Sorry if this has been posted before, new to the site and still learning to navigate.
I swam competitively in high school. That was 10 years ago. Have been in the pool on and off, but nothing steady.
Recommendations on how to ease back into shape? Should I focus on distance workouts?
I am just looking to get in some cardio, not interested in competing or getting faster.
I am shocked to find myself winded after more than a 50/ 75. I can do a pretty easy 200 when I get in. If I take a 5-10 second rest after each 50 I can swim a strong 50, have great technique and feel like I could swim for hours - however when I try to swim a 100 in the middle of my workout I find myself getting fatigued quickly.
Recs on how to structure workouts after being out of the pool for several years - obviously I'm very out of shape :/
Thanks!
Parents
Former Member
I have returned twice now, and each time I was unable to wash my back for about a week I was so stiff.
This is what I remember worked for me. Frequency was more important than distance, so swimming every day for 30 minutes is better than 3x/week for an hour. Work up to the base yardage before adding speed, if you expect to swim 3k/workout once you are back in shape, build up to the 3k first, then start worrying about adding some speed to your work.
Something to consider, each time I returned, I managed to cause myself shoulder problems by adding yardage and speed too quickly, which resulted in boring kick only workouts for a few weeks, then building back up yardage with focus on technique, ignoring speed (puke), so listen to you body and take it easy.
The easiest way to stick with it is to join a team. My team has a roster of about a 100 and attendance is around 30-40 (we have a 50Mx25yd pool, so we don't even circle swim during short course) and out of all those people I am the only one who competes in the local meets. I think my team is considered large. For the Christmas relay meet and if Zones are local, more people will come out to swim relays, but the team does not focus on competing. We have a ton of triathletes, from sprint to ironman and I have never been asked to compete in their events either, but I do ask my friends on the team to try to make it to the Christmas Relay meet... otherwise I can't go either :)
If you have a local masters team, find out what their trial is and give it a shot. It is a completely different world to the super structured intense training USA-S swimming of my childhood. "Fly, you want me to do Fly? Very funny." I rarely miss team practices, but miss my planned solo practices all the time.
I have returned twice now, and each time I was unable to wash my back for about a week I was so stiff.
This is what I remember worked for me. Frequency was more important than distance, so swimming every day for 30 minutes is better than 3x/week for an hour. Work up to the base yardage before adding speed, if you expect to swim 3k/workout once you are back in shape, build up to the 3k first, then start worrying about adding some speed to your work.
Something to consider, each time I returned, I managed to cause myself shoulder problems by adding yardage and speed too quickly, which resulted in boring kick only workouts for a few weeks, then building back up yardage with focus on technique, ignoring speed (puke), so listen to you body and take it easy.
The easiest way to stick with it is to join a team. My team has a roster of about a 100 and attendance is around 30-40 (we have a 50Mx25yd pool, so we don't even circle swim during short course) and out of all those people I am the only one who competes in the local meets. I think my team is considered large. For the Christmas relay meet and if Zones are local, more people will come out to swim relays, but the team does not focus on competing. We have a ton of triathletes, from sprint to ironman and I have never been asked to compete in their events either, but I do ask my friends on the team to try to make it to the Christmas Relay meet... otherwise I can't go either :)
If you have a local masters team, find out what their trial is and give it a shot. It is a completely different world to the super structured intense training USA-S swimming of my childhood. "Fly, you want me to do Fly? Very funny." I rarely miss team practices, but miss my planned solo practices all the time.
