How long

[smat]

Have been doing TI for 18 months now and reached new low today when not one but several of my club have told me to give up. My friends who i used to swim WITH . .... over 1k they beat me back to shore by over 6 mins. One comment was ' for god sake go back to your old stroke.' Bank balance in the red ...... swimming even a deeper shade of doom.How long before i improve or just to get back to where i was?

[Poolboy]

Post a video.

[andyinnorway]

Originally Posted by smat

Have been doing TI for 18 months now and reached new low today when not one but several of my club have told me to give up. My friends who i used to swim WITH . .... over 1k they beat me back to shore by over 6 mins. One comment was ' for god sake go back to your old stroke.' Bank balance in the red ...... swimming even a deeper shade of doom.How long before i improve or just to get back to where i was?

Why do you think you are slower than before, do you have a lower stroke rate? or are you saying that all the drills have made you less streamlined and balanced compared to your old technique?

Don't confuse TI with the low stroke rates you see on the youtube showreels. Most of the sub 24minute mile TI swimmers I know use a stroke rate between 0.9 and 1.05 in race conditions.

[westyswoods]

Smat,

I agree with Andy, you need to step back and search why you are slow. Just because you are practicing a TI stroke does not mean your times will be any slower than others.

I have struggled with the same problem, it is a result of slower more focused strokes through drills. My current challenge is busting out of the 1.3 tempo range while still maintaining same SPL. The only way I can achieve this increased tempo is using TT, just can not do it without.

Werner another forum member just sent me a tempo track which goes from 1.3 down to 1.2(.02 increments) in five minute blocks and is seamless it then reverses and goes back up to 1.3. Just received today and have all set up to try in OW tonight. Curious to see how I respond with the seamless transitions, if I even notice.

Food for thought.

Swim Silent and Be Well
Westy

[ian mac]

Smat,
Although i do not exclusively take inspiration ever from only one source in any endeavour, there is much of great value any swimmer can learn from TI.

Nonetheless, the onus ultimately is upon you to achieve your goals - nobody else.

TI is a philosophy and mindset as much as a "how to swim better" discipline.

I challenge myself and the orthodoxy of my thinking in all things, not just swimming.

If you want to be a faster swimmer, look first to those immediately around you and discuss with them how you can be faster. Train with them. If you look at my posts, I guarantee that there is much about very fast swimming for masters. I do the swimming equivalent of walking the walk 4-5 times a week. Although much of my inspiration comes from TI, much of it also comes from other sources. I often disagree with my TI brethren as you can also see from my posts.

The psychoanalyst Scott Peck once stated that if one has a behaviour one wishes to change, "The only way to stop doing something is by not doing it."

Conversely, if you wish to start swimming faster, start swimming faster. Stop blaming TI and find inspiration wherever you need to. Looking within is always a good place to start.
ian mac

[Rincewind]

Originally Posted by smat

Have been doing TI for 18 months now and reached new low today when not one but several of my club have told me to give up. My friends who i used to swim WITH . .... over 1k they beat me back to shore by over 6 mins. One comment was ' for god sake go back to your old stroke.' Bank balance in the red ...... swimming even a deeper shade of doom.How long before i improve or just to get back to where i was?

TI is just a set of drills to improve balance, streamlining etc.. There is noway you can get slower from doing drills.

You sound pretty depressed. How is everything else in your life? Maybe your overall health is not as good as it was 18 months ago?

[smat]

Thanks for your comments , but wanted to set the record straight. When i first went to my TI coach i could swim 1500 in 29 mins and i said i wanted to swim faster which he said he could help with. Over the last 18 months i have done everything he has said and done upto 12 hours drills a week . I have recently done a 1500 test and it took 36 mins . This is getting me down as noted by a poster so my post was asking HOW LONG as i am losing patience with TI.

[Rincewind]

If you are already working with a coach I doubt you will be able to get any better advice from anybody here.

Only thing I can say is that provided your overall health is good then maybe you are spending too much on drills and not enough on speed/fitness?

Drills spplement your training. Thats why I said you can't really get slower from adding drills to your routine.

What kind of training were you doing before you picked up TI? Are you still doing it?

[ian mac]

Smat,
Look at the forum "A 'Formula" for a faster 1500/1650". There are infinite ways that through TI you can be swimming faster. I PROMISE.

If you give me the following, i can suggest several sets for you that over 12 weeks will make you faster than you are now:
1. What is your current SPL when swimming at a "medium" pace of 6 x 50 (state whether it is yards or metres) and what is your average time
2. How many yards/ metres do you normally swim per practice? How many days/week are you training now. Can you commit to swimming a minimum of 3 days/week for 1 - 1.5 hours each?
3. What is your height
4. What is your age and previous swimming background
5. Do you have a tempo trainer? (TT) - if not, buy one you can get them between $20 -$45

With that info we can set up several different practices. I agree with rincewind that drills alone will not make you faster after a certain point. Many of my personal workouts are a combination of old fashioned swim sets with a focus on at least one and often 2 or 3 of the following components:
a. distance per stroke (SPL) - which is where drilling is crucial
b. stroke rate (SR) - which is why a TT is invaluable
c. time - that is after all the point of swimming with greater intensity

Give me that info and i can suggest a myriad of sets that if you commit to it, WILL make you faster.
ian mac

[MakoMike]

smat,
If you were doing 29min for 1500 I should go back to what you were doing before. There wasn't much wrong with it. The TI style is probably pulling you too far away from your natural feel for the stroke.
Mike