It wasn’t even waist deep. The water was barely up to my thighs. If I felt any danger I could just stand up.
I was swimming recently in my company pool, and after I was done with my 1K, I dove to the bottom of the pool (only about 120cm deep at most) and travelled the length of the pool (25m) in one breath.
When I surfaced, the lifeguard told me not to do it because someone tried to pull it off last time and had to surface due to lack of oxygen to his brain.
I was like… well, then it’s good that he surfaced to get some air…
The brain is built to force you to not die from a lack of air. I mean if someone lost the ability to automatically stand up and get some air when he is running low on oxygen, it really doesn’t matter if he’s swimming along the bottom of the pool or swimming on the surface. That person has no business in a pool to begin with.
Sounds like he should come up for air too. That’s epic.
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Oooh, another swimmer! What do you do that 1k in? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want. I did 10x100m intervals this morning (1’36" with 54" rest for each 100m) and I just love the sport.
I guess there have been cases of people passing out during hypoxic training. But I’m sure that never happened by doing a lap in a pool that’s 120cm deep! Sounds ridiculous.
I mean, he’s not wrong … after all, every few strokes, I have to turn my head to breathe because I don’t want my brain to lack oxygen. For that matter, every few seconds, even on land, I take the dramatic step of not breathing in, and then I have to once again breathe in. What I crazy fool I am.
I’m impressed your lifeguard noticed you. At our pool they’re usually on their phones.
Marasan, you didn’t ask me, but these days I’m doing one kilometer in around 20 minutes. I don’t do intervals like you do - typically my set is 500m of 400m free + 100m kick, repeated two or three times. I’ve had weird health issues lately so intense exercise has become … unwelcome. (Bad tinnitus, dizziness.) At my best, I’ve done those 500m sets on 9:20, and 1 km at 18:40, but that hasn’t happened in a year or so. Doing 100m freestyle on 2:00 is fairly easy for me, at 1:50 is a decent work-out, and 1:40 is really tough (and perhaps currently impossible).
That’s all good and definitely much better than most at most pools. I would recommend shorter intervals since as we fatigue, our form goes out the window. The thing about swimming is that we want to reinforce good form always (something about muscle memory is how it was explained to me). This together with all the other great reasons for intervals, and your times should improve with just this adjustment to your workout routine. It has worked for me as my times are improving again after a long lull. I’m going to switch to mostly swimming in a few weeks and see how far I can go with the sport, rather than the current 1x or 2x per week in the pool while doing other things the rest of the time.
You mentioned some health issues. I think you can still make this adjustment, just don’t go as intense as you normally would when completely healthy.
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OK, I’m jealous.
That pretty much sums up the beach swimming regulations in Taiwan.
I need to get one of those wearable swimming wrist bands that would tell me those things, but they all look so damn bulky at the moment.
I usually do my 1k in under 30 minutes. I sort of cheat by doing freestyle one way and do breaststroke on my return. Although my breaststroke isn’t that slow either.
I used to do 2k when I have an hour to spare because I usually finish 2k under 1 hour.
Lately, when I have the time, I would finish my 1k and switch to all freestyle for 0.5k, at about the same rate, but I think I need more strength training to pull off 2k using only freestyle.
It’s kinda sad I can’t pretend I’m a submarine in the pool anymore. It used to be my favorite activity in the pool.
I’m fascinated by free-diving, and one of these days I’m going to take the classes for it. If I’m going to pass out, it’s going to be in open ocean, and not passing out in a pool that is barely as deep as my navel like a wimp.
and it’s free 
Well, it was closed for years when the company wasn’t doing so hot. So they made it free before summer time to make up for it.
Wonder how a Taiwanese lifeguard would react to a free-diving Bajau in their pool?
Wrap them up in yellow tape and wheel them away
Put them in an aquarium and charge admission. 
The fitness trackers seem to be in the “not there yet” stage for swimming. Quite a few seem fairly reliable at tracking lengths, but they’re not going to track lengths you do with a kickboard. And the heart rate monitoring just doesn’t work in the water (yet?). There are a few trackers out there that I believe you can wear in a headband, under your swim cap, and that can give you heart rate data later, but I’m not sure if you can get a read out off a watch in the pool.
Nice times, really. And I wouldn’t consider it cheating by switching with breaststroke. I’ve done triathlon races like that (when there are too many people, and also when there are big waves and I want to make sure I’m on course).
Keep working on your form. Freestyle is the most efficient stroke and can also be the easiest when you need to back off and need a break. I made the switch from breaststroke to freestyle and I’ve never looked back.
I hope this doesn’t sound like I’m bragging (I mean this more to encourage), but you know how you get in those races with the guy in your lane or with the guy in the adjacent lane? If he switches to breaststroke sometime during our little race, I immediately relax and know that I’ll beat him if I just keep my present pace. I know he’s tiring himself out quickly with breaststroke. There’s just no comparison between freestyle and breaststroke.
I learnt how to swim when I was 10, and haven’t updated my knowledge in the matter since. So recently I’ve been doing a lot of reading and watching pro videos on the most efficient forms nowadays.
I’ve only just discovered EVF like last month, and I have been working on doing it correctly. I think I can do a sustained freestyle 2k at a slowly pace than what I’m doing now, but I want to work myself up to maintaining my current speed and still not lose my form when I get past 1k.
It sounds like you’re doing everything the right way! EVF is so tricky unless you’re super flexible and young. I personally go down with a straight arm a bit then start my EVF. And my right arm is better than my left. I would break your swim into intervals for a month or two then try your 1k or 2k swim again. I think you’ll be amazed at the result. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not all that much faster than you. Those are good times- both for you and lostinasia.
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Especially since they aren’t wearing swimming caps!! 
@tango42 so where am I supposed to swim? I’ve got the whole beach to myself if I don’t count the beach police. They are only watching me on this Tuesday.
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