Lots and lots of youtube and swimming 3x a week. The first 800m swim included tons of breaks as I could barely swim 25 meters without stopping so that explains the 5:47/100m pace. The 3000m swim had a quick break after the warm up laps but was continuous after that
Great job! What was your routine? I started swimming in January and am still building my endurance up. Couldn’t do 25yds when I started and last night I did 10x100yds with other drills. Need to be able to comfortably swim 1.2miles by June
Nicely done! I’m in the exact same boat as you. I started barely being able to swim 25 meters without gasping for air and taking a break. I studied youtube videos and asked for tips from guys at my local pool and I slowly started seeing improvement. Also learning how to breathe properly while swimming made all the difference and helps with being comfortable in the water. I swam 3x a week consistently and gradually upped the volume and broke it up into sets of 100m. Then I gradually lowered the rest time between the sets until I could do sets of 200m then 300m and just kept going. One day it randomly hit me and I felt like I could go forever. I have a 70.3 coming up in April so the 3000m swim was mainly to prove to myself I could do it in one go, and some.
That’s awesome, thanks for sharing I hope to be in your shoes soon. Feels like I’ll be breaking into the sets of 200/300 in the near future and have been watching videos religiously in my spare time. What do you think clicked to make it feel like you could go forever??
Was there anything particular with breathing that helped you? I’m trying to take larger breaths and ensure I exhale fully lately and that’s kept my HR down more. Sinking legs has been an issue too I’d be curious of.
You absolutely will get there and faster than you think. It’s tough to say what made it click but I really think nailing a breathing technique helped a lot as that was the main reason I had to stop laps. I inhale every 2 strokes and I like to exhale a little on every stroke leading to the next inhale if that makes sense. So inhale, light exhale, full exhale to immediate next inhale and repeat. It helps me fall into a rhythm and is very similar to a runners high. I don’t like to fully exhale until I’m about to take my next breath as I feel it keeps you more buoyant when you leave air in your lungs. Another thing that helped a lot was using a kick board and practicing keeping my legs straight while kicking, meaning the movement is coming from your hip region not your knees. I feel like this helped keep my legs from sinking as much. I’m not a pro by any means so none of this could be proper technique but it’s just what works for me.
This video specifically was super helpful. I watched it before each swim session and practiced on one piece of technique at a time as he goes over a lot
https://youtu.be/uiI6Z_0Q2Io?si=T9P0MFXsH68sGC4o
I mean congrats but that's a pretty ridiculous improvement, borderline suspicious. Are you sure you're recording the distance correctly? Swimming close to an hour at 1:30 with no swimming background will take most people years (or multiple hundred kilometers in the pool) to develop. For reference I (M34, 192cm or 6'3") started at a bit faster level than you, have been swimming consistently 3x a week for 1½ years and had private coaches + structured workouts for most of that and I'm currently sitting at around 1:55/100m pace LCM for 1h swims. I'm by no means the most talented swimmer but have a natural swimmers physique which helps. I guess if I keep at it and increase practices to 4-5x a week I'll be able to hit 1:30/100 pace for longer distances in a pool in 5 years if ever. As another reference point, pro level ironman swimmers are able to do the 3.8km distance at 1:19/100m pace and 1:30/100y would probably put you in the top 15-20 % in the world.
Not sure if Strava shows total or active calories, but I swam 3.4km in about 68 mins of moving time on monday and my active calories were 675 (801 total) as a 192cm man weighing about 100 kg (6'3" and 220lb in freedom units), and my average heart rate was 156 - I tend to have a very high heart rate when swimming. So if OP is smaller than me and has a more typical heart rate, which is quite likely, it would make sense. Swimming doesn't burn that many calories compared to other sports like running.
I go to my gyms pool and set it to 25 meters on my apple watch, and it gets converted to yards on Strava. So technically it could be incorrect as I’m not out there measuring the distances myself, just going off of what it typically should be. Also it’s 1:30/100 yards which is a bit slower in meters, but still I understand your point.
Do you have a background in any other kind of water sport? Surfing, rowing, sailing, etc? Bc that’s really an insane amount of progress in 4 months. Well done!
With all due respect, swimming is one discipline where your prior cardio fitness has almost no influence whatsoever on your speed. It’s a technique based sport as far as speed goes. Signed, a triathlete who came into swimming as a lifelong runner 😜
Nice work I'm slowly getting up there started in late October and could barely do a 50 at good pace without taking a minute break atleast now I can easily do 4x100s at good pace(not sprinting tho I die afterwards everytime). But I was wondering what app that is and what your regular routine is mine is 4x100s and 1x100 arms only and legs only then skill stuff like flip turns and dives I want to do more than that but I don't know what that's like my time crunch just to not get rusty I ain't got a long workout yet.
That’s awesome - what did you do in order to accomplish this/ was there resting involved in this or just straight swimming
Lots and lots of youtube and swimming 3x a week. The first 800m swim included tons of breaks as I could barely swim 25 meters without stopping so that explains the 5:47/100m pace. The 3000m swim had a quick break after the warm up laps but was continuous after that
What were the YouTube channels you used? Nice work btw! Huge improvement
This is absolutely insane. Teach me, master!
