I've decided to do a couple triathlons this summer so I have to do some swimming. I'm swimming
during lap swim at the local Y and I have some observations I'd like to pass along.
Some background - I am a long retired competitive swimmer. I swam in college. I was not an "elite"
swimmer but I did get a scholarship to a Div I school so I've actually been paid to swim. I swam to
compete and I did enjoy the competition, hard training and camaraderie of my teammates and
competitors but the simple joy of swimming really wasn't enough to keep me in the pool so after
college I took up other things and haven't done any sort of training in the pool for about 20 years.
Now I am tooling around with the lap swimmers at the Y. I figure the people I am swimming with now
are a fairly representative cross section of many of the people who post and lurk here.
If someone at the pool asked me how to get faster, this is what I would tell them.
1. Make the absolute best use you can of what time is available to you. Don't scale a 5 hour per
day training program down to 1 hour. Come up with a 1 hour program if that is the time you have.
2. On that note, there is an awful lot of kicking with kick boards going on. I think a lot of this
is a waste of time. I have nothing against kicking per se and I did my fair share of it when I
was a full time swimmer (and after reading Larry I wish I had done more) but for working men and
women trying to squeeze a workout into their busy lives, its a question of best use of time. For
example, last night a lady in the lane next to me kicked for 1/2 her 40 minute work out. While
she was kicking I did a set of 5 x 200 free swimming each above a pace I could have held for a
straight 1000. Yes I am faster than her but she would be faster than she is if she did this set
too instead of pushing the kickboard around for 20 minutes. I can assure all of you that no
elite swimmer spends 1/2 his or her workout time kicking and that if a rule went into effect
limiting pool time for elite swimmers to 1 hour per day virtually all kicking in practice would
cease immediately.
3. I was surprised that most of the swimmers are really not all that bad in terms of basic
technique. But - they are weak and are going through their time in the pool at a very low
exertion level. I know you think it hurts but you really need to push HARD to improve. I have 10
years of serious puking hard work in me and even after a 20 year layoff some of that is still
there. If you don't have this background you need to do some seriously hard swimming to get your
strength built up. I'm not saying the only way to improve is to swim 14,000 yards a day but if
you are going to swim only 2000, you better have some serious trouble lifting your arms to comb
your hair after you get out of the pool if you want to get faster.
4. Put some swimming specific strength training into your program. The less time you spend swimming
the more important strength training is. Suggestion - spend $25 on some stretch cords and use
them 3 -4 times a week. If you are only swimming 2 -3K just this 5 - 10 minutes a day will have
the same effect as doubling your weekly yardage.
5. Technique is important so don't take the lack of my mentioning it as my discounting it but most
technique flaws once you have the basics down can be traced back to a lack of swimming specific
strength. Train hard in the time you have available and your technique will improve and you'll
go faster.
Of course, the most important thing is to enjoy yourself. (e.g. If you like kicking, kick all you
want) Personally I think swimming is a rather miserable way to get basic exercise given the other
options available so my hat is off to all you folks who do it regularly - you are inspiring me.
STP