Idiots Guide to swim training in the pool
/I hear the following statement all the time and it really frustrates me : ‘‘pool training is so boring”. Having grown up training in the pool and found open water swimming a little later, I love both. Typically when I hear the above statement my automated response (as I hear this a lot) is to ask how the person trains in the pool. Nearly 100% of the people I ask tell me that they jump in, swim 80 lengths (a set number of length depending on the individual) and get out. My second automated response is to say “no wonder you’re bored!” and/or find swimming in the pool boring! Following a black line for 30-40 minutes straight would be mind numbing. It’s like finding a dull, featureless and very long road and running 10 miles on it frequently…rather than finding new and exciting routes, or running cross-country. What needs to happen here, is that you need to mix up your training.
Even if you’re only interested in open water swimming, the pool can’t be ignored and definitely shouldn’t. Benefits of pool swimming include :
CONSISTENCY : regardless of the weather, swimming conditions, pollution levels (factors that might prevent you from swimming open water), you can keep up your swimming fitness. This includes the cold. Whilst you may enjoy cold water swimming, the limit it puts on the distance you swim (particularly mid-winter) has an impact on your fitness and overall swimming technique and performance.
INTENSITY : doesn’t matter how hard you try, it’s difficult to replicate the intensity you experience in the pool…completing a structured session (not simply swimming your 80 lengths!). Quite often people swim a comfortable distance at a comfortable pace when in the open water. It’s then difficult to swim anything but.
TECHNIQUE : external factors like chop, the cold, additional buoyancy etc can make swimming drills quite tricky.
BUOYANCY : (if) you wear a wetsuit or swim in the sea you’ll have additional buoyancy. This obviously makes it easier to swim as you don’t support your weight in the water. This can affect your body position, engagement with your core stability, leg kick…lots of factors. Long-term it can make you a lazy swimmer.
SWIMMING : My partner goes crazy about this next point. Swimming isn’t just front crawl…or for some of you - breaststroke. There are 4 strokes…often the open water doesn’t cater for 2-3 of them.
RSI : If swimming is your only form of physical exercise, or at least the main one…and you only ever swim one stroke you can over use….and then under-use (as a consequence) various muscles in your body and cause yourself an injury in the long-term.
In regards to speed and improving your pace over distance, this is how pool swim sessions work : let’s say that you generally and regularly swim 1km. You swim that km at a ‘comfortable pace’ and generally finish the swim in 20 minutes. So that’s 2 minutes per 100m. You can break this up in the pool and swim 10 x 100m (total of 1km) on a ‘set time’ that allows around 20 seconds rest…so 2.10, maybe 2.15 (so every 2 minutes 10 seconds that goes by on the clock, you start a new 100m). Now, you should be swimming each 100 on say 1 minute 50 seconds, getting around 15-20 seconds rest. In this scenario, over time you start getting used to swimming at a 1 min 50 second pace. Your body gets used to it. You can then transfer this into the open water. Whilst you don’t have those same rest gaps in the open water (like you do in the pool), you should still be able to hold say….a 1 minute 55 second pace, thus improving your ‘comfortable pace’ and bringing that 1km time down to 19 minutes and 10 seconds. Over time you may also start to reduce your ‘set time’ and work on pushing out quicker 100s. This way of training is also fantastic at teaching you how to pace yourself. There’s no point in starting the 100s swimming a 1 minute 40 second 100m, as you won’t make the latter 100 times (the ‘set time’) and fail to finish the 10 x 100s. This all leads me onto another advantage of pool swimming. Using the clock! The biggest rivalry I’ve ever had in swimming has been against this old foe (and friend!). When you use the clock during sessions there’s no hiding. It is always the clearest indicator of improvement and effort. If you don’t already swim against the clock, it’s well worth starting up a relationship asap.
HOW TO CHANGE UP YOUR POOL SWIMMING
Firstly, structure a session. Don’t simply swim your standard number of length. This sounds complicated but it really isn’t. You could simply divide you session up. Let’s take the 80 length swimmer. So…80 lengths is around 2000m / 2km or 40 lengths is 1000m / 1km - we’ll look at both.
So we’d start with a warm up. Idea being to warm the body and muscles up and get ready for harder swimming. I also like to add a few drills into the warm up. That way you’re warming up and practising your technique. *f/c is front crawl / you can find the drills below on youtube.
WARM UP :
2km swimmers : 100m f/c fist, 100 f/c catch up, 100 back, 100 f/c @ 80% (1 min rest before main set)
1km swimmers : 50m f/c fist, 50 f/c catch up, 50 back, 50 f/c @ 80% (1 min rest before main set)
Main set would be the main body of work, distance and effort during the session. The bulk of the session is typically front crawl but it’s also important to mix your strokes up.
MAIN SET :
2km swimmers : 4 x 200m as 150 f/c @ around 75% effort, with the last 50 choice of stroke @ 75%. 30 secs rest
1km swimmers : 6 x 75m as 50 f/c @ around 75% effort, with the last 25 choice of stroke @ 75%. 20 secs rest
(1 mins rest before kick session)
KICK : we’ll now do a leg kick session, with a kick board (kick float). This allows the upper body a rest, whilst still working the lungs, core and legs.
2km swimmers : 12 x 25m kick. First 6 f/c kick with board, last 6 back without board. 10 secs rest intervals
1km swimmers : 6 x 25m kick. First 3 f/c kick with board, last 3 back without board. 10 secs rest intervals
Sprints are your chance to increase the intensity and work on your speed. It’s less about endurance and technique and more about swimming faster, building lactic tolerance and putting your muscles and lungs under pressure.
SPRINTS :
2km swimmers : 6 x 50 alternating f/c and choice @ 90%. Going off a ‘set-time’ that should allow you between 30-40 secs rest between each
1km swimmers : 8 x 25 alternating f/c and choice @ 90%. Going off a ‘set-time’ that should allow you between 20-30 secs rest between each
The swim down allows you to stretch out and work out any lactic acid in the body, flood your system with a bit of oxygen.
SWIM DOWN :
2km swimmers : 100 f/c catch up, 100 single arm f/c
1km swimmers : 50 f/c catch up, 50 easy back
ARTICLE CONT…
I’ll also simply add that sessions are always more enjoyable when you swim with people, particularly people of roughly the same speed and ability and that short breaks in your session always make the session more socially enjoyable.
Best of luck swimming in the pool! If you want some session ideas sign up to our free newsletter. Simply wait for the pop-up sign up form to appear.
