Aerobic Swims

THE AEROBIC CHALLENGE

Aerobic swimming means swimming "with oxygen", as opposed to anaerobic swimming, which means that the swimmer goes into oxygen debt - that puffed out feeling one gets after a 50m sprint. 

For those of you who have never tried an aerobic swim, there are many advantages. 

Continuous aerobic swimming improves one's heart and lung capacity and hence general fitness. 

It also teaches one to "pace" oneself over longer distances so that the swim feels comfortable. If you wish, no one else needs to even know the time you take to do a swim.

You swim for yourself and the challenge is to try to improve your time over a given distance and stroke. Most people who start aerobic swims are surprised by the improvement in their times, which enhances their confidence in their own ability, giving quite a boost to the ego. Some swimmers even overcome their nervousness of interclub competition and give that "a go".

There are rules set out for the aerobic challenge. It is a National Competition and points are awarded for the times swum in each category relative to age group and whether male or female. 

The swim distances of choice are 400 metres or 800 metres of all strokes. Each set of 400m or 800m is swum five times in five different months of the year. The average times for the five swims are calculated . From a table of age of swimmer against time, points are scored for the swimmer (and for the club). 

There are also endurance swims of one half -hour, three-quarters of an hour, and an hour swim as well as a 1500m swim. These are "once only swims" but attract higher point scores. 

As already stated, there is a National Aerobic Competition in which all clubs in Australia compete against each other. The points scored by each swimmer who enters the competition are collated and the club whose members- earn the most points wins the annual trophy.

Two trophies are awarded at the end of the year, to the club scoring the highest total points and the club scoring the highest average points per member.  

Jelle Lahnstein is the Aerobics Swim coordinator. For more information, contact him here.