The Swimming Thread

[hungryhun]

Originally Posted by Simon96Taco

Went for a swim last night, and my Garmin Watch (Vivoactive HR) clocked me at 1000m even. Unfortunately, I am pretty sure it was at about 800m when I got out of the pool, and I only stopped it at 1000m when I noticed it was still running in the shower. That said, I know that it didn't register numerous laps where I wasn't using my arms - leg only drills using the flutterboard (e.g. whipkick/flutter kick board drills).

Anyone else have one of these watches and encounter this? Is there a better swimming watch that records laps even when not using arms? Should I put it on my ankle?

I recently purchased the new Fitbit Ionic. So far I've done about 8-9 swims with it and it registers my laps perfectly (almost). Only once did it not register the distance properly (shorted me 25m) however it did count the laps correctly. Like the Garmin's it uses GPS for tracking so it's very accurate. It also has up to a 5 day battery life and can store 300+ songs. On that note does anyone have any recommendations for bluetooth/waterproof headphones that I could use with it? I've been looking at the Bragi's and Jabra's but don't feel like dropping $2-300 on either of them.

[taco.vidal]

Originally Posted by hungryhun

I recently purchased the new Fitbit Ionic. So far I've done about 8-9 swims with it and it registers my laps perfectly (almost). Only once did it not register the distance properly (shorted me 25m) however it did count the laps correctly. Like the Garmin's it uses GPS for tracking so it's very accurate. It also has up to a 5 day battery life and can store 300+ songs. On that note does anyone have any recommendations for bluetooth/waterproof headphones that I could use with it? I've been looking at the Bragi's and Jabra's but don't feel like dropping $2-300 on either of them.

Im not familiar with Fitbit products, but most other watches that track pool swims do so by use of an accelerometer not GPS. The watches detect your turn and pushoff at the wall and count strokes with the accelerometer. Thats why you dont get distance when youre doing kick with board for example. For open water swimming, GPS is used to track distance and the accelerometer is used to track strokes but GPS in open in water is less reliable then GPS when running for example because your watch is underwater half the time and loses GPS signal at least some of the time. If you have open water mode on your watch, try using it in the pool. You wont get very good results especially if your swimming in an indoor pool. Also the accuracy of GPS when swimming short lengths such as 25m would give you wonky results.

[Simon96Taco]

Hit a legit PR last night - 1775m in the hour. I know this because I remembered to stop my watch immediately following my last length and we didn't do any leg-only drills

[taco.vidal]

Originally Posted by Simon96Taco

Hit a legit PR last night - 1775m in the hour. I know this because I remembered to stop my watch immediately following my last length and we didn't do any leg-only drills

Do you in fact get out of the pool on the opposite from where you get in? Because thats the only way youd end up with xx25m or xx75m. If youre in a 25m pool, 1 lap will be 50m so a workout would always end as xx00m or xx50m unless you got out on the other end (or turned around in the middle of the pool on a single lap).

[taco.vidal]

Originally Posted by Simon96Taco

Hit a legit PR last night - 1775m in the hour. I know this because I remembered to stop my watch immediately following my last length and we didn't do any leg-only drills

Good job on the imrpovemen though. Didnt mean my last post as a criticism, more of a question or an an FYI.

[Simon96Taco]

Originally Posted by taco.vidal

Do you in fact get out of the pool on the opposite from where you get in? Because thats the only way youd end up with xx25m or xx75m

Usually I don't, but last night I did happen to.

[Ironhorse]

Once in a while, my Garmin will short me a length.

Then I have to swim an extra 25 to even it out.

[psyang]

Weird last few swims. I felt really good last week, thought I swam strong throughout, and as I sprinted the last of my 40 lengths, I thought I had a shot at breaking 20 minutes. Ended up 20:35, 20 seconds off my PB.

Today's swim I felt sluggish. I was up early dealing with a work issue, so only had about 4 hours of sleep. Finished my 40 lengths, looked at my watch: 20:45. I think it's going to be a lot harder to break 20 minutes than I hoped

I've ended the last few swims with flip turn practices. You need to either be precise on how far from the wall you start your turn, or you need good spatial awareness when you are flipping. If I start the turn too close to the wall, my feet hit the wall too high and I push down sending me to a deep dive. If I start too far, I either miss the wall entirely, or I push upwards, and feel like I lose a lot of momentum since half my body is out of the water.

One more issue is I need to push so that I am on the other side of the center line.

We are planning on a trip to Phoenix in March. I hope to swim every day I'm there, so will looking to be able to do full swims with flip turns by then.

[Ruttiger]

Originally Posted by cral12

OK, so I'll be the first to ask in this thread - any tips for an adult non-swimmer? Yep, that's right, I'm originally from an island even and have to painfully admit still cannot swim. Just never happened growing up. I'm not afraid of water or anything - I enjoy paddle-boarding; I snorkel when we're on sun vacations (unfortunately forced to stay in water not over my head at least at this point).

I've tried to figure it out on my own with friends and family giving me tips - I've made strides (but only really try when we're on vacation) but realize I'm going to need lessons, as I'd eventually like to get into other water sports. Any recommendations for this? (Go easy on me : )

Simple, but yes - take lessons from someone qualified to analyze what you're doing and give the proper feedback. Swimming is a pretty technical activity and you can expend a lot of needless energy by doing it wrong. It's about rhythm and efficiency much more than power and strength. What it feels like you're doing is often not at all close to what you're actually doing, and trying to remedy that on your own can be almost impossible.

That being said, I'm out of touch with where might be the best place to go but I assume the majority of the pools in town would offer adult lessons.

**Full disclosure - I used to teach lessons and lifeguard, as well as swim competitively (up to the college level for a short time) but that was many years ago.

[Peanut]

Got into the pool today after a whole pregnancy and couple months recovery of not swimming (it for some reason really bothers my joints while pregnant).

ANYWAYS, I did 800m in I think about 30 minutes; was just watching the clock on the wall (with my close-enough prescription goggles - woo!). I think it’s safe to say I’m feeling quite exhausted now. I signed up for an adult stroke-refinement type class that starts in a few weeks so I’m excited to get some pointers on my technique and breathing.

[Ironhorse]

Did 1,500m of sprints this morning. Getting back into a routine. Felt pretty good, broke below 1:50/100 on a couple of segments. Averaged 2:05/100 including WU/CD. Peanut, which course are you taking? I'm looking for something similar.

[Shazam]

The YMCA has lessons for stroke improvement. Also they have the Masters program available.

[Peanut]

I sent a PM but the course I found was through U of C.

[Ironhorse]

Unfortunately I can't afford the YMCA's steep pricing structure for two adult athletes.

[Shazam]

You don't need to be a member to take courses at a YMCA, if that's what you're talking about.

Those are some great prices for the U of C courses.

[psyang]

Big update for me today. My 1km times have been declining, but it can be hard to set a personal best in a public pool because other people in your lane can slow things down.

This past week was tough - I ate badly, and had been a bit sleep deprived thanks to the Olympics. Tuesday's swim wasn't bad, but I felt drained. It didn't help that I had to make two stops: once to fix leaky goggles, and once to wait for a slower swimmer ahead of me who wouldn't let me pass.

Today, I had a couple people in my lane, but they always stopped and let me pass at the ends so I didn't have to slow down. I was also wearing a new pair of goggles, so I didn't have to worry about leaks anymore. I felt pretty good, and really concentrated on form during my glide. When I finished, I was pretty shocked to see I clocked in at 19:49, finally achieving my goal of breaking 20 minutes. No flip turns, though - while I practice them every time I swim, I find that doing a flip turn seems to drain a lot of energy. I'll have to work my way up to using them for a full swim.

I found I had plateaued in my times, hovering around 20:25 with occasional drops around 20:15. I decided to add one or two runs during the week on the treadmill and noticed an improvement almost immediately. I don't know if it was the added leg strengthening, or just general cardio fitness, but after I started running, my average time dropped significantly from around 20:25 to 20:15. I set a personal best a couple weeks ago of 20:08 which included a stop I had to make to fix leaky goggles.

I'm considering adding pushups and crunches during the week to try to improve my upper body strength and core. Would love to see my times average under 20 minutes.

[Ironhorse]

Nice job! I've been averaging about 6.5k/week over the last few weeks, but I'm working more on endurance. Each workout involves a warmup, drills (including kicks), and cool downs. Did a 2400 workout last week with an average of 2:13/100, that was probably my best yet.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by psyang

Big update for me today. My 1km times have been declining, but it can be hard to set a personal best in a public pool because other people in your lane can slow things down.

Repsol and Eau Claire YMCA have the two deadest pools in the universe in the evenings. I've had an entire pool to myself at Repsol.

Originally Posted by Shazam

Repsol and Eau Claire YMCA have the two deadest pools in the universe in the evenings. I've had an entire pool to myself at Repsol.

We had 5 people in the pool last night between 8:30-9:30 at Acadia. Also, check online for Canyon's daily availability. It seems they don't have alot of school board lessons in during the day, so they slot in lane swim.

[Simon96Taco]

I haven't been for a swim since then end of last year.... . I procrastinated at signing up for another Adult Swim Level 3 (which is great, and I've taken twice now at Acadia, Puxlut) and it filled up before I could make a decision. Was looking for a class that perhaps had a little more focus on actual stroke technique but couldn't find much other than private lessons. In hindsight, I should have just registered as the class is good and the location is so convenient for me.

In lieu of the actual classes, I told myself I'd get there twice a week in the mornings,early before work (530am)....which hasn't happened once yet hahaha.