Anyone know anything about swimming?

[davywavy]

What is a 'good' time (as in how long it takes) to be able to swim a mile, breaststroke?

I have no idea whether I'm any good at this swimming lark or not, you see, as I've nothing to compare myself to.

Comments

[borusa.livejournal.com]

Right. Yes, I know a lot about swimming.

You need to understand two things

1) Nobody swims a mile competitively in swimming pools. The closest we get is 1500m, which is about 110 yards shy of that. The open water swimmers go further, but the times won't mean a lot.

2) Everybody swimming that far does frontcrawl. Some of the oldest Masters swimmers alternate with backstroke length by length because they can't maintain frontcrawl for that long. FC is the most efficient and fastest stroke, and so that's the one used for long distances.

Having said all that, we can work out what's a reasonable time for 1600m breaststroke. Reasonable breaststrokers can hold about 1:20 per hundred metres for a while, but let's be generous and say that 1:25 per hundred is more appropriate. That gives us a time for 1600m of 22 minutes 40 seconds.

What did you do?

For reference, my fastest 1500m freestyle time is 17:15:35, which is about 18:24 for the mile.

In the light of that...

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Suffice to say I'm not great at this swimming lark :)

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info - now I know what to aim for :)

Re: In the light of that...

[borusa.livejournal.com]

Heh. What did you do? It's good to have something to build from! Practice really does make a difference, as well as general fitness.

Re: In the light of that...

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

^{About twice that time} *Shame*

Re: In the light of that...

[borusa.livejournal.com]

There's nothing to be ashamed of! Especially as, IIRC, you're carrying an injury.

Unlike, say, running, swimming is a very technical sport, and it takes quite a lot of practice and some proper coaching to become good at it, and the gap between "good" and "newbie starter" is very large indeed.

Although it's difficult over the internet, if there's any advice I can give you I will - I have both teaching and coaching qualifications (though many years ago!) and I do know what I'm talking about!

Re: In the light of that...

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm swimming 3 times a week averaging 100- 140 lengths of a 15 metre pool (not ideal by any means, but it's the only nearby one that isn't full of kids every evening). My best 1500 metres (breaststroke), by that reckoning, is just shy of 45 minutes - it was about an hour when I started so I'm whittling it down but I don't seem to be getting any faster.
I'm swimming 'cos the injury doesn't hamper me any in the pool, so I'm not able to use that as an excuse for being slow :)

Re: In the light of that...

[(Anonymous)]

Ha! I'm still faster than you, David. By about 5 minutes. Clearly streamlining plays a part.

Disagree about breaststroke not being a long-distance stroke, though - in my experience, with front crawl, one conks out after a length or 2, or hits the tiled end of the pool going full tilt with the crown of one's head. Possibly competitive swimmers have worked out how to avoid this. But breast stroke can be sustained more or less indefinitely without much effort ... it's boredom, irritation with other pool users, and prune-like fingers that impose the limit on endurance.

H

Re: In the light of that...

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Grrr....

I seem to have hit a point where I'm not improving; plainly I need to be doing something different. Perhaps a pair of flippers will help.

If it makes you feel any better...

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

...you're undoubtedly better than me.

Of course, this may have something to do with my only stroke being 'modified doggy paddle*' an' all.

(Though I'm assured that it's an astonishingly good doggy paddle).

*Yes, I know there are other strokes. I even know how to do a number of them. Unfortunately they all involve arm movements that my left shoulder refuses to cooperate with

[twospots.livejournal.com]

Another thing to keep in mind: any posted times for breaststroke--or any other stroke for that matter--are going to be the times of competitive swimmers. Very few non-competitive swimmers time themselves, or, more to the point, post said times somewhere where you could compare your times to theirs.

Think of it like running: For 10K times, there was a discussion recently on a local sports listserv about how any time over 30 min wasn't "good." Me? I do just under an hour, and will be happy if I break 50 minutes this season. Furthermore, I finish ahead of MANY MANY people in most races, and consider mine a quite respectable time.

Also, it's worth considering why you're swimming? Dropping your time is good, but not necessarily an indicator of fitness. Swimming is a very technical sport, as pointed out above, and it's very easy to drop one's time significantly, merely from improvements in technique (which I do recommend, if only because swimming is much more fun if you're not thrashing around so much). On the other hand, I see many people at the local public swims going a snail's pace while using the "thrashing windmill" version of freestyle (front crawl). They're not going anywhere fast, but they're usually getting a VERY good workout.

Um. You know you're procrastinating when you ramble on in a friend's friend's friend's journal. Back to work. I like, borusa, would be happy to blather at you about swimming and suchlike if you've any more questions. Though I haven't fancy coaching certifications... :)

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Well, I recently acquired an injury which has stopped me kickboxing/running/weightin, which means I've turned to swimming to keep myself together until i'm better again elsewhere. I'm definitely improving as a swimmer (I started doing 30 lengths, now I do 130 - 140 - a definite improvement), but I'd like to feel I'm progressing in terms of efficiency/speed as well, which I don't seem to be.

[(Anonymous)]

At least it's keeping your toenails clean.

H

[twospots.livejournal.com]

Understood. I'd suggest lessons, or else some books from the local library. If your library's anything like mine, there will be a few ancient books moldering there. Though there have been significant changes in what's considered "best" technique in the decades since the libary's books were written, for someone starting out, the differences are negligible.

And I have to say that I rather dislike breaststroke. Despite having made significant progress in all three other strokes, I've NEVER been able to drop my breaststroke time by anything worth mentioning. Freestyle, once you can do it properly, is a much better stroke for swimming any distance. It has a better result:effort ratio than any of the other strokes. But it does take time to learn, and can be exhausting until you're comfortable with it.

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

There must be something about breaststroke.

I reckon it's that bloody kick. The one that all my friends tell me I'm doing 'fine' but that mysteriously fails to propel me forwards in the water at all.

Possibly the way people tend to go into horrible coughing fits as they say that should be telling me something.