Help needed on swim endurance
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398 days
TryScott posted 10 weeks ago.
First of all, welcome to TriFuel. I hope you enjoy the swim leg of your race. If you've never done an open water race, it will certainly be an experience. I wish I could swim a 34 second 50!
I could be wrong, but I have a hard time believing that Cytomax is effective for a 30 min swim. The Cytomax website states "S tudies show that after three hours of intense exercise, athletes drinking Cytomax® perform better;" Sorry, a bit off topic, but it caught my attention.
As for advice on being able to keep doing freestyle, I wish I could help. However, switching to breast stroke for a while during the race isn't bad. There will be people laying on their back, hybrid side strokes, etc... Last week there was someone beside me that was swimming past me with freestyle, then switched to breast stroke for 5 seconds or so, then back to freestyle. Next thing I know, they're back to doing breast stroke. My guess is they found that switching every so many strokes keeps them from getting fatigued, and helps sighting.
Good luck.
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M posted 10 weeks ago.
It sounds like you are essentially trying to take your fast 50 and extend it to the 1500, so it is only natural that you should run out of steam before very long. You apparently have the swimming ability, so that's not the issue. I gather that it's on your 30 minute continuous swim days that you notice this--is it just being totally out of breath or some other kind of fatigue? The answer may simply be to slow down. Get into a good breathing rhythm and stretch out your stroke. Maybe take one of your other days to practice the pacing and find a pace at which you can do 100m and be breathing normally when you stop. Then do the continuous swim at that pace. You will feel slow, but once you recalibrate to the distance you will probably be able to add a bit more speed by the time you do the race.
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iamtb13 posted 10 weeks ago.
Reduce your kick. Most people with competitive swimming backgrounds have strong kicks which is great for 50 and 100 races. But those big leg muscles suck a lot of energy out of you. Cut it back to a 2-beat short kick and it should give you back a lot of energy.
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55_95 posted 10 weeks ago.
Are you swimming in a suit with a ton of drag (traditional swimsuit), or are you wearing jammers or a suit with low drag? It's not bad to add some drag occasionally, but it would be like continously doing hill workouts (bike or run). If you're wearing a drag suit than I would try switching to a suit with less drag. You will notice a huge difference.
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tri-ac posted 10 weeks ago.
iamtb13 wrote:
Reduce your kick. Most people with competitive swimming backgrounds have strong kicks which is great for 50 and 100 races. But those big leg muscles suck a lot of energy out of you. Cut it back to a 2-beat short kick and it should give you back a lot of energy.
+1
45
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354 days
IronAdge posted 10 weeks ago.
I would try to slow it down. I had this problem as well when I first started going long. I can knock out a high 24 for 50 yards but when I do my distance swims (1500-4000yrds) I am doing about 45-50 second 50's. You feel like you are going slow but think: smooth and strong, and slow is fast. Do your 50 at sprint speed and count your strokes. Then try and reduce your stroke count by 5-10. This will help you go slower, have to glide and stretch more, and should be easier on you lungs :) Also reduce your kick like stated above. If your race is not until the end of August I would practice by swimming long once a week and increasing the distance. Start small if you have to: 300, 500, 700, 900, 1100, 1300, 1500, 1500, RACE!!!
“I like a man who grins when he fights.”
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70 days
Sanford posted 10 weeks ago.
Good ideas on the kicking, but that's going to be hard to unlearn. I'm going to give it a shot on Monday with the two beat short kick. I alternate 50's working with a foam dumbell to just work stroke and 50's to warm down, but at that point I'm normally fatigued. Do you think I should do that first then? As far as pacing, I'm at the end of 6 weeks training, so I've got a decent handle on the pacing overall and I'm not turning into a flailing log, I'm just frustrated I can't do it straight free. As far as the bit about the Cytomax, I was more just indicating I'm not going into the pool with an empty tank, swimming for an hour and wondering why I'm crashing. I wonder if I need to start riding my bike or jumping rope to build my lungs up.
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70 days
Sanford posted 10 weeks ago.
Sorry everyone, I forgot to say it, but thanks for the help and advice.
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145 days
iamtb13 posted 10 weeks ago.
You'll have to try a few things to figure out the right balance. My guess it's a few things. Try doing the whole workout with buoys and see if that helps. If it does, you know it's mainly your kick. My guess is that it is a combination of your kick and higher stroke count (which is good for 50's and 100's) but you want to be long and effiecient on the distance swims. You'll figure it out.
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751 days
cayman posted 10 weeks ago.
Sanford wrote:
I decided to stop the Friday speed work and instead try for 6 x 200's, to get the endurance up. Does that sound about right? I figure work up to 4x300's, and so forth.
Yes, no need to spend too much time on speed, you're already there. Work up to 8 X 200 on 3:20, swim @ 3:00 leave on 3:20, (+- 5 secs) whatever you're comfortable with.
If you want to progress it out even more move up 4 X 400s at a comfortable pace, rest a minute, minute and a half. Rather than focus on swimming a non-stop 1500 try a 3 X 500 and gradually knock down the times, besides, it's hard to keep a lap count on 1500 meters. ;)
john
Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.
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127 days
azmojo804 posted 9 weeks ago.
Sanford wrote:
why I'm crashing. I wonder if I need to start riding my bike or jumping rope to build my lungs up.
when do you breath on your stroke? Are you doing a breath every right arm, or left arm? Or, do you breath right, stroke, stroke, breath left...? Or, every other right?
Also, how are you turning? You doing the roll when turning around? or, just hitting the wall, breathing and then pushing off? I get a little more spent on the roll since I breath/stroke, then roll while breathing out, then pushing off.
Are you in a 25 or 50 meter pool?
I am training to do the 1.5km swim portion at the end of August. I'm just swimming (I'm on a team so someone else is biking and running), but my endurance is killing me. I've got decent speed for my age, I can do 34 second 50's (swam competitively in my youngers days) with a wet start, so not bad for a 38 year old. The issue is, I cannot swim the 1500 straight through free style. I'm swimming 3 days / week (1500 meters in ladders, 30 minute straight swim, then on Fridays 12 x 50 meters for speed,) but my endurance seems worse now than when I first started. I'm swiming M, W, F with Sat. and Sun off. I'm eating after I swim, I'm drinking Cytomax about an hour before my swim, but I'm getting gassed at about 175 meters and having to switch to breast stroke for 50 before going back to free. I decided to stop the Friday speed work and instead try for 6 x 200's, to get the endurance up. Does that sound about right? I figure work up to 4x300's, and so forth.