Swimming Program

Question
I am a okay swimmer, I used to swim at the pool about 2-3 days a week during summer. Since summer is coming, I want to know if there is a good swimming workout program that I can improve my swimming speed, and lose some weight at the same time.
I used to swim around 1200 meters every time.
Thanks

Answer
Derek,
Thanks for writing.  Any physical activity that elevates your heart rate for extended periods of time will help you lose weight.  However, weight loss is fundamentally driven by the concept of total consumption.  The number of calories that you consume NEEDS to be LESS than the calories you work off.  In other words, your body uses calories (from food and fat already in your body) for energy.  If you only use up the calories from food you eat, you won't lose weight.  You need to decrease the amount of food you eat.  I don't recommend you do this without the consultation of a physician.  There are many books and articles online that can guide you through the process.  A popular one that I think is good is "Body for Life".  You might want to check it out.  I am not endorsing this...I just happen to think it's good.

As for your swimming....
Every swimming workout is going to consist of three main componenets:  warm up, main sets, and wam down.  The warm up needs to get your muscles warm and ready to work.  The main set needs to keep your heart rate elevated.  Warm down is to bring your heart rate back down to the starting point.  I can't give you any specific workout on here.  There are too many possibilities.  However I will say this.  A good guideline for the amount of time spent on each set could follow this formula:
15% warm up
70% main sets
15% warm down
Basically you need to ensure you do a warm up and warm down.  Your main sets can also include kicking and pulling (or other drills).  You should just get in the water and see what you like.

As for improving your speed, there are two things that will improve your speed.  First, you need to have someone look at your stroke.  Small changes in your stroke can lead to huge speed improvements.  Second, just swim.  The more you swim, the better you will get.  Your muscles will get trained, and you will improve your cardiovascular ability.  Trust me, the best way to improve speed is to just SWIM.

I don't think I totally answered what you were looking for.  However, there isn't a set program I can suggest for training.   Follow the 15/70/15 rule for the amount of time spent on different areas in a workout.  Also, try to at least swim 4 times/week.  3 times would be the absolute minimum.  If you are only swimming twice per week, your muscles aren't going to be able to remember what to do.  It's not going to come naturally to you.  You will not really improve your techniques and speed.  I suggest 6 days as the best.  3 days is the worst.  Forget about improvements if you are only doing it 2 times a week.  Swimming is a sport that is not natural to our bodies.  You muscles need the repetition.

I hope this answered some of your questions.
If you feel like you still need more help, let me know.  I really suggest you go to your local pool and see if there is a coach there who can look at your stroke.  Usually they will just do it for free.

Talk to you later.
Swim HARD!
Eric