I have never gone to one but have to friends that have and I don´t finish to hear good comments about it.

But after learning proper form they are training in a masters swim group.

Well, there are coached lessons at my local pool every night of the week. Not nearly as expensive! I'll give them a try, and see if i improve.

Btw, is 19 strokes per length any good?

Does anyone have a good recommendation for a 25m/yd pool near the upper west side? I have a car and am debating whether I should just go to Riverside park.

Also yanger, since you have a car, Harriman State Park is not too far away for open water swims.

17 spl you are doing not bad but what I want to see is your time for a 50 and your strokes for a 50 this gives you a golf score. Say you do 17 sec per length x 2 = 34 + 34 strokes = 68 golfing score. which is fairly good.

If you take 45 sec for your 50 when counting not good. That would give you a 79 golfing score. When in shape I take 24 strokes for a 50m and 32 sec which gives me a 56 golfing score.

Now this is a goal get your stroke down to 15 per l and time down 15 per length. This will give you a score of 60 for the 50. These should all be done with a pushoff no dives and complete a 50 not just 25.

Ok, well i'm really just working on technique at the moment-anytime i look at the pace clock my stroke falls to pieces and it's back to splash splash splash! But i will make it my aim to do the golf score test a couple of times each time i hit the pool.

I was really bummed today in the pool though, because i was concentrating really hard on keeping my technique smooth and controlled, still averaging 17spl or so, and this other guy was making waves with his front crawl. really really messy looking. I counted his strokes and he was doing about 31 per length. Thing is, i got talking to him when he finished and i asked how many lengths he did and he just shrugged his shoulders and said, "ah, only 75" :eek:

I'm really struggling the whole time, always gasping for air, keeping what seems to me to be a fairly decent stroke, yet i can only manage a couple of lengths at a time, but this guy looks like eric the eel in the water, yet he does 2k and not a bother on him!

Where am i going wrong????

My chest is down, legs're up. Feet are just "simmering" below the surface. I'm reach, reach, reaching, and tucking my head in. Everything is going according to what i've read and seen on videos on the web, and I seem to be making efficiency progress, but i'm still wrecked quickly (although, not as tired as i used to get).

It has to be my breathing, it's the only other thing i can think of. I breath every 3 strokes, which is what i was taught as a kid. Can anyone give me a few pointers on breathing, because i'm just really getting down about my swimming. Everytime i think i'm making progress i just get knocked back really quickly!

Apologies for the lengthy post.

Stephen

Wow, ok! I didn't realise i should be holding my breath for so long! I'll give that a try tomorrow and see how it goes!

It makes sense i guess-i never breath that fast when i run/cycle, so that's probably causing my breathlessness.

Thanks again.

Here is a good article on swim golf score http://swimming.about.com/cs/techniquetips/a/swim_golf.htm

I do mine in sets of 5 with about 1 minute reast between 50s. My 50 is a push off on 1:30 swim 2 lengths around 32seconds - total strokes 24. This is a very brisk pace for me. It is not intended to be part of my workout rather a check on technique.

When doing golf I breathe very few breaths so as not to be unbalanced. I do not recomend everyone do this but people who expell all their air when swimming ride lower in the water

When swimming distance I breathe on the left every stroke but hold my breath until I start to prepare to breathe in. I like to keep the air in as I believe it helps with body position in the water (air makes you float better) then just before I surface I do explosive breathing, a quick exhale and am ready to take air as soon as my mouth is in position to breathe in.

Swimming makes me want to cry.

Not joy i'm afraid, but i'm struggling pretty badly with it. My stroke was always breaststroke, and i can do it really really well, and much more efficiently, comfortably, and faster than my front crawl (all things being equal). I'm trying really hard to improve my frontcrawl, but despite my improvements, i still seem to be getting nowhere. I'm signing up for the next set of lessons at my pool, but at the moment swimming has me on a true downer! Last week i was loving it, this week, dreading it! I guess that's just life. I think the pressure of my exams is getting to me too, so i'm stressed out all round!

I'll keep all that you've said in mind and keep going. I know that persistence is the key, but somedays it's harder than others!

Thanks for all your help chuck, you're quite the helpful guy!

Hopefully this time next year i'll be the one posting words of wisdom to a noob. For now though, keep the pointers comin!;)

This is exactly how I breathe too. I was told a long time ago that for people who tend to sink, breath-holding and then doing an explosive in/out breath can help you remain buoyant. It's how I've always swum.

Gonna have to try that as well - it makes sense. Currently I start exhaling immediately.

I'm going to start only breathing out at the end. It is much less comfortable, but I can tell it helps me ride higher in the water. This is a sustainable way to swim, I'm guessing if this is how ironmom swims.