Fiiiinally, right? Here we go:
MY BEGINNING:
First, I think it’s good to tell you a little bit about my swimming history. That way if you’re just flapping around in the pool and swallow too much chlorine if anything goes wrong, hey – it’s not my fault. 
I can’t even remember how old I was when I first got in the pool, but I know by age 4 I was taking lessons at the YWCA, so I assume my parents tossed me in some time before that. I LOVED swimming. My favorite day in lessons was the day the instructor brought out the canoe, and we would to a “practice tip” (because all of us 5 year olds so often find is in an unstable canoe, and therefore should be prepared). Once we were tipped out of the boat, we would all swim underneath the upside down canoe and stick our heads up in the air pocket it made.. haha my sister has the recollection of this being the most scary part of lessons.. but I was definitely loving every minute. It’s like parachute day in gym class… c’mon – you know you loved that too. 
looked a little somethin' like this...
Anyways, I kept up my swimming throughout my childhood. I swam for the Uptown Otters YWCA swim team from 5th grade through 8th, and then swam for my high school my freshman year. 9th grade is when I hit all the problems with my coach and competition and whatnot, but that’s either a story you’ve already heard, or one for a different time.
MOVING ON.. I didn’t swim a ton from 10th grade through my freshman year in college. In fact, maybe “not a ton” is even overstating it. I swam at the beach Lake Calhoun and Harriet. I swam from the boat to the tube up at the cabin. And… nope. That’s it. Running was definitely my priority, and high school + my freshman year I was really not cross training aside from my trusty Arc Trainer. Then came my sophomore year – I found out I had a fractured hip, which = no running. The coach obviously had experience with injured girls, because that is when I was introduced to POOL RUNNING. <- (Click for a blast from the past regarding everything and anything THAT from 2008). I pool ran pre-surgery, post-surgery, and honestly it would probably be a good idea to keep it up now, but now that I can swim again…
Yep – “real” swimming. As in laps. And lots of them. Pool running was great, but let’s be honest here – it’s about as fun as watching your ice fishing hole freeze shut. Swimming (IMO) isn’t a whole lot better, but the more skilled you become at it, the more you’ll find you can zone out and still work hard. Sounds kinda like going on a nice long run, right? Hahah, no? Ok.. but it’s good for you.
After I had surgery, I knew I was kissing track goodbye for the spring. So… I joined the club swim team at Northeastern. If you can’t beat em, join em. At first I was nervous about going to practice since it had been SO long since I had actually even attempted “real swimming”, but I just sucked it up, hopped in LANE ONE (aka the sloww lane) and gave it my best. I was so surprised at how fast everything came back to me.. even flip turns! It helped that my roommate of the time was on the varsity swim team, so she was always there to give me good workouts and advice when I needed it. I remember the first time I swam 2,000 yards again and I thought it was such a huge accomplishment. Now, my practices are no less than 4,000 yards! That is one of the reasons I love individual sports.. and it’s so type A of me, but I’m OK with that: the rate at which you improve, your success, your goals, it’s all ON YOU. No one else is responsible for your triumphs, your let downs, or the effort you put in, besides YOU. If you put your mind to do something, and find yourself having fears or reservations, make sure you ask yourself – what’s really stopping you?
The #1 reason I hear from runners about why they don’t want to swim?
IT’S TOO EFFING COLD!!
Haha.. that my friends, is something you might not get over. Honestly… pretty much every single M/W/F on the bus on the way to practice, my train of thought looks something like this….
The water’s gonna be cold today. I realllly don’t like being cold. Or being wet. Or being cold and wet. Ohhh and they lowered the temp for this weekends meet. And I’m cold already!! Why am I swimming again?
And then I get to the pool and am standing at my lane.. just looking at the seconds on the clock go by but not making any move closer to getting in. It could take forever. Somewhere along the lines I realized how dumb this was because its not like I was going to go home without swimming.. I was already in my suit, goggles and cap on, ready to go. I implemented a 5-second-rule, meaning that I would finally look at the clock and say you have no other option but to be in that water and kicking in 5 second. I can’t say that really made it easier.. but it for sure helps if you dive in.
THE BASICS:
To have a successful swim or pool running workout, here is what you need to get started:
- A swim suit
- goggles (if swimswimming)
- a pool belt (if pool running)
That’s it! Of course there are other things you can use once you get yourself comfortable in the pool, but if you’re a newb to the water.. you don’t really need to get fancy. I think it’s important to have a good swim suit, and especially if you’re planning on making swimming a routine part of your training. Look at how many swimsuits I’ve gone through just since December:
Minus the [once] blue/orange/white one on the left.. that is my freshman-year-high-school competition suit. Hahha it’s definitely reserved just for drag purposes now, since it’s basically see through. As you can see (or maybe not.. not a huge picture) I’ve worn Nike, TYR, and Speedo. I have found I go between TYR and Speedo suits, and they are usually pretty durable. I like wearing Nike for running, but that 2 piece trainer you see there… I think I wore through that in about 6 weeks – no joke. You’ll decide for yourself based on comfort/feel/how cool it looks. I definitely picked based on LOOKS on my last purchase – it was an early birthday present for myself.. haha it matches my swim cap, and it makes me feel fast:
hangin on my locker like the cool kids do
Down the line, here are some things you may find useful to have with you:
- A pull buoy
- A kick board
- Flippys
- a PLAN!
- h2o, and not the large amount that is in the pool. Preferably not chlorinated.
I stress having a plan because howww long did I just go to the pool and swim for time… and howww bored was I?! I would look at the clock pretty much every lap just wanting the hour to be over (even though I was swimming every lap at basically the same speed…). Having a workout lets you change it up and definitely helps the time pass more quickly. That goes the same while pool running. Here are my essentials:
So.. my #1 piece of advice if you are just a begging swimmer is – YOU ARE A BEGINNING SWIMMER! And that is great because you have to start SOMEWHERE, and you’re taking the first step! Don’t set your expectations too high in terms of distance or time. Don’t expect it to be super easy. Just give it your best!
