Swimming Plans for 2017

I have a vague plan to do some open water swimming (sea and river) here in Perth when we return next December. My first Cottesloe Classic 1 mile sea swim was in Jan 2011 but I haven,t done much in recent years.

Therefore the 2017 project is to brush up and improve the important aspects of open water swimming.

Do you have any plans for next year?

The team I usually affiliate to in order to enter ow events now asks me to enter at least 3 pool events as well. So 2017 will be devoted to be a better pool swimmer:

1) learn a safe way to start from the blocks (ie don't want to stop and clear goggles after the dive)
2) get faster over shorter than ow distances: it would be great to swim the 1500m in 22:30 and the 400m in 5:45 in one year (current css 1:33-1:34 per 100m)
3) nice to have: practicing some more fly: I find it helps me improve the last part of the pull and the swing on the recovery

Salvo

I did my first full triathlon this year and for the 2017 I will skip it as it requires too many training hours. So I will do a few shorter
tri distances, perhaps an half and an Olympic distance. So my target is to get faster for these distances.
Maybe 1500 ow under 28min?

I 'll be keeping my weekly red mist sets going and the quicker 10x100 at CSS minus 4 . Would like to average 15km a week compared to 10k this year ( but done 20k each of last 3 weeks.
I exit the year with my red mist success at 2m05s and for last 3 weeks set at 2m 04s but only stay with the beep for 7 x400 so prob January I will crack this.
My 10 x 100 was successfully done on Friday at 1m57s at third week of trying at this speed so will knock 0.5s of this for next time I do it.
Events I like to just enjoy so will do The Great North 2 mile this year as a few squad members that have only done the mile before are doing it and will be good to do at same time as them. I did the 2mile in 2015 1hr 18m and the 5k last year 1hr 54m so would love to beat 1hr10m which is what 3200m is taking me in the pool recently.
Also will most likely enter Chill Swims coniston end to end 5.25mile again . I did it last year with no idea if I would be able to finish so took it steady 3hr 40m but would like to think I could get a lot closer to 3 hrs maybe 3hrs 10 at 2m 15 s pace.At least next year I would know what to expect of a swim that long.
Be good if any of you on here were in the same events or we could find one central in the country to all go to.
Also will qualify for my Old Age Pension in October and due to starting swimming late in life I am still getting faster each year tho now it's slowed to it taking me 3 or 4 weeks to knock a second per 100 off my Red mist times.
Woody

I have taken my training a little more seriously since September when I had my second OceanWalker session a couple of weeks after Coniston.
So hopefull of improving more in 2017.
woody

woody wrote:I 'll be keeping my weekly red mist sets going and the quicker 10x100 at CSS minus 4 .

Hi woody, it sounds good. I follow a similar program. One question: how much rest does your SS coach recommend for the 10x100 at CSS minus 4 (sorry if I already asked some time ago)?
For reference, today I did 20x75 at CSS-5 resting 22s and then 20x50 same pace resting 11s.

Thanks,
Salvo

20 secs Salvo and by the seventh I need every single one . On Friday one rest slipped to 25s.
I set the beeper at 25m pace and press reset at start of every hundred using the pace clock to measure rests. And my garmin to measure total time 20 secs is conveniently 3 mins across the full 10. The garmin is useless at showing the rest times 1st and 4th lengths times seem to get some rest added to them and the rests look shorter or non existent.And a bit of fumbling at the start and finish adds a second or two.But the beeper doesn't lie it has to be the best swimming toy.

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1485618930

woody wrote:20 secs Salvo and by the seventh I need every single one .

Good, it can be seen as a USRPT set at 400m race pace.
Thanks again,
Salvo

I hope I can finish this year the revision of my flutter-kick, towards a smaller, faster, more propulsive one.

Then I can restart the systematic strength/interval training in January, concentrating on the 50m distance (thus 100m the longest distance). Hopefully I can then, hopefully in the first half of 2017, swim 50m faster than 30s, and 100m faster than 1:10.

Once reached, I can set the new goals. Only when I get the impression that I am close to my potential over 50m, I'll consider the longer distances more seriously. Depending on how serious I can become over 50m, I might put more effort into starts and turns. Since I don't have a club-history, going to races is not a natural thing to me, and if I ever compete in a master's event, I want to have a reasonable time (not just "for fun" -- for me it won't be fun).

I should also increase somewhat the amount of the other strokes, at least doing more 100m IMs.

Sprinter wrote:Only when I get the impression that I am close to my potential over 50m, I'll consider the longer distances more seriously.

Good strategy, perhaps the most effective. It's the way kids learn to swim, fast and short. The fastest become sprinters, the less fast become (fast) middle and long distance swimmers. Of course you also have to like the 50m to follow this approach. By the way, for longer distances do you mean 200-400 or more?

Salvo

s.sciame wrote:
Good strategy, perhaps the most effective. It's the way kids learn to swim, fast and short. The fastest become sprinters, the less fast become (fast) middle and long distance swimmers. Of course you also have to like the 50m to follow this approach.

Very hard to say. A lot of serious research would be needed here (especially for older swimmers).

s.sciame wrote:
By the way, for longer distances do you mean 200-400 or more?

Who knows ..
Currently I am an ultra-savage: you know, one says they count something like "1,2,3, infinity", the savages, but I just count 1 (25m), 2 (50m), infinity
Anecdotal evidence might hint at the possibility that I wouldn't be so bad at the middle distances, but I strongly doubt that I ever will go beyond the classical distances (up to 1500m; I believe there are reasons behind that). I can go very hard for some time, but I need the finite time-horizon, that you see the end. I guess if you do say 5km swims or above, then you don't see the end. But up to 1500m I guess you count down (and you know in 15min it's over ).

At the moment I can do  5:05 400m and 10:20 800m free.

I have 2 consecutive goals for 2017:
1. 04:55 for 400m free.
2. 10:05 for 800m free