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
I've been following this thread because I think it relates to me.
I too wonder at the line between training enough/over training. Here is what I am doing this year (started in mid-Sept) and while I am finding it tiring, I'm going to wait till the end of November before I decide if it's too much.
I joined a masters team for the first time last year (swam one year in college many many years ago (I'm 35 :afraid:)). I joined the masters team nearest to me, but they only practice three times a week. I added "swims" by swimming about 5 times a week at the local pool in "lane swim" time. (Some days fast guys would show up and we'd do 3 -4 km with sets like 8x200m on 3:00, but other days, not so much. Two of them I reserved for recovery/technique/thinking swimming slow/drills, kick, etc..)
Doing the above for about a year, I decreased my 100m time by 5 seconds to 1:05. (which coincidentally, was my college time).
This year, in an effort to continue to improve (my lifetime goal is to swim 100m in under a minute*), I've stepped up my practices by joining a second masters team which practices 5 times a week.
SO I swim:
Mon AM - 1.5 hours (team A)
Mon PM - 1.5 hrs (team B)
Tues - REST
Wed - AM (team A) - 1.5 hrs
Wed - PM (team B) - 1.5 hrs
Thurs PM (team B) -2 hrs
Friday PM (team B) - 2hrs
Sat AM (team A) - 1.5 hrs
Sun AM (team B) - 2 hrs
Avg weekly meterage has been b/w 30-35km. Both teams have great coaches and fast& fun swimmers to challenge myself against. Sometimes I've gotten unlucky in the doubles where team a and b have very similar practices and then I really suffer in the second, but in general, it's been ok. (Mentally it can be REALLY tough though, to feel like you're kinda sucking at it)
I do miss my two swims a week which were slow/technical/thinking swimming. I have considered adding them back in Thurs and Fri morning, but really, I also feel like I'm swimming enough and don't want to burn out.
So anyway. I'm older than you, and that's what I'm doing. Ask me in a few months if I recommend it. :) I definitely recommend what I did last year, but I wanted to step it up a bit.
* I'm a bit weird with my goals. My goal is not precisely to swim 100 meters sub a minute. It is to swim with technique that is good enough to swim 100 meters under a minute. I have picked one minute because that is what my gut tells me I could do if my technique was as good as I could possibly make it. But I could be wrong. :)
I've been following this thread because I think it relates to me.
I too wonder at the line between training enough/over training. Here is what I am doing this year (started in mid-Sept) and while I am finding it tiring, I'm going to wait till the end of November before I decide if it's too much.
I joined a masters team for the first time last year (swam one year in college many many years ago (I'm 35 :afraid:)). I joined the masters team nearest to me, but they only practice three times a week. I added "swims" by swimming about 5 times a week at the local pool in "lane swim" time. (Some days fast guys would show up and we'd do 3 -4 km with sets like 8x200m on 3:00, but other days, not so much. Two of them I reserved for recovery/technique/thinking swimming slow/drills, kick, etc..)
Doing the above for about a year, I decreased my 100m time by 5 seconds to 1:05. (which coincidentally, was my college time).
This year, in an effort to continue to improve (my lifetime goal is to swim 100m in under a minute*), I've stepped up my practices by joining a second masters team which practices 5 times a week.
SO I swim:
Mon AM - 1.5 hours (team A)
Mon PM - 1.5 hrs (team B)
Tues - REST
Wed - AM (team A) - 1.5 hrs
Wed - PM (team B) - 1.5 hrs
Thurs PM (team B) -2 hrs
Friday PM (team B) - 2hrs
Sat AM (team A) - 1.5 hrs
Sun AM (team B) - 2 hrs
Avg weekly meterage has been b/w 30-35km. Both teams have great coaches and fast& fun swimmers to challenge myself against. Sometimes I've gotten unlucky in the doubles where team a and b have very similar practices and then I really suffer in the second, but in general, it's been ok. (Mentally it can be REALLY tough though, to feel like you're kinda sucking at it)
I do miss my two swims a week which were slow/technical/thinking swimming. I have considered adding them back in Thurs and Fri morning, but really, I also feel like I'm swimming enough and don't want to burn out.
So anyway. I'm older than you, and that's what I'm doing. Ask me in a few months if I recommend it. :) I definitely recommend what I did last year, but I wanted to step it up a bit.
* I'm a bit weird with my goals. My goal is not precisely to swim 100 meters sub a minute. It is to swim with technique that is good enough to swim 100 meters under a minute. I have picked one minute because that is what my gut tells me I could do if my technique was as good as I could possibly make it. But I could be wrong. :)
