Swimming

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Am i the only swimmer here?

Where do you swim?
How often and for how long?
What is your fav stroke?
What are your goals?

Oh wow, I was thinking about this today.

I hate swimming. It's too over stimulating. Having to breathe in and out when your lungs are being pressed for time

I would like to start swimming. I'm not a very good swimmer though. I mostly doggy paddle lol. I took swimming lessons when I was little, but that was like 15 years ago, and I go "swimming" maybe 3 or 4 times a year, and by "swimming" I mean mostly floating around in the pool or maybe playing with my brothers and only really swimming if I accidentally end up in the deep end. My university's rec center has a couple of pools, but they require that you wear an actual swim suit (I usually wear basketball shorts, a tshirt and a bra). I find most women's swim suits either too revealing or too uncomfortable. I know that adequate swim wear exists, I just need to look harder and be willing to spend the money. I love being in the water and I think it would be a good form of exercise that I could stick with and actually enjoy.

I'm a swimmer, and it's a good thing, too. I have a very bad knee and walking for exercise is out of the question for me lately. I stand at work for 5 hours a day and any more on my feet is just too much.

So, I swim. I was a competitive swimmer in childhood and college, so the breathing discomfort some feel in the water isn't an issue for me. I love it and am grateful to be able to afford a membership to a nice pool and it's very near my home. (I could walk there if I could walk.) It's in our town's recreation center.

Right now I spend a leisurely 1/2 hr in the pool and swim 1/2 mile. Eventually I'll work up to @45 minutes and that will be a mile. That's what I was doing last winter. I swim mostly crawl, that's what feels smooth and powerful in the water to me. I also do some kicks for ankle flexibility, inverted side stroke for hip flexibility and I cool down with breast stroke. Anything aside from crawl I, consider doodles. For me, crawl is like running and breast stroke like walking. Only way I can swim a mile in any reasonable amount of time is crawl. Oh, and flip turns for back flexibility and continuity. I breathe every third stroke (to either side) for balanced movement.

Last edited by MountainLaurel on 18 Dec 2011, 4:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

I used to also do competitive swimming as a child until high school. I quit when a member of my squad drowned. I just do it for recreation now. I do an average of an hour a day in the 50 metre state swimming centre a day. I try to do 30 minutes of breast stroke and 30 of freestyle then 15 of butterfly. I then repeat if i have time.

Well I mean you wouldn't show up to the gym in an argyll sweater and jeans right?

Like some woman at my gym did.

Megz. Maybe look at a rashie shirt and shorts combo. I prefer my 2 piece speedo's combination and a rashie suit at the beach when u do beach swimming.

Wow, Solvigj, I never heard of a competitive swimmer drowning in a pool. Divers have accidents from time to time. Did he/she drown in a pool?

I love swimming! It took me a long time to learn how, but I was determined and now I'm so good that people ask me if I've taken lessons (I haven't). Swimming is very relaxing to me, and others have commented that I look more at ease after I've been swimming.

Sadly I haven't gone swimming since summer, but I really hope to be able to go to the Y soon, because I miss it.

I swim for 30 minutes at a time. Any longer than that and I start to get bored or tired. My favorite stroke is the doggy paddle, because I like moving through the water at a leisurely pace. I don't really have any goals for my swimming, because I have accomplished all of the milestones I have aimed for over the years. Now I just do it for leisure.

I used to be a triathlete. I'm on my school team last year but this year I transferred. I swim in the pool usually, doing approx 3000 meters per workout, before races we swim in open waters. I used to swim once or twice a week depending on the weather, because we also have to run and bike. I like freestyle the best, because it's the fastest, and my goal is to swim 4000 meters nonstop.

It was at her home pool so i don't know details.

I have noticed down here in the asian countries, Swimming is a lot more competitive and pursued a lot more. My goal is for next summer to compete in an amature iron women competition. Running will be what lets me down especially on sand dunes. I am starting to wear weights around my middle during laps to put more resistance and build up core body stregnth.

I am Taiwanese!! Solvejg, where are you from?

Running, we used a track, and riverside parks. My former school is on a mountain, so we ran uphills and downhills for terrain training. Iron mans are usually run on roads. Biking, find a decent hill to train on. Set your gears slightly higher for muscle strength training.Sit-ups and pushups help with core strength, too.

Australia so quasi Asia. LOL. Cycling is the easy part for me. We have a huge cycling culture in my city. If is quite common to grab your bike and go up into the hills. The host the tour down under here. I do lots of sit ups but i find my core stregnth is lacking when i run on sand. I can feel it so i want to build a lot more muscle before attempting again.

Okay. Eat a lot of protein and stock up on glycogen before the race. During workouts drink a lot of water and eat some power bars to get the energy going. You should do well