Lap Swimming

[Bugaboo]

O.k...bought a nice Speedo swimsuit today. I'm going to the pool this week to sign up for at least a month. I've always loved swimming and am a strong swimmer but I've never done serious lap swimming. Can anyone give me the in's and out's of lap swimming? Things that I should be aware of...etiquette and/or advice stuff like that? I'd really appreciate it. I already know the "don't swim right after you eat" rule but any advice or tips would be awesome.

[shawnee]

I swim 2500 Metres a day 5 days a week (1&1/2 Miles)
I do this in around 1 hour in a 50 metre olympic pool which means a good steady pace & flip turns at every turn.

Health & exercise professionals all agree that swimming is the ultimate all aerobic, calorie burning exercise. The water is the most pefectly designed workout machine in the world, the faster you swim the more resistance you get. Slow down & the resistance decreases

It is totally nonimpact (no injuries) endurance building activity & if you ramp up the speeds it becomes anerobic strength building too. Swimming rocks & is a great starting point for severly obese people to get them exercising again w/o injury

I do also run, lift, use a Nordic Track as part of my regular program BUT swimming is my CORE exercise! & for all around health it is the BEST of them all. I have been swimming at my current pool for close to 10 years & it is 80% the same people in the morning that I started w/10 years ago.

It is an activity that you can continue to do as you get older, Nobody runs or lifts or goes to the gym consistantly for decades(trust me maybe a couple of years max) but regular swimmers do keep it up & the number of extremely healthy older people you see at the pool is because they have been swimmers for decades as their core activity too!

If you swim every day YOU WILL BE HEALTHY

[shawnee]

Lap Swimming is broken up into two types
Short Course = 25 yards
Long Course = 50 Metres

Most full on Olympic Long Course Pools in the USA have taken to running the pools short course most of the year & only do long course for 3-4 monthes max & often only for teams

The US Olympic Training Coach was quoted just before the last summer olympics as saying the short course training was just fine & just as good as long course.

I don't agree & think that is one of the reason we've lost a lot to the Aussies recently as they train long course all year round.

Lap swimming is great, you will find a lot more long term dedication among swimmers than most other types of exercise, as swimmers, tend to keep it for their whole lifetime so if you go regularly you'll make some good friends

Try & look for a 'window' of opportunity time when the pool is not too busy that you have time to do your swimming in.

Swimming is cheap equipmentwose all you need is a speedo & good pair of goggles & a gym bag. Try to keep an extra trunk & pair of goggles inyour bag (& extra nose piece, straps)

Get a good pair of 'thick' non skid locker/shower room sandals, & wear them at all times when not in the pool to avoid athlete's foot.

Gee thats about it for now

[Emo_Boy]

If it kicks that heart rate up into your FBZ then you go and get it girl! Good luck!!

[Bugaboo]

Wow...thanks shawnee! You know, I didn't even think about the locker room shoes! Good tip! One of the lap swim times our pool has is 11am-1pm. For me that's perfect. Hopefully it won't be too busy my first time and I don't make myself look like a dork! But I guess the other people there will have had to endure a first time too so I shouldn't worry about it too much.

And thanks for the encouragement Emo_Boy and shawnee! I really appreciate it!

[TWTMhomeschoolMom]

How's the swimming going?

I've been a swimmer all my life, however for a long time there I didn't have a pool to swim in. Then we moved to DE and I learned that our town had a swim team for the kids but even better they reserved one lane for us parents to use during the kids practice. ':yikes' Amazingly there's typically only 2 or 3 us taking advantage of the lane. I've worked up to 1-1/4 mile in 45 minutes ':icondance'

Some other tips--
use a swim cap, and obtain swimmers shampoo to use on your hair after your swim.

Slowly work up to swimming longer and longer distances. One method is to switch your strokes; 50m of freestyle, 50m of breast, 50m free, 50m back,.... Rotating your strokes will give you breathing room to. Then after awhile (week or two), do 100m of breast, 100m free, 100m back,.....

Also, you've probable already run into this---when sharing your lane swim counter-clockwise. If you're with a faster swimmer, allow them to pass you at the end of the lane. Although sometimes the other person may want to split the lane which works when there's only 2 in the lane.

Also, rehydrate while you swim. So many folks don't do this but you sweat in the pool. All the pools I've used allow plastic water bottles at the end of lane for the swimmer to drink from during the practice.

Swimming is great and remember to drink more water after practice.

[shawnee]

H/SMom 1&1/4 Miles in 45 minutes is working it!
Glad to see another swimmer here.

Forgot to mention the swimmers cap, I don't use the vinyl ones I use the lycra ones although they dont keep your haird 'dry' they keep the worst of the chemicals off.

& Yeah the hair issue, swimming in pools can play havoc with your hair, not so bad for me as a half bald old guy but for gals I guess its an issue. Best solution I've found is a very good shampoo w/coconut oil that 'repairs' it & is mild enough to use daily

Are you lucky enough to get long couse or is it short course as most pools in the states?

I am lucky here in Singapore I get to swim long course 365 days a year!

[Bugaboo]

How's the swimming going?

