Finning for Pararescue

[fsamimi]

Hi all and thanks in advance for this site and for your help. I’ve been trying to increase my finning speed for the Air Force Pararescue course and really need some advice. I must fin 1500 m in less than 30 min. I won’t go into a long story, but for personal reasons I only have about 4-5 weeks to get ready for this test! I did a 500 m practice finning test in just under 11 min – this is a failing speed.

FYI, "finning" in Pararescue means surface swimming with ScubaPro Jet Fins while on your side, bottom arm out in front of you and stiff (the leading arm), top arm on your side on top of your pocket (the trailing arm). You switch sides at the end of the pool and can do 1-2 dolphin kicks when you push-off from the wall. You’re only allowed to do underwater recovery strokes to lift your head out of the water to breathe but I try to just roll a bit and raise my head without the stroke because I feel it slows me down. Not sure if this is relevant, but I’m also not too fast in freestyle swims: I do a 500 m freestyle swim in 11:53 min.

For several weeks now I’ve been doing interval training. Some days I do 100 m sprints with short rests in between sets. Other days I do 500 m with a bit longer rest periods in between sets. I’m giving it all I got but my times have barely increased. I was finning 3 days a week but am now going to increase that to 5-6 days. I really need some good advice about other workouts I can do in and out of the water to get some gains in speed ASAP. One thing I was thinking about was finning with a shirt on to increase drag while I train or investing in ankle weights.

PS: for those who know about Pararescue, I'm not training for the PAST - I need to pass a specific test for my unit to send me to Indoc.

 

[cdavis]

Hi fsamimi,

I'd try working on 4 areas:

1. Get the best streamlining you can, Play with tucking your head into the leading arm, making
sure the leading arm is straight out,fingers tight together, etc. For the test, wear the tightest bathing suit you can get, Speedo or similar.

2. Lots of laps, alternatiing sprint reps and long distance hard as you can go. Keep at this part and you will get faster. Remember to ease off a few days before the test.

3. Look into securing your foot firmly in the fin pocket so that you don't lose energy that should be going into propulsion.

4. Play with the dolphin kicks. It is surprizingly difficult to do these efficiently. Use what seems like extreme undulation, your butt goes way up and then thrust with your arms. I'm not the right guy to ask about this, maybe somebody else will chime in.

Good lluck with it


Connor

 

[Haydn]

Ok, we can sort this challenge. Just trust me. Forget interval training or fancy schedules. You dont need them. Train just for this one task. I assume you can train every day for 40 minutes. If so, thats all you need. Its a question only of pace. Week 1: Every day with no warm ups, you only do the 1500m and get out. I suggest you swim your 1500 session and try to maintain the same pace throughout (even if you recognise early on, that it will be too slow), each 100m check your watch, it will be around 2:20, it needs to be 2 mins. Dont worry, just do your swim. The first 500m is your warm up, you go for style and comfort, even if it takes 12 minutes. Then the tough 500, try with exactness to match the same time as the first 500 even if it starts to get untidy. DONT try to speed up (you are trying to find a pace at this stage). You have now swum 24 minutes. Last 500m, increase the effort a bit and try to finish inside 36 minutes. Sprint the last 100 or 200 if you can. Then without a break other than to check you final time and smile, gently swim a 100 or two to warm down. Session over. Repeat for 4 days trying to match the peace and comfort, you will notice the times for each 100 will be a second or two faster AND you will naturally try to ensure they always are. Dont be tempted to speed up just to make up a couple of more seconds, concentrate on maintaining the pace and let the seconds fall away. Speed up only during the last 500 to a sprint for as much of the last 100 or 200 as you can. repeat this simple session for 4 days straight. On the 4th day, you will know by heart, what time you should be at each 100m. It will now be around 2:10 and you will know that the next split will be 4:20, each time you check your split, you may be a second or two slow, so you spend the next 100 gradually catching it back up. You will notice your splits get to 2:08, 4:16 etc. You will anxiously approach each 100 hoping to be inside the split and you will know in advance of checking your watch, whether you are inside it or slow. You will learn the pace AND it will improve every session. Once a week, do a serious time trial. This is important: The first 500, you still go for comfort but absolutely ensure each 100 is JUST inside your previous pace. You will therefore commence the second 500 a few seconds ahead. The second 500 is the tough one, its when you begin to get tired and realise you still have a long way to go. So for this once a week time trail session, you now work this 2nd 500 really hard, as if it were the last 500, sprint the last 100 or 200. You will be around 30 seconds up. You then start the last 500 tired and puffed out. But it is the last 500 so dig in and cover it at the original pace. This will also be tough, because you will be tired. Effectively this last 1000 will all be tough. Thats why you do it only once a week. Next day you take off, no swimming.

2nd week, you do the same. You will just spend every session trying to work out the maths in your head. You wont need to count laps, you just look at your watch and you will know how far you have swum. It will take your mind off the effort. Every 5th session remember to give the emphasis on the middle 500m and ensure this ends in a personal best time even if you have to 'sprint' the last 500 as well.

After a month of doing only this training, it will be second nature. I predict you currently do 1500 in 37 minutes and in a month it will be 28 minutes.

It worked for me when I was training to swim the Channel. Remember, you are not training to sprint 100s so dont do them. You are only training to find a pace that will get you below 30 minutes. So train to find that pace.

Dont wear a t shirt or other stress inducers, you dont need them. But do get some ankle weights. Wear them for three or four hours a day. ie, if you swim after work/college, wear the weights from 9am till 1pm every day under your trousers.

Put your weekly times in this thread and keep us posted.