5 Useful Swimming Training Tools on the Web!

A strange thing happened to me since last August: I started calling myself a swimmer. Part of it's because in the last 11 months I've spent over 100 hours in the pool, and logged more than 150 miles. While that time and mileage isn't much to those who swim on teams in high school or college or beyond, for a working professional who took up swimming get fit, it's a heck of a lot of time and distance. I've been trying to join a US Masters Swim team for a couple of months, but it seems that the ones in DC are all full. So, I'm on a couple of wait lists.

As a result, I've had to get creative and find other tools to motivate and train and improve. Here are 5 online

1. Speedo Pace Club--Since nearly the beginning, I've been using the Speedo Pace Club iphone app which provides training workouts in a bunch of categories (speed, endurance, losing weight).  The workouts include drills, which are often demonstrated by top swimmers in short videos.  Probably my favorite part of this app is that it lets me log my mileage against any route on the globe--I've almost (150 miles down) completed the 169 mile swim from Sri Lanka to India.
2. US Masters Swimming Website--While I haven't found a local Masters Swimming team to train with, yet, I did join US Masters Swimming as a birthday gift to myself at the end of last year.  (Btw, Masters Swimming just refers to the nonprofit that organizes adult swimmers, if you want to learn more about them, visit their FAQ here.)  This site has workouts, message boards, and info about events.  Nike sponsors their "Go the Distance" program which is when you set an annual swimming goal and then log your swims to receive rewards.  After I logged 50 miles, I received a swimcap in the mail, I'm working my way toward 200 for the year, but as the Fitness Log reminds me every time I log in, "You'll need to pick up the pace to achieve your goal this year."  As of this morning I've logged 97 miles in the water this year, and I should be at ~102.  Good news is that I'll get in a two mile swim later today.
3.  Swimming World Workouts Database--Swimmers and coaches from all over the country upload workouts here, which is useful when you've fallen into a rut, and to find new, fun ways to push yourself.  One of my favorite, fun weekend workouts comes from this site.
4. Swimmers Guide--I travel a lot for work, and for fun.  So, I'm always trying to figure out if there's a pool nearby where I can get a swim in.  Swimmers Guide is the "most complete global resource to find a swimming pool on the web."  When I had a day free in Paris, it helped me find a public pool, and it's helped me find great pools when I'm visiting family in the suburbs of Chicago and Scottsdale, AZ.  
5. YouTube--YouTube can be a wormhole (you start looking up tips on perfecting your flipturn, 4 hours later you've watched the entire Eve and Candace back catalogue--which I highly recommend).  But, it's amazing how many top coaches, and top swimmers demonstrate drills and technique to you for free.  The quality of these videos is variable, but there are lots of great tips just by looking up "swimming drills" or "swimming technique" and start learning!

 Here's one of favorite drills for freestyle: