The Swimming Thread - Pool/OW

[Otispunkmeyer]

Scabutz said:

Salted_Peanut said:

Bowside said:

With some of the Suunto range they can't read HR underwater, or during a stroke, unless you also buy a HR belt, I'm not sure if Garmin have overcome that or not.

Garmin's Swim 2 has overcome this issue and can read HR underwater. However, I gather they all need a HR belt for accurate HR reading.

Yeah the very newest Garmins will take a HR reading during swimming, but the problem with the wrist based measurement is its not very accurate. Specifically they are slow to respond so if you are doing intervals as you mostly do in swimming then it won't tell you much.

The straps are annoying. Was in a lane once with some tt wearing one, kept pushing off then having to stand up to adjust it. Was close to strangling him with it.

Ultimately I dont see the benefit of HR data for swimming. I love gadgets and data and swimming but I don't see the need.

Can be useful to know if you are training in the right HR zone for what you're supposed to be doing. But if you've swam for 25+ years, then generally you already know what different paces feel like. Quick neck pulse check is often enough if you just need a double check.

Bands just don't seem to work on men. Fine for women with it under their cossie or if you wear a wetsuit. But as soon as you push off the wall, your body shape changes slightly and the water gets under it and off it comes. Pointless.

[R Mutt]

I was impressed with the data on the Samsung Galaxy Fit2 for 40 quid (25 on eBay)

SWOLF
Split lengths
HR zones

But the fker keeps stopping recording my lengths despite having a 'water lock' mode activated while recording a swim

I don't really get it. It successfully registered 1k in the lido, but in the pool I'm lucky to go 300m without it unlocking and reverting to normal watch/ step mode.

[Scabutz]

Otispunkmeyer said:

Can be useful to know if you are training in the right HR zone for what you're supposed to be doing. But if you've swam for 25+ years, then generally you already know what different paces feel like. Quick neck pulse check is often enough if you just need a double check.

Bands just don't seem to work on men. Fine for women with it under their cossie or if you wear a wetsuit. But as soon as you push off the wall, your body shape changes slightly and the water gets under it and off it comes. Pointless.

I think possibly if you use those form goggles to see the data as you swim, but its impossible to read a watch face mid length. I swim to a pace usually via feel or something I use those tempo trainers

[EFH189]

Although a relative novice to regular swimming, I took the plunge and bought a pair of Form goggles, which I’ll be trying out later today. Possible that FOMO kicked in.

I’ve investigated some open water spots near me; there are a couple and I’m not a million miles from the sea either.

Not tried to practice tumble turns yet, that’s my next focus!

[chandrew]

I recently replaced my Garmin Fenix 3 with a Fenix 6x. For swimming it's excellent - a big improvement over the 3 - and does have HR. I have no objective measure of whether it is accurate but it seems stable. HR is not the metric I focus on but can help explain when my body is tired just like it does in other activities.

I do a lot of OW here in Switzerland from when my local lake starts to melt in May until it freezes in November, all without wetsuit. The only UK experience I have is near my folks in the Lakes. I've been swimming in them since I was a nipper and never bothered with a wetsuit until recently. I've done a Windermere length with wetsuit and a loop of Derwentwater without, though that was during a hot summer. In the OW community if you get into that it's mostly non-wetsuit as Channel Swimming regulations and the related events specify no wetsuit. If I do Windermere again it will be with no wetsuit.

You can train yourself for the cold and anything above 10 is not too hard without wetsuit for up to a couple of km. I did have a joke with fellow local Nicola Spirig last September about swimming in the cold without a wetsuit but she has a lot less bioprene than I do (and if the truth is known is also a lot better swimmer!)

[Otispunkmeyer]

Scabutz said:

Otispunkmeyer said:

Can be useful to know if you are training in the right HR zone for what you're supposed to be doing. But if you've swam for 25+ years, then generally you already know what different paces feel like. Quick neck pulse check is often enough if you just need a double check.

Bands just don't seem to work on men. Fine for women with it under their cossie or if you wear a wetsuit. But as soon as you push off the wall, your body shape changes slightly and the water gets under it and off it comes. Pointless.

I think possibly if you use those form goggles to see the data as you swim, but its impossible to read a watch face mid length. I swim to a pace usually via feel or something I use those tempo trainers

I used to have a very good sense of pace. To the point where we’d sometimes do a “if you hit this time for a 50 you can get out and go shower” thing at the end of some sessions and I’d be out on the first or second one each time.

Not so sharp these days! But generally can get my eye in after a few. Would just be nice to log stuff rather than see it real time.

Also…depends where the clock is. In our pool you can definitely check out the time on back pretty easy and you can squeak a look before turning on freestyle if you’re in the right lanes.

Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Sunday 15th August 22:28

[Salted_Peanut]

Otispunkmeyer said:

Bands just don't seem to work on men. Fine for women with it under their cossie or if you wear a wetsuit. But as soon as you push off the wall, your body shape changes slightly and the water gets under it and off it comes. Pointless.

More useful in open water, perhaps?

[R Mutt]

Anyone else frustrated with their pools still having double width socially distanced lanes? Really winds me up as most the width goes unused. They have about 4 swimmers on average which would otherwise mean you could split a single lane. Finding my turns quite tricky at an angle, even if I try to approach the opposite side square on.

[FunkyNige]

R Mutt said:

Anyone else frustrated with their pools still having double width socially distanced lanes? Really winds me up as most the width goes unused. They have about 4 swimmers on average which would otherwise mean you could split a single lane. Finding my turns quite tricky at an angle, even if I try to approach the opposite side square on.

We’ve never had that in the pool I go to (David Lloyd in Norwich), the most we had was a sign saying maximum 8 people in a lane. No mention of social distancing in the pool are now.
Not sure if the local ‘real’ swimming pools have it.

[PomBstard]

dirty boy said:

I'll take a look at that, thanks. Also keep an eye out for your side of the pond and this....looks great.




Yeah, I can say, he swims with Jordan Catchpole.

https://www.britishswimming.org/athlete-swimming-p...

And here's our club insta that we started last year.....happy to urge people to follow us as a better profile may help us get sponsorship!

https://www.instagram.com/teamwaveneysc/

Close race for Jordan in the 200m Free - could’ve been any of six for the bronze

[R Mutt]

Is it reasonable to expect everywhere along the Thames west of London to be decent wild swimming?

I'm planning a night away with a lady who is a big fan of the river and if we/ I could get in it, even better.

I'm not sure I want to drive all the way to Gloucestershire. Maybe the other side of Surrey?

[AJB88]

I asked this a while ago and got a few good answers but ill ask again, what is the cheapest way to track your swims (in a pool) I want to see the amount of lengths and also time taken etc. Without counting them in my head. I've seen some very cheap watches on Amazon but don't think they count the lengths etc.

I recently joined a brand new pool close to where I live, 25m one, previous pool was an old run down 33m one. The old pool used to let us use Swimtag but the new pool doesn't have it.

I want said device to sync with either Google Fit, Strava or Myfitnesspal or all of them.

Apple watch series 2 onwards is one idea, I'm an Android user (I do actually have a work Iphone XR now) could I export from Apple Fit to one of the above apps?

Edited by AJB88 on Thursday 23 September 07:02

[Salted_Peanut]

Swim_England said:

Nearly HALF of England's swimming pools are at risk of being closed by the end of the decade in shocking report in the wake of Team GB's sweeping success at the Tokyo Olympics

• Almost half of Britain's swimming pools could be shut down by 2030
• A shocking report found only 2,468 facilities could remain amid lack of funding

Reported in the Daily Mail's sport section: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/arti...

Swim England has a template that we can use to write to our local MP about it: https://www.swimming.org/library/documents/5273/do...

[AJB88]

Purchased a Xiamo Band 6 to monitor my progress.

[FunkyNige]

AJB88 said:

I asked this a while ago and got a few good answers but ill ask again, what is the cheapest way to track your swims (in a pool) I want to see the amount of lengths and also time taken etc. Without counting them in my head. I've seen some very cheap watches on Amazon but don't think they count the lengths etc.

I recently joined a brand new pool close to where I live, 25m one, previous pool was an old run down 33m one. The old pool used to let us use Swimtag but the new pool doesn't have it.

I want said device to sync with either Google Fit, Strava or Myfitnesspal or all of them.

Apple watch series 2 onwards is one idea, I'm an Android user (I do actually have a work Iphone XR now) could I export from Apple Fit to one of the above apps?

