I'm an overweight 52 year old man who has made a somewhat miraculous return to swimming. I've been swimming 4 to 6 times a week for about 12 weeks now. My workouts began with 9 x 50's the first week and have progressed to about 1800 yards in about 50 minutes (typically 2x450's, 200 kick with fins, 5x100's free, pull or paddles, and 4x 50's). I had a swim buddy but he finally decided that he just hated getting in the pool so he quit on me. So I found a small group of Masters swimmers at my club who swim early morning at 5:15 AM and I joined them this week because I find it very difficult to stay motivated swimming solo.
When I showed up this morning no one was there, so I jumped in and started swimming. I had ZERO MOJO, didn't want to be there, the voice in my head was screaming quit, quit already. I felt tired and lazy and barely managed to finish a sloppy 1500 yards. I've felt this way in the pool before and I think it's how my buddy felt and why he quit. Does anyone have suggestions as to how to fight this feeling some days and how to stay motivated and determined everyday you go to swim? I mean it's 5:00 AM and you're already there, why not just bust it out and finish your workout. Thanks for listening to my personal appeal for help.
Parents
Former Member
I have lofty goals and terrible self motivation - The perfect combo for failure and a return to TV and chips... The thing that actually gets me in the water is the people that I swim with. We have a great group of swimmers with a competitive/supportive relationship. Our coach seems to know how to capitalize on the competitive aspects by putting people in lanes where they have a "chase" situation. I have only been back in the water for a few months and the coach has keyed in on my need to challenge a more advanced swimmer. The result is that my self motivation gets me in the water and my teammates push me to my limits.
p.s. The battle over water temp with the noodle-heads is annoying. I pity the pool-tender who has to deal with the constant bickering. But I am not below whining to him when the pool starts to resemble a hot tub with lane lines.
I have lofty goals and terrible self motivation - The perfect combo for failure and a return to TV and chips... The thing that actually gets me in the water is the people that I swim with. We have a great group of swimmers with a competitive/supportive relationship. Our coach seems to know how to capitalize on the competitive aspects by putting people in lanes where they have a "chase" situation. I have only been back in the water for a few months and the coach has keyed in on my need to challenge a more advanced swimmer. The result is that my self motivation gets me in the water and my teammates push me to my limits.
p.s. The battle over water temp with the noodle-heads is annoying. I pity the pool-tender who has to deal with the constant bickering. But I am not below whining to him when the pool starts to resemble a hot tub with lane lines.
