I have a question for all my fellow friends on the board. I am 21 years old and I have been swimming since I was 14. I took a year off age 19-20. So I recently started swimming again. Since that time I have dropped a lot of time in my events and I have been in the best shape of my life. I really want to see how much faster I can become. I swim back and distance free with the occasional *** race.
This past fall and spring I swam with my masters team around 6,000 scy or 5000 LCM a day (2hr practice) as well as lifting 3x a week. I was often sore but it was good and I was improving. This summer however, I have been training with a US team. They are a faster than my masters team and I have enjoyed the challenge. Because of this practices are a bit more intense but we only swim 4,000 to 4,500 LCM (practices are an hour and a half instead of two). I have been lifting 2-3 times a week. However this is my limit. I have never pushed so hard in my life. Last week I was unable to make any of the times by quite a bit that I usually do (this was Thursday and Friday). I was too sore and it wasn't possible. I was dead. I am very driven and tend to push my self regardless of how I feel however, I have never felt this worn out and physically restricted.
So my question is this. Is this normal to be that worn out? I feel like I went down in yardage but I am more tired and exhausted. That alone has made me frustrated. I eat pretty healthy but I know I could do better. Do you think that is it? Am I pushing too hard? Is it all mental and I just need to push through it? Is this normal to be this sore?
Any thoughts are welcome. If there is other information I can give let me know.
