Hi! I'm new to this forum. I swam competitively in college and continued to swim on my own for exercise since then. I'm now 43 years old. I don't compete; I've always been kind of a workout swimmer and measured myself based on the intervals I can make and how fast I can repeat a distance consistently on a particular interval. I've spent many years training on my own, and the last few years working out with a group. Up until I was about 40, I pretty much stayed the same pace and was able to make certain intervals on my own, and could make even harder ones when swimming with others. I've noticed that in just the past year, I've gotten significantly slower. I can't make the intervals I used to and my pace time for a 400 yds. is about 10 seconds slower than it was just a few years ago. I haven't changed anything in my training, but I must admit that all I do is aerobic work and anaerobic threshold work - no quality or sprints. Has this happened to anyone else? Any way to change things and get my faster self back? Thanks!
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Thanks for the feedback! I am going to start going to some speed workouts, which I have been avoiding, since I don't swim much faster when going all out than when I do normally and I get frustrated, but I am going to give it a go and see. It can't hurt to try something different!
Agreed on the advise you've been given. I started back in the sport at 40 and put in some good times by 42. Between 43 and 45 it seems that I hit a slight plateau.
I ran into my college coach at a meet back in 2009 and we talked about workouts etc. (which I do on my own). He highly recommended practices which incorporated fast pace sets to get the feel for racing again. I started getting away from survival sets of 100's and 200's on tight interval and tried things with ez hard type efforts at least twice a week. A long story short it works. I never would have thought it possible to be faster at age 50 than my early 40's.
Thanks for the feedback! I am going to start going to some speed workouts, which I have been avoiding, since I don't swim much faster when going all out than when I do normally and I get frustrated, but I am going to give it a go and see. It can't hurt to try something different!
Agreed on the advise you've been given. I started back in the sport at 40 and put in some good times by 42. Between 43 and 45 it seems that I hit a slight plateau.
I ran into my college coach at a meet back in 2009 and we talked about workouts etc. (which I do on my own). He highly recommended practices which incorporated fast pace sets to get the feel for racing again. I started getting away from survival sets of 100's and 200's on tight interval and tried things with ez hard type efforts at least twice a week. A long story short it works. I never would have thought it possible to be faster at age 50 than my early 40's.
