schedule issues I've had to do back to back swim workouts a few times and I actually survived... I'm curious as to what others do regarding swim workout frequency. Do any of you swim every day, or nearly every day? If so do you work on different strokes, drills etc., to not burn out, injure shoulders (crawl) etc.? For those swimming multiple days in a row and focusing exclusively on crawl, what does a week look like in distances, drills etc? Thanks.
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| 2015-10-07 9:16 AM in reply to: TriMike |
1502 Katy, Texas | Subject: RE: Swim frequency Since starting last year, I went quite a long period where I was front crawl only. No kick sets, no drills, no other strokes. I would do a warm up, then a main set, then a cool down. Over the past two months I've have totally changed and do everything. I have seen improvement (on freestyle/crawl) times from this where I haven't seen improvement in months. It's painful at first, but I would highly recommend it. I swim 3x per week at 3,000 to 3,300 meters per swim. I'm still poking around blindly a bit, but I think I'm getting somewhere. An example workout would be: 500 warm up 2 x 100 underwater dolphin kick on back 3 x 100 IM 2 x 100 alternate 25's drill/swim 10 x 100 (mixing builds, fast and easy) 200 easy 10 x 50 fast, limited rest 2 x 150 pull That is the polar opposite of what I used to do, but boy does it make a difference. I don't get as bored and I can hit each set harder because I'm no longer grinding out 20 100's or something like that. It really helps the mind to break it up. |
| 2015-10-07 9:18 AM in reply to: TriMike |
Elite 7783  PEI, Canada | Subject: RE: Swim frequency There is certainly nothing wrong with back to back swim days. In fact, if you do more than 3x per week, it is mathematically necessary. I do primarily front crawl for every workout but almost always mix in a small amount of other strokes just to change things up. For me, the main source of variety comes from doing different types of workouts/sets. |
| 2015-10-07 9:38 AM in reply to: 0 |
Expert 2852 Pfafftown, NC | Subject: RE: Swim frequency Very much AOS here. I started in the pool August 1, on my own. I was doing 700-1K yds/session....broken up into (what I now know was) too easy swimming. I was also using Core (wetsuit) shorts 100% of the time. My reason for posting that part is........if you're (general population...not the OP) a weak swimmer, do NOT do what I did. It set me back. I joined the masters swim group in September, and I'm now swimming a min. of 1650yds and sometimes over 2K yds......5X/wk. I honestly feel like I'm improving with every session. May not be true, but it feels like it. Our coaches mix up the workouts to keep it interesting. This morning, I did 300 w/u D= Drill S= Swim K= Kick all 50's with little to no rest between 50's....:20 rest between intervals 1. D/S/D 2. S/D/S 3. S/S/S 4. P/S/P 5. S/P/S 6. P/P/P 7. K/S/K 8. S/K/S 9. K/K/K 10. S/S/S build with each 50....leaving on 1:15 If I ever learn to swim, it'll be because I joined the masters class. With the exception of the Kick intervals (which I do on my back), all swimming is front crawl. Edited by nc452010 2015-10-07 9:40 AM |
| 2015-10-07 10:05 AM in reply to: TriMike |
Champion 7036 Sarasota, FL | Subject: RE: Swim frequency I swim M-W-F and most Saturdays with my masters team. (The Saturday schedule is dependent on whether the junior team has a swim meet) On occasion I'll also fit in a swim in the afternoon after work if I have something specific that I want to work on, such as longer intervals or specific stroke technique issues. Our overall team training philosophy is IM based, so we include all four strokes, even though most of the focus is on freestyle. The posted workouts are usually 2800-3200 yds. and our head coach always mixes things up from practice to practice. (There's normally a lot of head-scratching for the first few minutes as we try to interpret the workout!) FWIW, here's what we did this morning: 200 Loosen Because of time constraints I cut out a 3rd round of the (2 x 100, 2 x 50) set. I also stopped a couple of times during the drill set to get some input from my coach. HTH Mark |
| 2015-10-07 10:27 AM in reply to: 0 |
Veteran 434 Apex, NC | Subject: RE: Swim frequency What's your swim proficiency and what are your goals (FOP/MOP, OLY/HIM/IM, etc.)? I've tried various things. My standard is 2-3X per week between 2000-3000 yards each with one being a masters class. But I've had many seasons where I swim 2X per week until a month out from my A race and then go 3X per week. And last winter I went to 4X per week to see if that changed things. No matter what I do it doesn't seem to change things, I come out of the water 6th or 7th AG in local Olympics and 24th or 25th in IM 70.3s. Based on what I hear and read I need to invest even more time and attention to really get faster but I just can't envision myself doing that. Or at least until my B/R are so awesome that the swim is holding me back. BTW, I swim almost exclusively freestyle. Edited by smoom 2015-10-07 10:42 AM |
