Beginnger swim question

[Christirei]

Just wondering if there are any swimmers on here. I injured myself running last fall (Oct 22) and was in a walking boot for two months. I was allowed to swim so starting in mid Nov I started to swim two times per week. I have been swimming twice per week since then. Currently I swim 2000 yds in about 55 minutes. I do four sets of 500 yds - 200 breast stroke, 200 freestyle, 100 backstroke. I've looked up swimming workouts, but they are really overwhelming with 25 yds of this then 50 yds of this...and the list is so long there is no way i could remember it. I'm not going to do this more than twice per week, i bought myself a good suit, cap and goggles, and don't really want to invest any more in it than that. But i am wondering if there are some standard swimming sets that i could be doing on repeat? i should probably reduce the breast stroke and increase my freestyle yards, but i really love breast stroke

any ideas from a swimmer would be appreciated!

[jamesg]

I find freestyle the most natural and continuous and also ideal complement to erging, once the shoulders get used to it. Style is essential, head in the water, eyes on the bottom, roll to breathe. Using three styles I'd guess you need a coach.

[mict450]

Why don't you continue what you're doing? Maybe up your weekly frequency? And improve your stroke? 55 minutes to swim 2000 yards is very slow. I'm assuming your CV system is not really being challenged by your slow times. Or maybe your stroke is so inefficient that you are overloading your CVS. Notice I'm doing a lot of assuming.....and you know what they say about assumin'.

[Christirei]

Yeah, I don't think I'm setting any records! i think my overall pace seems so slow because of the breaststroke I'm doing. I actually don't feel to slow on the freestyle. but I could think about increasing my pace a bit. I've thought it would probably be better for me to reduce my breaststroke to 100 yards, increase my freestyle to 300 yds and keep the backstroke the same at 100 yards. I also think i've done this enough that gradually adding in an extra set will not be super hard to accomplish. in fact, this weekend i'll probably add in a fifth set. i hate just swimming the same stroke over and over, so mixing it up helps me.

I think my form is mostly fine, i mean, i'm sure i could tweak things, but I used to be a swim instructor and i watched some youtube videos to make sure i remember things right, my strokes feel good anyway

thanks!

[mict450]

Re-reading my post I detect a harshness that I didn't mean to communicate & thankful that you were not offended.

Everyone can tweek their stroke to improve something. The only exceptions are the gifted ones who have a preternatural "feel" for the water. The rest of us mortals need to stumble along with endless yardage & drills. As a WSI, you are well aware of how highly complex & technically difficult the actual swim stroke is.

Since you are an experienced runner your CVS should be highly developed. As a consequence, your short & relatively slow workouts are most likely, not that challenging. I would caution you not to add intensity, distance & frequency in too large a dose to challenge your CVS as this could cause problems with the white tissues of your shoulders. There is a reason the whole gamut of shoulder pathology is referred to as swimmer's shoulder. Been there, done that, got the t-shirts & was fortunate enough not to go under the knife.

All the best in your swimming endeavors.

[Christirei]

Thank you for your response, and no - i was not offended in any way

I did up my distance by an additional 500 yards this past weekend. I also reduced my breaststroke for two of my sets and increased my freestyle yards by 100 yds per set. It didn't feel hard. I'll keep going like this I think, but at the end of February I'm having a procedure done where I won't be able to swim for a couple of months. ugh. So, I guess I'll have to look at some biking!! I'm doing all of the cardio this year

[p_b82]

Thank you for your response, and no - i was not offended in any way

I did up my distance by an additional 500 yards this past weekend. I also reduced my breaststroke for two of my sets and increased my freestyle yards by 100 yds per set. It didn't feel hard. I'll keep going like this I think, but at the end of February I'm having a procedure done where I won't be able to swim for a couple of months. ugh. So, I guess I'll have to look at some biking!! I'm doing all of the cardio this year

I wouldn't say I was a regular/good swimmer, and I didn't do sets - I have always been one that prefers to get into a rhythm and just zone out than lots of stop start work; so I only did freestyle as well. (terrible screwkick on breaststroke, laughable butterfly & inefficient backstroke)

I went from not able to swim 500m due to very poor CV to 1500m in sub 30min freestyle (without tumble turns in a 25m pool) - with once a week swimming. I did more time/distance, but decided to focus on 1500m continuous as that suited my time/motivation balance.

I was lucky to get some free coaching tips when I was swimming as a 20 yo student at the same time the uni team swam that I was able to remember. (identify leg kick pattern, kick from the hips, breathe alternate sides, identify breathing pattern, only rotate the head to breathe not the torso, high elbows, shallow hand entry angle - were the ones that stuck, but it meant my freestyle felt effortless even when (for me) it was quick)

I could do 2x25m in under 40s with lazy legs at the start - never tried an all out lap as I was always holding back at the start to desperately try to hold on at the end - the 50m lap time would drop down to around 1min with fatigue, with a last 50m all out effort sometimes managing to creep back down into the 40's.

I was always huffing like an old steam train by the end - always felt like I was one lung bursting mistimed breath away from an ignominious spluttering end & I never left the pool anything other than exhausted.

You mentioned that your swim doesn't feel hard even with extra distance/ more focus on Freestyle.

Are you aiming to swim your lengths at a given pace - trying to swim them faster, or just steady state?

I know when the local swim club were training at the same time period as I was swimming on my second stint, they'd do a a long warmup, specific stroke drills, sprints with rest, bit more steady state & then switch stroke. I didn't pay much attention to the duration of each set though.
Sometimes the warm-up would be an individual medley, but not very often.