You could get a second hand Garmin Vivoactive 3 for eBay for £70 which will count the lengths, strokes, time, etc. and upload it to Garmin Connect, Garmin Connect will then sync with Strava (and presumably with the others, they're not things I use so don't know).

[Sebo]

Quick shout out to Stuart at the Swimcube https://theswimcube.com

I had a 90 min Video session with him last week and it was really helpful. Aside from the video feedback during the session which was useful to see just how shocking some of my bad habits are.. you wear conducting headphones so he give you feedback in real time whilst you swim.

I'm not affiliated with Stuart or the Swimcube but as a relatively new swimmer, that has had lots of coaching over the last year or so, this has probably been the single best expenditure of time and cash to help me progress.

[R Mutt]

Morning all,

Looking for some guidance on my swimming regime.

I got back in the pool since returning to the office in July, worked up to 1.5k a day, and now decided I can do 2k each morning, after having found myself with the time and energy to do 2.5k at the weekend and being inspired by seeing the time of 52 mins was virtually the same pace as my 1.5k swims.

Except now I'm feeling sluggish over 2k, after a week of that.

I want to do a reasonable 5k by the end of the year by by main aim is daily fat burn, and I'm not entirely sure, looking at the heart rate monitor, that I'm spending enough time (39%) in that heart rate zone while plodding along over 2k. I'd happily do 2.5k a morning even if it took an hour, but then should I instead be focussing on technique and efficacy over shorter distances, and how should I achieve that?

Any advise appreciated

Cheers

[anonymous-user]

R Mutt said:

Morning all,

Looking for some guidance on my swimming regime.

I got back in the pool since returning to the office in July, worked up to 1.5k a day, and now decided I can do 2k each morning, after having found myself with the time and energy to do 2.5k at the weekend and being inspired by seeing the time of 52 mins was virtually the same pace as my 1.5k swims.

Except now I'm feeling sluggish over 2k, after a week of that.

I want to do a reasonable 5k by the end of the year by by main aim is daily fat burn, and I'm not entirely sure, looking at the heart rate monitor, that I'm spending enough time (39%) in that heart rate zone while plodding along over 2k. I'd happily do 2.5k a morning even if it took an hour, but then should I instead be focussing on technique and efficacy over shorter distances, and how should I achieve that?

Any advise appreciated

Cheers

I think to speed up you need to focus more on technique in a pool, with varying pace and drills etc.

Presumably at the moment you’re just swimming constantly for 2.5k (or whatever) getting fitter etc but not really any faster?

For losing weight though the best thing is diet. I know loads of fat swimmers that do epic mileage each week at a really fast pace.

For weight loss what you eat drink is far more important than exercise or heart rate zones Etc.

[R Mutt]

El stovey said:

I think to speed up you need to focus more on technique in a pool, with varying pace and drills etc.

Presumably at the moment you’re just swimming constantly for 2.5k (or whatever) getting fitter etc but not really any faster?

For losing weight though the best thing is diet. I know loads of fat swimmers that do epic mileage each week at a really fast pace.

For weight loss what you eat drink is far more important than exercise or heart rate zones Etc.

A few seconds per 25m, over the longer distances, maybe not a great improvement, although I'm not sure whether 2 of those secs are from where my pool now has single lanes rather than me having to turn diagonally to the other side of the lane where they'd previous removed the ropes leaving double width ones.

Yeah I get my current training advice from a triathlete I wouldn't call slim... I'm still losing weight but returned to 2500 cals a day thinking I can just burn more. Maybe I'll just view diet and training aspects completely separate, with speed and eating goals.

[anonymous-user]

R Mutt said:

A few seconds per 25m, over the longer distances, maybe not a great improvement, although I'm not sure whether 2 of those secs are from where my pool now has single lanes rather than me having to turn diagonally to the other side of the lane where they'd previous removed the ropes leaving double width ones.

Yeah I get my current training advice from a triathlete I wouldn't call slim... I'm still losing weight but returned to 2500 cals a day thinking I can just burn more. Maybe I'll just view diet and training aspects completely separate, with speed and eating goals.

I think because you’re likely watching both it’s easy to link them and assume your swimming is losing the weight but by far the most important factor is what you eat and drink.

You’re likely getting toned etc though, just not burning as much fat as simply eating less will do.

It’s all part of a healthy lifestyle though and both will likely give you massive health benefits and make you feel better physically and mentally.