| 2015-10-07 11:48 AM in reply to: smoom |
Extreme Veteran 1234 West Michigan | Subject: RE: Swim frequency Originally posted by smoom What's your swim proficiency and what are your goals (FOP/MOP, OLY/HIM/IM, etc.)? I've tried various things. My standard is 2-3X per week between 2000-3000 yards each with one being a masters class. But I've had many seasons where I swim 2X per week until a month out from my A race and then go 3X per week. And last winter I went to 4X per week to see if that changed things. No matter what I do it doesn't seem to change things, I come out of the water 6th or 7th AG in local Olympics and 24th or 25th in IM 70.3s. Based on what I hear and read I need to invest even more time and attention to really get faster but I just can't envision myself doing that. Or at least until my B/R are so awesome that the swim is holding me back. BTW, I swim almost exclusively freestyle. That's a great question. I'd like to be in the quadrant towards the top of MOP to FOP although right now FOP seems like a reach.. What is considered the MOP, being at or near the mean or the true median? I ask because I've never really looked at my swim time relative to the entire race, just my AG or the Clydes division... I prefer OLY distance although I'm into swimming as much or more for the workout as I am training as a component of a race... The other issue I have is I can't run currently.. This past season I did 3 Aquabikes in order to still be close to triathlon. Pretty involved back issue that makes running out of the question... I'm typically top 3 in my AG for the bike, and I have won a few Clydes so switching over to Aquabike only leaves the swim if I want to get significantly faster overall... Outside of faster transitions which I've worked on a lot too.. I'm contemplating a 4x weekly (some variation on M-F, maybe even 5x occasionally) swim program so thanks everyone for the comments, they're giving me some good ideas...
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| 2015-10-07 12:00 PM in reply to: TriMike |
Expert 2373 Floriduh | Subject: RE: Swim frequency I swam in HS and a year at college so my stroke is quite polished. Because of this, the fact that I find doing laps so d@mn boring, and my running is so bad, I only do one 1500-2000 yard workout/week. Generally a mix of 100s and 200s, mostly free style, a bit of breast to change things up. The race I have planned for Nov is a sprint with a 29 mi bike leg so i think this is sufficient water time to do adequately train for that race. If it was an Oly distance I would go up to 3000 yards/week. Again, for me, time is best spent running. YMMV. |
| 2015-10-07 12:01 PM in reply to: TriMike |
Elite 7783 PEI, Canada | Subject: RE: Swim frequency If you can't run and you have the time, 5x/week can go a long way to getting you up towards the FOP of you can maintain it for a while and put the proper focus on it. Good luck with it and let us know how the progress goes! |
| 2015-10-07 12:33 PM in reply to: TriMike |
Member 1748 Exton, PA | Subject: RE: Swim frequency Originally posted by TriMike Originally posted by smoom What's your swim proficiency and what are your goals (FOP/MOP, OLY/HIM/IM, etc.)? I've tried various things. My standard is 2-3X per week between 2000-3000 yards each with one being a masters class. But I've had many seasons where I swim 2X per week until a month out from my A race and then go 3X per week. And last winter I went to 4X per week to see if that changed things. No matter what I do it doesn't seem to change things, I come out of the water 6th or 7th AG in local Olympics and 24th or 25th in IM 70.3s. Based on what I hear and read I need to invest even more time and attention to really get faster but I just can't envision myself doing that. Or at least until my B/R are so awesome that the swim is holding me back. BTW, I swim almost exclusively freestyle. That's a great question. I'd like to be in the quadrant towards the top of MOP to FOP although right now FOP seems like a reach.. What is considered the MOP, being at or near the mean or the true median? I ask because I've never really looked at my swim time relative to the entire race, just my AG or the Clydes division... I prefer OLY distance although I'm into swimming as much or more for the workout as I am training as a component of a race... The other issue I have is I can't run currently.. This past season I did 3 Aquabikes in order to still be close to triathlon. Pretty involved back issue that makes running out of the question... I'm typically top 3 in my AG for the bike, and I have won a few Clydes so switching over to Aquabike only leaves the swim if I want to get significantly faster overall... Outside of faster transitions which I've worked on a lot too.. I'm contemplating a 4x weekly (some variation on M-F, maybe even 5x occasionally) swim program so thanks everyone for the comments, they're giving me some good ideas...
Your only going to get so good swimming 4500 yards a week. Honestly I don't get in the pool unless I'm going to do 2000 yards or more. If your technique is pretty good you need to put in more yards to get faster. I will also say this you may start having problems with your back as you get faster. There is a lot of core strength required to swim fast, and an incredible amount of twisting and stress put on the back when making turns. I know common knowledge is that swimming does not stress your body, but that's a load on ____. If you have back problems (I have) and start swimming fast you may start noticing more issues. My personal swim regiment is non-existent until I have a race coming up then I get in the pool once or twice a week month. I am FOP on the swim and until my run gets better my time is better spent running. |
| 2015-10-07 12:51 PM in reply to: TriMike |
Extreme Veteran 586 Richmond | Subject: RE: Swim frequency Frequency is important in swimming, as it is the most technique dependant of the 3 sports, and trhe body easily forgets what it has learned. Or, at least has a hard time remembering. Bodies also crave variety on the path to adaptation. So swim as often as you can, and do different things. Speed Play is one of the best things for a beginner swimmer to weave into their workouts, as it really requires no new skills per say. Simply learning to swim at different SPEEDS, as opposed to simply different EFFORTS. Common forms of speed play involve Build-Ups (gradually increase speed, within a specific swim), Negative Splits (2nd half of swim markedly faster than 1st half) and Descending (Subsequent swims in a set are all faster than the previous) Speedplay is both a potent teacher in its own right, as well as a potent INTEGRATOR, that is, an activity which helps a swimmer integrate newly developed skills into their current swim stroke. I would recommend starting there to add variety to your swims. |
| 2015-10-07 5:19 PM in reply to: TriMike |
Master 8247 Eugene, Oregon Bronze member | Subject: RE: Swim frequency I normally swim three days a week (sometimes add an easy recovery swim to that), usually Monday, Thursday, and Friday, but because it's a school facility and meets tend to fall on Thursdays, Monday/Tuesday or even occasionally Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday happens sometimes. And of course people who are mainly swimmers probably practice 5-7 days a week. There are people in our master's group in Oregon who even swim twice a day; that would be normal on most HS, college, and youth teams. First advice--mix it up. Don't just swim freestyle ("crawl") if you know other strokes. Break up the big free sets with some other strokes, plus kick, pull, etc. The other strokes are useful for different reasons--developing rotation and good body position (esp. back), flexibility (esp. breast stroke), core strength and aerobic fitness (fly) and just working different muscles in general, which helps avoid overuse injuries. As long as I mix up strokes a little, it's unusual that I'd feel sore or fatigued after two or even three swim days in a row. It also helps to have a focus/purpose for each day. In my case, one workout is often more of an endurance focus, with longer repeats around threshold (Olympic to HIM) pace. Another is more of a technique and speed focus, and one more of a strength focus (pull sets, fly, IM). If there's a fourth it's probably a recovery swim after a long run or brick. That helps you get the most out of each session and avoid just doing mindless laps. |
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