Jumping in the pool in the middle of winter isn’t much fun. Fortunately, there’s a heated indoor pool at my gym so I don’t need to worry about the chilly weather outside. Although today the water seems unpleasantly cold when I first went int, as usual though within the first lap it was warm. Ok, so I’m not here to talk about the water temperature.
I’ve been making an attempt to get in the pool regularly. I’m a fair swimmer thanks to having been coached as a adolescent but my speed has disappeared. Sure I can swim two kilometres without stopping so I know the endurance is there but that’s not enough when you want to race. When I race in December I would like to have a little bit of speed mixed with the endurance.
How do I do that?
Speed training in the water would probably be a good idea. I should do 50m sprints and 100m sprints. I need to swim fast. I’m afraid of swimming fast. My arms get tired and I get puffed within a few laps if I’m swimming harder than a casual pace. It’s not snail slow but it’s slow. Once upon a time ago I swam 50m in under 35 seconds, last week I timed myself and barely managed under 45 seconds. It felt painfully slow and when I looked at my watch disappointment set in.
At the moment joining a Masters squad (adult swimmers) or a triathlon club is not an option. It would be great to have the opportunity to train with a squad but unfortunately with my daily commute it’s just not possible. So for the time being I’m left to train on my own.
The next time I hit the pool, the goal is to work on speed rather than endurance. I’m going to do some reading and seek out a few different speed training sessions. I want to get faster and I want to swim faster for longer. I can push myself on the run, it’s time to learn to push myself in the pool.
How would you train to swim faster?
