Listened to some this morning and so glad BTF have gone down the swim coach road and employed this guy. Whilst triathlon is not swim, bike or run and it is a single sport, skills training from the single sports coaches are invaluable. I love his comments on doing more technique work when in the pool and building the aerobic system elsewhere. They only have 25k in water a week so don’t have time to do it all. It’s nice to see some of my swim beliefs being adopted in tri (because this is what swim coaches know works)
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I like at the end it’s like - oh well, see ya
Does anyone have any tips for increasing freestyle endurance? When I swam properly back in my Uni days I was a breaststroke man (oi oi etc…) and whilst I can rattle out 1.5-2k+ on that stroke quite comfortably, albeit not as quickly as I’d like, I can barely do 250m of freestyle thesedays before my shoulders are burning, my breathing is gone and I have to switch back.
I’ve been trying a few different sets to build up freestyle length in a session (we only get 45 mins in our local pool, across two lanes which are not segregated by speed!!) but it’s not continuous (eg 2 rounds of 25m of each stroke, then 50 each, then 75 each, then 100 each x2, back down). Do I just need to keep plugging away to build the strength in the right places, or are there some gym/home exercises people recommend for back/shoulders that might help?
There’ll be much more knowledgeable people than me along to answer this I’m sure but I see this quite often when new members come to the Tri club sessions. They can swim and have good fitness but they’re blowing out their ar5es after a few lengths and have to take a break.
It’s usually because they’re just doing everything too fast. Their arm turnover is so quick they can’t get a decent breath in (and are often trying to breath out and in at the same time as they didn’t have time to breath out underwater fully)
When they slow everything down (to the point it feels weird to them, a bit like public speaking where your perception of speed is different to everyone else’s) everything clicks and they can cruise along comfortably, then build the speed back up over time.
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I think that’s good advice 
Slow, smooth, controlled stroke works for me. Minimise the splash. Push through the water. The only time you need to throw your arms around, head down, smashfest is 100m! I think catchup drill can be good for learning to keep good body position and slow your stroke rate. I also like to swim with fists because it’s really hard to get the push through the water so when you go back to open hands you can feel the water.
I don’t get the shoulder burn that many complain about, mine are not strong by any means - in fact my shoulder is knackered after grade 5 AC seperation. If I hold 1:10s then my limiting factor is getting air in the lungs and also my body tensing up which results in poor form.
I took my kid swimming last night, her crawl is coming along slowly! When she breaths she almost rolls onto her back 
I did spot that I’m still the club 100m record holder and made sure I pointed that out to her 
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but its also a very dangerous drill as it can cause the elbow to drop when resting on the arm out front so reinforcing a poor catch and pull and teaches you to “glide” which you shouldn’t be doing. I prefer to use drills to just control, arm movements on the recovery, ie, touch under arm, zipper, broken arrow etc. Use fins to keep speed up so body position remains good.
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Got absolutely humbled in the lane at masters swim last night. I haven’t swum for a couple of months because was training for a half marathon & had been running on a Monday night instead.
There were 2 new youngish guys in the lane I normally swim in - mid 20s maybe. The older 50 something gent who’s normally there had moved down a lane. Found out why.
The main set was 200m reps off 3m30, I was miles off the pace, the young studs were lapping me and decided 200m wasn’t enough so they’d make them 250m.
Also in 2 months of no swimming I seem to have lost all upper body strength. Felt like a kitten trying to swim with a lion and a tiger. Or maybe worse than a kitten. An armadillo perhaps. Am so moving down a lane next week.
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Still brooding on this. Part of me wants to set a big swim goal for 2022. Like maybe have a crack at a 1500m PB. Part of me never wants to swim again.
It’s made more difficult by the current system for booking swims in local pool. All done online in advance and popular times tend to sell out. So if I want to swim tomorrow for example, I have a choice of 3pm or 9pm- neither are ideal. Could have booked a week ago, I suppose. Monday night is a regular fixture but once per week isn’t going to cut the mustard any more it seems.
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I can book on the day, local pool is 50min sessions still, hospital at work is an hour. Not bad but 50mins is 1500m at most if foing sprints or multi strokes unless I just swim endless “aerobic” reps on limited rest.
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My pool has abandoned bookings now, which is fantastic.
The schools have also stopped lessons for Christmas, so it’s free from 0615-1530 then again from 1900-2200 nearly every day 
Booking used to put me right off, too.
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I absolutely loved the booking system. Firstly, it ensured I actually went. But with double lanes and a limited number of swimmers per lane, what’s not to like?
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that it means we only get one “double” swimming lane in the indoor pool I go to, and its full of the entitled older generation that “own” the pool and get upset with me actually trying to swim. I went in the half reserved for “leisure purposes” last time as it was empty (4 lanes equivalent) and the double lane had 6 “non” swimmers in it.
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That would suck I agree. Although rightly or wrongly I’m never that bothered if people want to get upset, especially if there’s an element of entitlement. I just get on with my own session as best possible.
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next to impossible when you are swimming 20second lengths and they are swimming 2+ minutes per length and stopping for a chat, pushing off in front of you. I will often adjust, so just do single lengths and give plenty of space, sprint and rest, but I can literally give up between 15 and 20m and overtake before the end , and with 6 slow ones in a lane you cant give enough space to not catch. Its almost a waste of time sometimes. Double lanes also mean they just take up more space rather than keeping left. At least with a slow and fast lane you have a small chance of a split of abilities
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That’s where I have the advantage of being a crap swimmer triathlete athlete. It’s never usually that bad that I can’t find something worthwhile to do.
I’ve been going to my local public pool on a Tuesday night for the last few weeks, since the tri club lost it’s mid-week swim.
They usually have 3/4 lanes marked slow medium & fast and I’ve had no issues at all. I don’t do anything structured just plod up and down trying to focus on every element of technique to avoid drifting into sloppily just turning my arms over.
I leave it to 7:30/8pm when it is quieter (apparently it’s pretty packed straight after work) but haven’t had any issue with other swimmers, it’s all pretty respectful and everyone keeps out of each others’ way and moves lanes to best suit their speed.
I found that slow swimmers were booking into the fast lane. I am pretty relaxed about things in general, like I’ll kick or drill instead of swim when behind people. One person wouldn’t let me through after being behind them for a few lengths so I overtook them with half a length to go and no one coming the other way, they mentioned to the lifeguard that I was being aggressive! 
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I actually overtook someone the other day caught up so was kicking on side, I happened to just look at them when kicking past smiling. I have no right to kick past people, yet these are the level of people in the “fast lane”. I got told I was very fast…no sunshine, you are just very slow 
I miss my regular swims at the hospital, never ever get pool issues
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It’s interesting that you’re all refering to indicated lane speeds and perceived swim speeds - fast & slow. Here in the Highlands you can use any pool anywhere as part of your Highlife membership and all of the pools removed the lane labels during the booking system period. For the most part people seeded themselves pretty well. I honestly can’t remember a session with serious issues. Luck or not, I enjoyed it way better.
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I think that’s my point. You were patient, then went past with care. No major problem at this point.
They get upset. So what? That’s their prerogative. My guess is the lifeguard didn’t intervene or get upset. Just carry on with enjoying the session. They’ll either calm down and start swimming again or get out. Either option doesn’t interfere with me.
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