Every time there is a thread about "why do competition" I note that it keeps me motivated to swim hard.I am discovering the truth about that for me in a less helpful way.I have a partially torn rotator cuff tendon(supraspinatis) in my left shoulder.Currently they are treating it conservatively with PT.If that works,fine,but if not, I will need surgery.Due to this injury I missed Indy and now MV.I am not supposed to swim with that arm yet,and since I have had problems with the right shoulder before, I thought it best to not do one arm swimming.With only kicking workouts available, and no meets to shoot for, am finding it very hard to enjoy workouts.Yes I can work on streamlining and SDKs etc.,but without a meet that isn't as important as I wish it was.I know many of you have been in this position before and I was wondering how you kept motivated.The one good thing,at least this happened in a year I am at the top of my age group(64.)
Every single time I have spent an extended period of time out of the water, either due to health/injury or other RL problems, when I finally get back to business I feel SO bad in the water, and get tired so easily, that I always vow fervently NEVER AGAIN to spend that much time out of the water! So I try to remember that feeling whenever events conspire to keep me out of the water for extended periods.
You know you will be competing again eventually even if the specifics are uncertain right now. Kicking, streamlining, SDKs aren't a lot of fun if that's all you can do. But even a little bit of time spent in the water regularly can go a long way to maintaining some portion of your swimming fitness. Next year you are at the "bottom" of your age group and every little bit you do now will help you be faster next year.
And who knows, maybe your kicking and SDKs will improve A LOT and give you another weapon in your arsenal when you enter your next meet.
Every single time I have spent an extended period of time out of the water, either due to health/injury or other RL problems, when I finally get back to business I feel SO bad in the water, and get tired so easily, that I always vow fervently NEVER AGAIN to spend that much time out of the water! So I try to remember that feeling whenever events conspire to keep me out of the water for extended periods.
You know you will be competing again eventually even if the specifics are uncertain right now. Kicking, streamlining, SDKs aren't a lot of fun if that's all you can do. But even a little bit of time spent in the water regularly can go a long way to maintaining some portion of your swimming fitness. Next year you are at the "bottom" of your age group and every little bit you do now will help you be faster next year.
And who knows, maybe your kicking and SDKs will improve A LOT and give you another weapon in your arsenal when you enter your next meet.