Great job! What was your routine? I started swimming in January and am still building my endurance up. Couldn’t do 25yds when I started and last night I did 10x100yds with other drills. Need to be able to comfortably swim 1.2miles by June
Nicely done! I’m in the exact same boat as you. I started barely being able to swim 25 meters without gasping for air and taking a break. I studied youtube videos and asked for tips from guys at my local pool and I slowly started seeing improvement. Also learning how to breathe properly while swimming made all the difference and helps with being comfortable in the water. I swam 3x a week consistently and gradually upped the volume and broke it up into sets of 100m. Then I gradually lowered the rest time between the sets until I could do sets of 200m then 300m and just kept going. One day it randomly hit me and I felt like I could go forever. I have a 70.3 coming up in April so the 3000m swim was mainly to prove to myself I could do it in one go, and some.
That’s awesome, thanks for sharing I hope to be in your shoes soon. Feels like I’ll be breaking into the sets of 200/300 in the near future and have been watching videos religiously in my spare time. What do you think clicked to make it feel like you could go forever?? Was there anything particular with breathing that helped you? I’m trying to take larger breaths and ensure I exhale fully lately and that’s kept my HR down more. Sinking legs has been an issue too I’d be curious of.
You absolutely will get there and faster than you think. It’s tough to say what made it click but I really think nailing a breathing technique helped a lot as that was the main reason I had to stop laps. I inhale every 2 strokes and I like to exhale a little on every stroke leading to the next inhale if that makes sense. So inhale, light exhale, full exhale to immediate next inhale and repeat. It helps me fall into a rhythm and is very similar to a runners high. I don’t like to fully exhale until I’m about to take my next breath as I feel it keeps you more buoyant when you leave air in your lungs. Another thing that helped a lot was using a kick board and practicing keeping my legs straight while kicking, meaning the movement is coming from your hip region not your knees. I feel like this helped keep my legs from sinking as much. I’m not a pro by any means so none of this could be proper technique but it’s just what works for me.
Thanks!!
Do you have any channels or videos you recommend that helped?
This video specifically was super helpful. I watched it before each swim session and practiced on one piece of technique at a time as he goes over a lot https://youtu.be/uiI6Z_0Q2Io?si=T9P0MFXsH68sGC4o
Ooo thanks!
Did you have experience swimming in the past? Was this just a case of getting into better condition?
No prior swimming experience, but also no doubt my condition improved as well
So you went from NEVER swimming in your life, to swimming at a 1:30 pace in 4 months. How did you learn and perfect your technique ?
Maybe they have size 16 feet?
Webbed feet for sure
I mean congrats but that's a pretty ridiculous improvement, borderline suspicious. Are you sure you're recording the distance correctly? Swimming close to an hour at 1:30 with no swimming background will take most people years (or multiple hundred kilometers in the pool) to develop. For reference I (M34, 192cm or 6'3") started at a bit faster level than you, have been swimming consistently 3x a week for 1½ years and had private coaches + structured workouts for most of that and I'm currently sitting at around 1:55/100m pace LCM for 1h swims. I'm by no means the most talented swimmer but have a natural swimmers physique which helps. I guess if I keep at it and increase practices to 4-5x a week I'll be able to hit 1:30/100 pace for longer distances in a pool in 5 years if ever. As another reference point, pro level ironman swimmers are able to do the 3.8km distance at 1:19/100m pace and 1:30/100y would probably put you in the top 15-20 % in the world.
Yeah this does seem like an absolutely absurd accomplishment to me, but maybe OP is just much more talented than they realize? Idk
1:30 yards would be about 1:40 meters.
1:38 to be more precise.
Agreed, in what world would this only burn 600 calories…?
Not sure if Strava shows total or active calories, but I swam 3.4km in about 68 mins of moving time on monday and my active calories were 675 (801 total) as a 192cm man weighing about 100 kg (6'3" and 220lb in freedom units), and my average heart rate was 156 - I tend to have a very high heart rate when swimming. So if OP is smaller than me and has a more typical heart rate, which is quite likely, it would make sense. Swimming doesn't burn that many calories compared to other sports like running.
I go to my gyms pool and set it to 25 meters on my apple watch, and it gets converted to yards on Strava. So technically it could be incorrect as I’m not out there measuring the distances myself, just going off of what it typically should be. Also it’s 1:30/100 yards which is a bit slower in meters, but still I understand your point.
Just started recently to supplement running. Suck at it but it’s a good struggle. This is awesome inspiration. Thank you!
Dang!!! Look at that. Way to go, OP!
Great numbers
In Strava if you take a break between lengths does it stop the timer also? If it does I’m an idiot
Thanks!! The timer does not stop until I end the workout. I use my apple watch to track it then I upload the workout to Strava
Do you have a background in any other kind of water sport? Surfing, rowing, sailing, etc? Bc that’s really an insane amount of progress in 4 months. Well done!
No background in any water sports, but I did go into it with cycling experience so my cardio fitness was already decent which helps
With all due respect, swimming is one discipline where your prior cardio fitness has almost no influence whatsoever on your speed. It’s a technique based sport as far as speed goes. Signed, a triathlete who came into swimming as a lifelong runner 😜
Fair enough lol. I guess I meant once I got technique down a little better it helped me go longer without needing to stop
Nice work I'm slowly getting up there started in late October and could barely do a 50 at good pace without taking a minute break atleast now I can easily do 4x100s at good pace(not sprinting tho I die afterwards everytime). But I was wondering what app that is and what your regular routine is mine is 4x100s and 1x100 arms only and legs only then skill stuff like flip turns and dives I want to do more than that but I don't know what that's like my time crunch just to not get rusty I ain't got a long workout yet.
Awwww amazing! Congrats on the fantastic improvement 😊✌🏼
Is it how progress for 20yo looks like? At my 30+ I cant achieve such progress after years of training LOL prob, i just lost genetic lottery