Ya know, I'm embarassed to say I haven't hauled my rear to the pool yet. My kids didn't have school Mon, yesterday I just had *so much to do* and today I just *had* to clean the apartment. I guess I'm afraid of making a :censor of myself so I've been making up excuses, which isn't doing me any good. But I'm going tomorrow no matter what! Now that I've fessed up I'm holding myself accountable. Shawnee...tomorrow I will tell you if it's long or short course! And thank you and TWTMhomeschoolMom for some more info. I feel a bit more confident now! :icondance

[2big4mysize]

if you need any more motivation just thinkof all the money you wasted on the unused day at the Y and you can never get that day back and the fact that you are lettting your old bigger self control your body as you are headed there again without working out on your Atkins.

Did it work are you running sreaming from the room headed for the Y?

[Bugaboo]

LMBO!! When I read "and the fact that you are lettting your old bigger self control your body as you are headed there again without working out on your Atkins." almost had me run screaming to have them let me in right this second! I don't think they'd be pleased at this time of night though! Although it's not the "Y", it's just a communtiy pool so I'm hoping the pool is decent. Even if it's a puddle I'm going tomorrow...you scared the pants off me lady! Well done!

[2big4mysize]

good one thing our swimmers didn't metiopn is ususally they have certain laps set a side for thre fast swimmers and ones for the not so fast swimmers so ask before you jump in and get stampeded but the world class competative swimmers your fisrt day out.

[TWTMhomeschoolMom]

Thanks for the tip about looking for shampoo with coconut oil, I'll have to try it soon.

I'm at a typical state-side pool, 25m. I went to Ohio State U where they had a 50m pool and it was great to swim those long laps. Sometimes we swam our mileage in the 25yd pool and it felt like we were flipping, stroking a little and then flipping again. Quite a different workout. The local swim club is looking into building their own pool, even in discussions with one of the private schools to use their land, and ifff it goes through the pool will be 50m!!!! I hope, I hope.

Glad to know that my mileage and time is moving. All I really have to go on is that when I started last May 1 I was doing 3/4 mile in 1 hour. I get to swim 3 or 4 days a week, use my nordic trak on the other days, and as soon as these winter-snow-storms or ice storms leave I'll get back to running also.

Shawnee, I'm glad you mentioned about the slow lanes. I've found that they are usually the outside lanes. Also, it is polite to ask the person who is already in the lane if you can use the lane too. Sometimes you'll get the --- yes, other times you might learn that lane x is about to be open cause that person usually leaves soon.

And, go jump in that water. We were all new at one time to the pool we are now at. I remember my first night; I huffed and I puffed, I swam a few lengths, I adjusted my gogles (whew, needed a LOOOOOONG break really), swam a few more lengths..... and my fellow swimmers advised me to take it easy, don't push too much, as they wizzzed by me. Now I wizzz by a few of them.

Carole

[Bugaboo]

Sweet Mary...I forgot how hard swimming is! I went in and the guy at the counter was really super nice. When I went out on deck the lifeguard was really cool too. I told her it had been a looooong time and that I was new to this and she said everyone there is pretty nice. O.k! Cool! I'm on my way. I got in an empty lane got about 1/2 way out and just about sank like a rock. And it's a short course!!!! After a good nose full of water I had to use everything I had to get back. I swear, I've never come close to drowning but I just about did today. I'm laughing about it now but I'm sure the other swimmers were thinking they were going to have to save my sorry a**. I hung out trying to catch my breath and when the manager (counter guy) was talking to another swimmer I asked if they had anything to make me more bouyant, like a paddle board. He very nicely got me one and I clung on to that thing like a 2yr old to their mothers dress for the next hour just paddling up and down. Before this I knew I wasn't exercising like I should but holy moley I didn't realize what sorry shape I'm really in! My legs feel like absolute jello and I'm soooo tired now...but damn it...I feel great!!!!!! :icondance

[TWTMhomeschoolMom]

:joy' Good For YOU!!! and what a great idea to go and get a floatie.

I also noticed from your stats that we're in the same boat--same present weight, heights are close, and I was at one time at your starting weight too. Just didn't include it cause that was 8yrs ago, but I was there once. WHEW, what great progress you've made this past year.

BTW, my MIL used to swim (she's deceased now) anyway, she always swam with a snorkel cause she couldn't figure out how to turn her head to get a breath. The lady would swim her mile and then go smoke a few. Wish she hadn't cause lung cancer killed her and she was the best MIL. I digress,

Thanks for letting us know.

[shawnee]

Home School Mom this is funny cuz I'm a dedicated Nordic Track user too

I do mine 3-4 times a week
I even have an extra almost new one I got at a yard sale for $25 (Yes $25!) in my shed (they cost around $4-500)

They seem to have fallen out of favour & been replaced by those damn ellipiticals, but the ellipiticals dont give as good a workout as arms & legs work together in tandem to make you move

On the Nordic Track you get two seperate upper & lower body workouts at the same time so it is a much heavier workout

This is one of the best exercise machines ever invented

Any other Nordic Trackers out there?