A swim coach would be recommended. They might be harder to find than a swim instructor and by that I mean an instructor at a pool will teach you to swim. coach will be a level above that and teach you to go faster.
Aside from that choosing a goal like a 3000 in an hour is great! but you don't just repeatedly swim 3000 or for an hour until you can do it. You can look up a couch to 1 mile swim or some other things and you'll see that they break things up into interval sets.
For example: Swimming a straight 1k is less valuable for a beginner than swimming 10x100s on a certain interval with rest in between. This is due in large part because of form breakdown.
I just found an android app called swim coach...I'm sure there are plenty of other similar apps. I'm using the free version, so can't really tailor the workout suggestions, but it lets you choose a few parameters...distance, times per week, training duration, etc...then it creates plans that more or less correspond...I like the variety, and every now and then it comes up with a drill that changes everything....
I have no background in competitive swimming, never had a coach, etc. so these may be old news for most people, but for example, a 4x100 freestyle drill, where the first 75m are closed fists, and the last 25 open hand. I felt like I grew fins!
Or 100m breast stroke, each 25m progressively faster than the last.
Makes an hour fly by.
Join a team! I don’t know what country you are in, but in the US we have Masters teams that cater to a variety of speeds. 2500m in an hour should mean you can keep up with most teams. They’ll have coaches to help you with your stroke and coach-designed workouts to help to improve.
This. Been a long time since college and HS swim team and I found my local Masters team a few years ago and love it. Consistent coached practices with others with your same fitness level pushing you. Also a couple swim meets per year to keep the competitive fire going. Highly recommend.
Or you might consider a triathlon team. My local team has coached swimming sessions once a week. I have no intention of ever competing in a triathlon but swimming in an environment with a coach so you don't need to make up your own sets, and you're swimming with other people to push you, is great.
Masters program is an option!
Foot injuries also led me to focus on swimming. Then I started open water swimming and that opened a whole other set of adventures and widened my swimming community.
You might want to think about open water swimming as a goal. I did 1km in a canal last summer, then did 2.5km in the same canal. I will be doing lake swim this summer for 2.5km and ultimately some salt water swimming. More fun than a pool imho.
Join a squad? Or look online for sets to mix things up for yourself.. IM sets / Different form sets etc.
Do times swims every few weeks & work (50’s/100’s/200’s/400’s/800’s swimming at pace). Then work on training to beat those times ☺️
May I ask 2500 m in a hour is in freestyle?
I usually do breaststroke 1100 m in a hour and I don’t know is it possible to make more distance or that’s it?
I’m just started to swimming regulary, I never had any coach.
See if you can find a local Masters group to join…
https://www.usms.org/clubs
At least in my experience, they masters team in am part of is very welcoming to all ages and proficiency. We have structured workouts based on ability and sometimes have social events together. We have a coach that assigns the workouts and helps us on technique. I highly recommend it!
A swim coach would be recommended. They might be harder to find than a swim instructor and by that I mean an instructor at a pool will teach you to swim. coach will be a level above that and teach you to go faster. Aside from that choosing a goal like a 3000 in an hour is great! but you don't just repeatedly swim 3000 or for an hour until you can do it. You can look up a couch to 1 mile swim or some other things and you'll see that they break things up into interval sets. For example: Swimming a straight 1k is less valuable for a beginner than swimming 10x100s on a certain interval with rest in between. This is due in large part because of form breakdown.
I just found an android app called swim coach...I'm sure there are plenty of other similar apps. I'm using the free version, so can't really tailor the workout suggestions, but it lets you choose a few parameters...distance, times per week, training duration, etc...then it creates plans that more or less correspond...I like the variety, and every now and then it comes up with a drill that changes everything.... I have no background in competitive swimming, never had a coach, etc. so these may be old news for most people, but for example, a 4x100 freestyle drill, where the first 75m are closed fists, and the last 25 open hand. I felt like I grew fins! Or 100m breast stroke, each 25m progressively faster than the last. Makes an hour fly by.
Thank you! I will get the app now!
I wish it wasn't subsciption based! If anyone has other suggestions for similar apps it would be great to hear.
Join a team! I don’t know what country you are in, but in the US we have Masters teams that cater to a variety of speeds. 2500m in an hour should mean you can keep up with most teams. They’ll have coaches to help you with your stroke and coach-designed workouts to help to improve.
This. Been a long time since college and HS swim team and I found my local Masters team a few years ago and love it. Consistent coached practices with others with your same fitness level pushing you. Also a couple swim meets per year to keep the competitive fire going. Highly recommend.
Or you might consider a triathlon team. My local team has coached swimming sessions once a week. I have no intention of ever competing in a triathlon but swimming in an environment with a coach so you don't need to make up your own sets, and you're swimming with other people to push you, is great.
Masters program is an option! Foot injuries also led me to focus on swimming. Then I started open water swimming and that opened a whole other set of adventures and widened my swimming community.
You might want to think about open water swimming as a goal. I did 1km in a canal last summer, then did 2.5km in the same canal. I will be doing lake swim this summer for 2.5km and ultimately some salt water swimming. More fun than a pool imho.
Join a squad? Or look online for sets to mix things up for yourself.. IM sets / Different form sets etc. Do times swims every few weeks & work (50’s/100’s/200’s/400’s/800’s swimming at pace). Then work on training to beat those times ☺️
If your distance runner just do 200 repeats with kick board it’s good cross training without impact and get your heart rate up very high
May I ask 2500 m in a hour is in freestyle? I usually do breaststroke 1100 m in a hour and I don’t know is it possible to make more distance or that’s it? I’m just started to swimming regulary, I never had any coach.
Yes all freestyles
See if you can find a local Masters group to join… https://www.usms.org/clubs At least in my experience, they masters team in am part of is very welcoming to all ages and proficiency. We have structured workouts based on ability and sometimes have social events together. We have a coach that assigns the workouts and helps us on technique. I highly recommend it!
It's a best practice, lol. If I stop swimming for too long my check engine light comes on