My big question is...how often should I swim/train to achieve my swim goals?
I never know if swimming 5 days a week vs swimming 7 days is better because some days your body is just tired and you end up having not-as-good-workout. Does that make the workout productive or is rest better?
I was swimming everyday for 3 months straight practically, working myself really hard, doing twice a week weights, and then I hurt my shoulder for the 1st time in my life! I swam competitively in high school and never had an injury. It made me feel old.
However, I still want to work hard and achieve my goals but I just don't know if swimming everyday is the answer. I understand that it also depends WHAT I swim daily and how intense I work as well...but I just do whatever workout the masters coach gives us that day. So it varies.
I feel like I'm training without any idea of how to get to where I want.
I have a very ambitious goal...but fortunately I told myself I'd just like to achieve this some time in my life..whether it's in two years or 20 years....but I would like to drop 5 seconds in my 100 freestyle. Someday. Yes, it's obviously incredibly difficult to drop that much time in a sprint event but I want to! The question is...how to get there? Is swimming everyday the key? Or maybe it has nothing to do with number of times I work out but more about what I'm actually doing at the practice. But what should I be doing? Of course technique is important.
I'd just like to hear some suggestions. I feel like I'm swimming in the dark!
Thanks!
-Helen
Parents
Former Member
Yes, I'm on a masters team! They are pretty great with their workouts but we do different things everyday. Once a week I get a sprint freestyle day so that's when I really try to get in my sprint time.
In terms of swimming fast at practice, I always try to get in a lane that's faster than me so I'm always trying to catch up to people, which forces me to swim faster. The hard part is, each day when I go to practice, we are working on different things, such as one day IM, one day is distance...so they are not 100s fast all the time. But you're right, at the same time, I cannot swim that hard everyday...I think that's how I injured myself.
I feel like I don't know the line between working too hard where it's unproductive vs training hard and making myself faster. I felt like I was working too hard in the past because that's how I hurt my shoulder.
I haven't been doing too much weights but I know I should. Once or twice a week maybe?
I can currently do 10 x 100s on 1:30 which allows me 5 seconds rest. My best 100 yards free time is 1:07. My goal of 1:02 is a super long term goal, so maybe I should start with something simple like trying to get to a 1:04 in the next two years. Is that reasonable?
Yes, I'm on a masters team! They are pretty great with their workouts but we do different things everyday. Once a week I get a sprint freestyle day so that's when I really try to get in my sprint time.
In terms of swimming fast at practice, I always try to get in a lane that's faster than me so I'm always trying to catch up to people, which forces me to swim faster. The hard part is, each day when I go to practice, we are working on different things, such as one day IM, one day is distance...so they are not 100s fast all the time. But you're right, at the same time, I cannot swim that hard everyday...I think that's how I injured myself.
I feel like I don't know the line between working too hard where it's unproductive vs training hard and making myself faster. I felt like I was working too hard in the past because that's how I hurt my shoulder.
I haven't been doing too much weights but I know I should. Once or twice a week maybe?
I can currently do 10 x 100s on 1:30 which allows me 5 seconds rest. My best 100 yards free time is 1:07. My goal of 1:02 is a super long term goal, so maybe I should start with something simple like trying to get to a 1:04 in the next two years. Is that reasonable?
