[milkman21]

Hmm... sounds like you've got a lot of work to do (which you know), and you're not totally into it mentally (which you also know).

First of all, you need to decide how important this really is.

I've known *so many* swimmers who competed and trained for 1-5 years too many. Their hearts weren't in it, and it made the whole thing a miserable experience. Frankly, at your level of swimming, you need to be 100% motivated at this stage in the game, or you'll really question your motivation when the workouts become long and intense.

Now, if you're motivated, then here's what I'd suggest:

1. Swim 5 days/week. There's no better way to get in swimming shape than to swim (duh!).
2. Find a lap pool if you can, but you can make due with a lake if necessary.
3. Aim for 3000 - 5000 yards/day. (See workout ideas below)
4. Strength train 2 days/week (on a light swim day, and one day on the weekend) (see workout ideas below)

Here's a sample week, of what I would do if I wanted to get back into competition shape:


Monday:
Swim - 4500 yard minimum, Endurance/Aerobic focus. Sets should be composed of swims that are 400 yards and longer.
500 warm-up
10x50's build on an easy interval
8 x 400 freestyle (descend 1-4 and 5-8 to fast)
warm down


Tuesday:
Swim - 4000 yard minimum, IM focus.
500 warm-up
12x50 IM Drills
4x(4x50 stroke + 200 IM) (one stroke per round)
4x(4x25 stroke + 100 IM) (one stroke per round)
20x50 kick (IM order, build speed/effort throughout the whole set, end with sprint kick)
warm down

Wednesday:
Swim - 3000-3500 yards, hypoxic work, drills, and technique.
500 warm-up
10x75 k-dr-sw (work non-freestyle stroke)
10x50 with some breath control involved (as hard as you can handle)
10x100 minimum-stroke count IM
warm down

Lift - 2 sets of 10-12 reps of each:
squats supersetted with horizontal rows
lunges supersetted with bench
pull-ups supersetted with shoulder press.
Do some additional shoulder prehab work if you're prone to swimmer's shoulder.

Thursday:
Swim - 3500-4000 yards, anaerobic focus, some stroke, some freestyle.
500 warm-up
10x50 build
5x200 stroke (2fast, 1 easy) on 30s - 60s rest
5x100 stroke (2fast, 1 easy) on 20-45s rest
8x75 kick (1fast, 1 easy) on 20-30s rest
20x25 hypoxic work (3F, 1E, fast should be as fast as possible while making breathing goals)
warm down

Friday:
Swim - 2500-3000 yards, sprint/lactate focus
500 warm-up
10x50 build
4x25, build each to sprint speed
6x100 sprint (from blocks, if possible) on 5 minutes rest. Record your times.
200 EZ
4x50 sprint on 3 minutes rest. Record your times.
warm down as needed


Saturday:
Lift - 3 sets of 6-8 reps of each:
deadlifts supersetted with chin-ups
lunges (or bulgarian split squats, if you know what these are) supersetted with military press
DB bench press supersetted with DB rows
Add shoulder "maintenance" work if necessary.


Sunday:
Stretch, foam roll, recover.



Hope this gives you some ideas, for starters.