And my #2 piece of advice to ALL swimmers is – you’re not going to heat up the water by glaring at it. Just get in already!
If you are REALLY REALLY a beginner – ie never swam a day in my life kind of beginner – I’d recommend checking out Beginner Triathlete’s website, maybe taking lessons to get yourself familiar with different strokes and proper breathing. I would imagine it wouldn’t be to pleasant to have to doggy paddle out to the buoy and back.
WORKOUTS:
If you’re training for a TRI, know that sprints are anywhere from 1/4 mile to 1/2 a mile (yeah… I like the continuity there guys..) so you will want to know that you can at least swim that far (in OPEN WATER much less!!) before race day. If you are swimming in a standard pool.. the [U.S.] length is 25 yards. However, if you’re a dork like me you might not realize your pool is in meters, and then you’ll get super happy when you realize you’re swimming just that much farther. There are obviously lots of great tips and workouts out there online, but I will just give you a) my favorite, b) my standby (when I feel like I don’t have any creativity or motivation in me whatsoever. It happens.) and c) what I started out with. I will also leave you with my old favorite pool running workout in case that’s what you’re looking for!!
MY FAVORITE: “THE JENN”
WARMUP
200 swim / 200 kick / 200 pull
8×50 descending by 25s
300 kick (flutter/dolphin by 25s)
SET 1 (2x through)
4×100 free descending 1-4
2×100 IM
2×50 free descending 1-2
SET 2 (4x through)
75 BD / 50 BU / 25 EZ
(BD = build down, BU = build up, EZ = easy! The 75/50/25 is meant to be continuous – don’t stop until you’ve completed that whole set, and then repeat 3 more times!)
SET 3
16×25 IM
(For those who don’t know… IM = fly/back/breast/free)
WARM DOWN
100 swim / 100 kick / 100 swim
TOTAL: 4,000 yards
THE ZERO CREATIVITY WORKOUT: “THE STANDBY”
WARMUP
1000 SKIPS
SET 1
5×200
(200 free / 200 IM / 200 kick / 200 free / 200 IM)
SET 2
10×100
(100 free / 100 IM / 100 kick / 100 free / 100 IM / 100 free / 100 IM / 100 kick / 100 free / 100 IM)
WARM DOWN
1000 SKIPS
THE OLD OLD STANDBY: “GENISIS”
4 x 1000 SKIPS
S = 200 swim
K = 200 kick
I = 200 IM
P = 200 pull
S = 200 swim
(and then you do it all again. And again. And again. BORING! But it is sometimes good when I need to work hard but not really focus… like when I’m trying to write my research paper in my head before class.)
ALL TIME FAVORITE POOL WORKOUT EVER: THE LADDER
This is based on time, and T = 60 minutes. Listo? Lets go:
1-15: 15 min. warm up – steady state – enough to feel like you’re working, but not gasping for air. you can think of it as a “conversational pace”
15-16: 1 min. hard. some say “5K” pace.. but lets face it. You’re likely doing this because your injured. You’re not running. Just do work!
16-17: 1 min. steady state
17-19: 2 min. hard
19-20: 1 min. steady state
20-23: 3 min. hard
23-24: 1 min. steady state
24-28: 4 min. hard
28-29: 1 min. steady state
29-34: 5 min. hard
34-35: 1 min. steady state
35-39: 4 min. hard
39-40: 1 min. steady state
40-43: 3 min hard
43-44: 1 min. steady state
44-46: 2 min. hard
46-47: 1 min. steady state
47-48: 1 min hard – last one.. really make it count!
48 – 60: 12 min. cool down
That looks like a helluva lot of numbers now that I write that.. but it’s really simple. Maybe better written like this:
15 min. warm up
1 min. hard / 1 min. easy
2 min. hard / 1 min. easy
3 min. hard / 1 min. easy
4 min. hard / 1 min. easy
5 min. hard / 1 min. easy
4 min. hard / 1 min. easy
3 min. hard / 1 min. easy
2 min. hard / 1 min. easy
1 min. hard / 1 min. easy
12 min. cool down
Advice on pool running – the more you do it, the easier it is to actually get a WORKOUT from it. At first you will feel awkward and you will always be wondering “am I doing this right?” but you can get to the point where you’re actually working up a sweat. And yes.. the water will still be cold when you get in, but you’ll be thankful when you’re going all out for 5 minutes!
I hope this was a good intro post to swimming as either cross training (for my solely-runners) or just training (for my triathletes)! If you have any other questions.. please let me know! I also have a good bloggy friend who was/is a very accomplished swimmer herself, and I think she might be down for giving some pointers too! Please note, this post, and all future “VOLUMES” will be accessible through the Train On Top page to make them easier to find! I also threw in the link to the post on pool running!
Have a happy SUNDAY! Im off to get hot n sweaty my boys – the Vikes, and my love – the xRunner, from my spot at the gym. I have been doing some REAL running lately too! Haha my blinding white legs are proof that I had to miss the last final weeks of sunshiney running:
I can’t complain though – running is running! And at this time of year especially, I am THANKFUL! Hasta luego mis amigos!
-E
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On my bike, that is. If someone can scientifically explain to me WHY riding your own bike on a trainer feels 20x harder than riding outdoors, or riding a spin bike, or riding a stationary bike, I would greatly appreciate it. Once I got clearance from the doc to get on the bike, I thought it would be smarter to ride my own bike on the trainer since the geometry would be the right fit.
Maybe I just need to bulk up my “non-active to do list“.
