Hi all, I am joining a masters swim program as a beginner (I know how to swim, just not experienced or good at it yet). I don't know how to go about setting goals and I am hoping that some of you might be willing to offer suggestions. I know that fitness is #1, but if I don't have goals I'll get bored. The trouble is, I have no frame of reference for what my improvement should look like.
For time availability, I can swim up to 5 times per week, 1-2 hours each time (although one hour is more reasonable, I can commit up to two if necessary). I'm tall and skinny and not naturally athletic. Right now I swim a 50 yard free in a minute, which means I'm in great shape for an 85 year old man. I am a 35 year old man though so that's not good. I can only swim at the end of a pretty exhausting day so that will probably negatively impact my abilities.
Assuming working with a talented coach, what are reasonable and appropriate goals? Should I have a goal by the week, month, 3 months, or some other timeframe? For those who have gone through this before (going from non-swimmer to swimmer as an adult, no history), any tips? Approximately how long of dedicated training did it take to reach a good swim time?
Thank you everyone who helps me out in setting some reasonable goals for myself.
Hi -
I'd encourage you to focus on technique and behaviours - but be specific.
For example, find maybe 3-4 specific elements of technique and what you need to improve
You can have goals for the actual technical improvement, e.g. improve underwater propulsion by keeping a high elbow, or learn the mechanics of the tumble turn.
Goals for execution of that technical point in practice:
So, for example, "aim to maintain a high elbow on the underwater phase of each stroke - 80% of the time over the next 4 weeks", or "use a tumble turn on every front crawl turn in practice next week"...
Or, purely behavioural goals -
"Attend 16 practices this month", "swim 30k this month" etc, "enter my first masters gala by July".
Hi -
I'd encourage you to focus on technique and behaviours - but be specific.
For example, find maybe 3-4 specific elements of technique and what you need to improve
You can have goals for the actual technical improvement, e.g. improve underwater propulsion by keeping a high elbow, or learn the mechanics of the tumble turn.
Goals for execution of that technical point in practice:
So, for example, "aim to maintain a high elbow on the underwater phase of each stroke - 80% of the time over the next 4 weeks", or "use a tumble turn on every front crawl turn in practice next week"...
Or, purely behavioural goals -
"Attend 16 practices this month", "swim 30k this month" etc, "enter my first masters gala by July".
