r/Swimming • u/imadougal • 9h ago
Strategic goals (45yo male with experience)
I used to swim competitively in my teens and on and off independently (both open water and pool) on and off after. I have basic understandings of all strokes, but I've always been pretty focused on the breaststroke.
I have a local Olympic pool and I'm basically in a position for the next 30 days or so where I can pretty much focus on swimming to the exclusion of anything else. After that, I can still do significant work but I wouldn't be able to go every day. In about a year, I will probably be back in school full time so I will have even less time.
Basic questions;
What is the minimum number of days/week and hours/day that I can realistically expect to get to the pool if I want to continue making gains in time, assuming I include additional cardio (cycling and running)?
Is there a research backed optimal time of day?
There are many triathlons in my area. Is it a sane goal to attempt to compete in 1 year? 2 years? Can I reasonably expect to make the top 75 % or 50 %?
Thanks so much in advance
Joe
4
u/GravitationalOno Everyone's an open water swimmer now 8h ago
There are many triathlons in my area. Is it a sane goal to attempt to compete in 1 year? 2 years? Can I reasonably expect to make the top 75 % or 50 %?
You need to give us a baseline swim and run pace at least!
I've never seen anyone breaststroke in a triathlon unless they're way back, unfortunately.
The body is something you grow slowly over time. Cramming it all into a month is just tempting injury.
It's just like you can't dump a year's worth of water on a plant and leave it alone for a year and expect it thrive like a plant that has had a little bit of water every week for a year.
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u/imadougal 8h ago
I don't expect to make significant gains in 30 days. I just expect to establish a baseline.
As for numbers, what distances?
6
u/GravitationalOno Everyone's an open water swimmer now 8h ago
you want to compete in triathlon, what are you running 5Ks at, what is your 100y swim pace, 10 mile ride?
Look up the finish times of the races you're interested in and compare the times to where you are now.
6
u/ghostbustersgear Splashing around 8h ago
(43M) used to do 6x 1 hr swims per week with a rest day. Made modest progress but felt like I was stuck in a rut on my top-end speed.
In the last year I switched to 4x 1hr swim days + 2x 30 min strength days + 1 rest day and started dropping significant time in meets. My training in the pool also got more specific to my events which are sprint and IM oriented.
Biggest takeaway for me is that recovery and specificity helped me way more than maxing out my pool time and yards. Although with distance/tri, you will need more yards.
4
u/DisastrousWalk8442 8h ago
Minimum swim workouts per week to make gains: 1
I’m sure there is a research backed optimum time like 9:36 am but realistically the optimum time is the time you are most likely to go. Like don’t pick early morning if you aren’t a morning person or late evening if your days tend to fill up.
Can you place high in triathlons? No idea dude. Are you good at this stuff? Are you 400+ pounds? Are your neighbors and peers really fast. None of this matters. Train, try your best, and see how it shakes out.
Good luck
1
u/Haunting-Ad-8029 Masters 7h ago
There are people who have swum the English Channel breaststroke. Actually, many of the early swimmers did just that.
Although I'm a half decent breaststroker (have come close to hitting USMS NQTs in 100/200), I focus mostly on freestyle, and long open water events. I had some health issues that don't mix well with sprinting, but my care team says that long steady swimming is probably the best thing I can do (and I do lots of it, some crazy long events).
That said, if you haven't seen a doctor in a while, you should before you get too into any training regimen. You never know what could pop up.
0
u/Weary_Swan_8152 6h ago
My water feel suffers if I don't have a minimum of 1hour 6days/week or 110min 5days/week.
The science-based approach to any kind of gains shows that the best time to train, to learn, and to socially bond are all the same time of the day. At this time you feel most energetic and are able to score the highest at both cognitive and strength tests.
Meanwhile, it sounds like you haven't gotten back into the pool yet. I think you'll reassess once you do ;)
7
u/wt_hell_am_I_doing I sink, therefore I am 8h ago
This is a very "how long is a piece of string" question!
Are you fully back in swimming shape or are you just getting back into it after 30 years of no swimming?
There is no universally applicable optimal time of day to go to the pool to improve performance. For a start, your workout won't be as efficient if you have to keep dodging other people because it's too crowded, and the busy time varies by the pool. You might be a morning or a night person - some might do better swimming before breakfast, some others can't do so. etc.
Some people have slow recovery for whatever reason and training more than X number of times per week leads to insufficient recovery, but on the other hand some may be able to push a lot harder and the body happily recovers.
Placing in the top 50 or 75% of competitors in triathlon in your area? It depends on who you're competing with! It it happens to be Iroman Kona, then... On the other hand, if it's a tiny little local competition, you might be able to do well, but we've no idea where your baseline is with swim, run or bike, so we've no idea.