Swimming training plans

Hi all, a mate of mine who is a VERY novice swimmer is taking on a challenge to swim 1.4 miles in 11 weeks time, shes fairly slow and just starting out in her exercise regime having recently lost 4 stone. I'm very proud of her for taking on this challenge but she's the kind of person that needs a training plan for her to stick to, to achieve this but i can't seem to find any on the usual google avenues - anyone got a linky thing or an idea where i may find one??

Cheers all

You might do better asking in the Triathlon forum but I know what you mean about it being difficult to find plans.

I just make up my own plans. The biggest problem most people have with swim training is the boredom factor, so it helps to mix it up with a few different drills. The drills available will depend on what stroke(s) your friend does. Because swimming effectively is very technique driven and not so dependant on fitness, the more often you can do it, the more quickly you will improve.

If you google "swim drills" you will have more luck finding information in open access sites.

Ultimately though, the most straight-forward plan is to draw a graph showing how many lengths your friend can swim today versus how many she needs to swim in eleven weeks and aim to increase the weekly distance proportionately. There's no need to taper like you would expect to for running.

I hope this helps. Wish her luck.