Newbie Burnout

I haven't been in the pool in over a week. My dog had some serious surgery. The experience sapped my energy, and I just lost interest in doing any exercise, including swimming. I've been too tired to do much of anything but sit in front of the tV and catch up with Orange is the New Black and Longmire. I've only been swimming six months, and on top of the doggy issue, am discouraged with my lack of progress i.e., being the slowest one in the lane. Is it possible this is just newbie burnout, and I'll get my swimming mojo back? When I swim I'm careful to eat clean, but of course the bad stuff has worked its way back into my diet. I'd like to know whether any of you go through swimming burnout, or if you did at the beginning when you were just really learning the sport (if you can remember that far back LOL), and how you push through the stressful times that threaten to sideline you and halt any progress you're making. Denise. We all go through highs and lows and you are by no means the first person to take a step backward after an event in your life. The real world often gets in the way of activities like swimming and it's 100% ok. My suggestion would be to work on some goals. These don't have to be beat Missy Franklin type goals but rather goals you can work toward to keep you focused. You mentioned being last in the lane. There is nothing wrong with this but if you don't want to be last in the lane work with your coach on some steps that will help your swimming such as for 3 months you will stick around an extra 10 minutes after practice and work on kick or you will do a sprint from the blocks. Goals don't have to be time based and they don't have to be race based. Goals help me at least navigate the ups and downs of my life and stay on some sort of course. I was successful in losing considerable weight using goals. I tend to set both short and long term goals and work towards both. Like everyone I too have tough days and weeks but the goals help me get through. Also sharing the goals with some of my team mates helped me early on because I then have others who I trust who can motivate me when I have a tough patch. I hope you are able to reengage in the pool. As you know it's such great fun and so healthy an exercise. I wish you all the best.

Stewart gives some great advice, and yes, everyone goes through periods of waning interest at times. Another thing you can do is to put some sort of race or meet on the calendar and that helps keep you pointing towards an event goal. It helps you stay focused and creates excitement as the date gets closer. And then when that one is over, you can put another on the calendar. Check out some of the postal swims on the USMS site. Some of them aren't a fixed date, but can be done sometime in a month. You might want to use one of these as a goal "race" or event. When I ran, it was harder to get motivated to get out there. I'd gone through doldrums like yours many times, but in order to break them and get back into the groove, I had to get out. Promise yourself to get in the pool for 15 minutes and likely you'll stay for a bit longer once you get out there. You can do it! :)

Set goals both long term (a competition you might want to enter) and short term (even by practice). Compete against the clock. Concentrate on technique when doing a recovery set. Write a daily log. Don't be concern about other swimmers, swim against yourself (of last week or last month).

Your Dog would want you to swim. Your Dog is good therapy for you, and so is swimming. When I hit a wall like you have I swim. Not a workout, just a relaxed swim. I feel much better after. It helps me to re-focus.

Thank you for your good advice. I don't swim on a team, and I've only done a couple of practices with the local Masters, so my goals are not ambitious. But your advice is practical and I think setting my sights on improving my lap time even slightly so I get a better workout, is excellent.

I think it's easier to keep track of your success if you are learning more and more about your sport. Swimming with a masters team may be uncomfortable for you at first but I would hope you'd gain a lot of information about technique, relaxation, pacing and tracking your progress with a coach and knowledgable teammates. Remember that it isn't necessarily a bad thing to be uncomfortable or out of your element. Maybe you could get a few private lessons to get you to a point where you feel a little more comfortable swimming with others?

gobears, you're right about private lessons, or maybe even a swim camp, because I really need to figure out why I'm so pokey. I swam this morning, and it felt really good once I got my rhythm back. It helps to have this forum where I can get help from the experts.

I'm very slow myself--and some days even slower than slow. So I hear you on that! I think it helps to find a group that's a good fit. I'm with a group now that I like--they have people of all different speeds, even at my pace, and the coach gives each of us feedback since the group is smallish. And those who swim fast are friendly, helpful with advice and encouragement. I was with another group where the coach would give the workout and more attention to the faster people, ignoring those in my lane. I found it frustrating b/c he seemed never to give any encouragement or even critique to us, just ran us through the workout. My current coach doesn't coddle us, but at least does acknowledge that we want to improve and works with us. I'm fortunate this summer to have the time to join his group b/c it's more of a distance to travel but it's worth the trip. Now I see the other group as just a place to get in a workout if time is short, and I just don't expect too much. But I don't see it currently as my go-to group.

To me it's also about the people. I love talking to the people next to me in the lanes and the coach. Our coach wants it to be as much fun as it is a workout. People energize me and make me want to come back no matter how slow I go. :)

No, probably not "newbie burnout" (although points for the cute idea). But it does sound like a drop of a depressive spell following a big setback. It's perfectly normal to get a little depressed after something major like your dog needing surgery. It's not normal if it lasts for several weeks after. The best way to cut it off at the pass is to make yourself do one or two things that made you feel happy before the blues came on. You may just not want to for a few times before your normal self kicks back in. And make sure your downing lots of nutritious foods to boot (even if you eat the veggies with a healthy dose of ice cream, get all those whole food vitamins crammed in). I'll bet you've been eating a lot of low nutrition foods out of survival mode, so it's a good idea to get your nutrition back up to speed and get plenty of water. But if you are looking to shake it up with some fun swimming goals, it doesn't have to be being the faster. Actually, I know after going through something crummy I'd probably be quite happy in the slow lane for a while. Some ideas: - maintaining a speed over a distance or being able to hold a time on a set - work on one or two pieces of technique...once it feels like second nature add a new piece - if you currently do a specific yardage, set a time frame to add small incremental bits more - shake it up: just go to the pool and do sidestroke/ feel like a mermaid day. No counting, no racing, no caring, just feel the water. - seeing how far you can get on your push-offs or how far 5 strokes will take you Or just get a new swim toy (hello, swim MP3 player!) so you have a fun new thing to look forward to. Good luck! And make sure you give doggie plenty of snuggles!