Like many others, I've made the transition to outdoor LCM swimming for the summer. I love it in many ways. But I have noticed that the "garbage yards" problem creeps in when I swim long course. I work on my stroke, which is good, but my tempo and overall intensity drop. I swim with fitness lap swimmers for the most part, or alone. The other day I swam some 100s alternating between easy and hard, and made some progress on the hard ones. But I notice that I anticipate my pool time less because it feels like I'm mailing it in.
Does anybody else have this problem? If so, do you have suggestions for how to introduce more variation and intensity into long course swimming?
Do you train by yourself? If you do, that may be the whole problem. I noticed last year when I had to train by myself I did sort of the same thing - and I excused myself saying, I was at least keeping my feel for the water. But, if you want to race, and now, I suddenly do, then you need to race in practice too. Sometimes racing the clock is hard (emotionally) but lapping some one you don't even know can be a fun challenge! When I train on my own (2-3 times a week) I use more toys. Toys are FUN! Especially big fins, which I save for very very special occasions (maybe only 2-3 times a year) - I find it easier to really work my kick when I have zoomers on, and so I can push the interval down tighter - when I put on paddles & my pull bouy I can not only focus on my stroke technique, but I can play around with breathing every 5th, 7th, 9th etc & see how tight an interval I can keep. You're right, sometimes it's hard, and it seems like the yardage is just like ticking a box - ok, did that - but if you're stuck swimming alone you gotta get creative to keep it fun. Some days it just doesn't pay to get out of bed. Some days I just don't want to get out of the pool!! (Specially if the water is perfect, the sun is shining, and I'm swimming great!)
Do you train by yourself? If you do, that may be the whole problem. I noticed last year when I had to train by myself I did sort of the same thing - and I excused myself saying, I was at least keeping my feel for the water. But, if you want to race, and now, I suddenly do, then you need to race in practice too. Sometimes racing the clock is hard (emotionally) but lapping some one you don't even know can be a fun challenge! When I train on my own (2-3 times a week) I use more toys. Toys are FUN! Especially big fins, which I save for very very special occasions (maybe only 2-3 times a year) - I find it easier to really work my kick when I have zoomers on, and so I can push the interval down tighter - when I put on paddles & my pull bouy I can not only focus on my stroke technique, but I can play around with breathing every 5th, 7th, 9th etc & see how tight an interval I can keep. You're right, sometimes it's hard, and it seems like the yardage is just like ticking a box - ok, did that - but if you're stuck swimming alone you gotta get creative to keep it fun. Some days it just doesn't pay to get out of bed. Some days I just don't want to get out of the pool!! (Specially if the water is perfect, the sun is shining, and I'm swimming great!)
