What is your lap time for 400 meter?

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Hoosier

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Hey regular swimmers,

What is your average lap time for 400 meter, 8 laps?
Mine is about 11 min. I canÃÕ reduce the time faster than 11 min. I donÃÕ think I swim efficiently. Based on my research, the normal number of strokes on 25 meter is about 14 or 14. 5 cycles, but mine is about 22~23 cycles (Alas!).

Thanks to the swimming, I have lost about 12 lb and swim constantly over 20 laps (1 km) without any problem, but my speed is far from satisfactory.

What is the best way to increase efficiency?
 
Best time on 400 m is 7:23 in a masters swim meet last year.

My normal pace is about 54 sec/100. Races are kind of funny. I go out way too quick in the first lap and then watch my time drop in the subsequent laps.

Your stroke count is a bit high. Mine is about 18. My coach has been working on that a lot lately. The best way to increase efficiency is to use the proper technique. The idea is to maximize distance per stroke. Your hand enters the water at an angle, reach, pull through and have your hand exit the water at your hip or beyond. As the hand exits the water "zipper" it up the side of the body. I actually brush it on my leg to make sure I am getting the full stroke and glide. It is a matter of coordinating extension, pull, rotation, and recovery. Taking a lot of shortened choppy strokes actually makes you less efficient. while it may seem like we are swimming faster, we are not. in this case exertion does not equal speed.

Still, lots of folks I know can't swim 400 meters without stopping, so you are on the right track (and they want to be lifeguards) so keep up the good work.

Streamlining has a lot to do with it. When you turn, are your hands apart and your head up? If so, the frontal area is increased and drag is decreased. If you are wearing a regular pair of swim trunks, the drag is like swimming with a parachute tied to your ankles, in which case 11 minutes might not be too bad. My lap times go to over 1 minute when I swim with regular board shorts.

Is there a master's swim program near you? If so, consider checking it out. "masters" means 18 and over not "all world class swimmers" although some are, luckily they segregate lanes by ability. With the ability to swim 1k continuously in the time you indicate you certainly would fit in as masters swimmers cover a range of ability. I am in the middle lane, which means there are two lanes of people slower than me and six lanes of people faster than me. I don't swim all the strokes, but do try. The greatest improvement in my stroke came when I go to a coached, structured workout a couple of times per week.
 
One thing I found out when I was swimming regularly was to alternate training sessions... one day focus on speed, the next on distance... eventually I got faster because I was going farther rather than simply doing sprints over and over again...

I 100% agree what covediver says about the shorts... beyond that swimmer fins, hand paddles and a swimmers snorkel does wonders too :wink:
 
Streamlining has a lot to do with it. When you turn, are your hands apart and your head up? If so, the frontal area is increased and drag is decreased.


Ooops. meant to say that drag is increased.
 
Thanks for your valuable comments.
Yes, I am wearing a regular pair of swim trunk and even a skin shirt due to some allergy issue (after regularly swimming at the pool, I got some skin irritation, so~~).
Yes, you are right. I think my head is up after every turn.

After reading the comments, I have changed my form and measured the time. Gee~~ It was 12:30, 12:00, and 13:00 (today). After focusing on the swimming form, it took longer than before.:confused:

We have some university level swimming program here, but well, even though they are all just amateur swimming lovers, but they are all great swimmers in my perspective. :depressed: Therefore, I had a couple of private lessons. The instructor just told me, "Keep swimming and more practice. You are on right track." Definitely, I have been able to extend my distance up to 1 km, but I start to look at my lap time.

Bob, thank. I will check out book and video.

Dave, it is another good idea to alternate the training session.
 
My best lap time for 400m was 50 seconds, but 55 seconds is my usual time. I do about 20 arm cycles per 25 m length.

Some things that I found helpful:
-swimming 3 times a week
-keep streamlined, as others mentioned
-trying to keep consistent pressure on through the whole arm pull, not letting my hand "slip" through part of the pull
-starting to weight train once a week gave me a little boost in speed
 
Need to start swimming again... my 400 for the DM test was quite easy, but my pace was not consistent at all.
 
I'm have to do 500 meters in 16 minutes for my ERDI training. First try 34 minutes. Got some work to do on it.
800 meters with fins ,mask and snorkel 16 minutes. First try 12 minutes.
Swim underwater 25 meters with no gear . Got that on second attempt.
Tread water 15 mins last 2 minutes hands out of water. This shouldn't be too bad.
I guess I'll be hitting the pool often, I do enjoy the swims and I hate sweating when exercising, so this may be my perfect exercise for me. I thought biking was, but it only works on the legs where swimming seems to work whole body.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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