I just started swimming at the gym due to back issues (about a year now). When I started I could only do about five laps w/o stopping. I've now progressed to 20 laps every day w/o stopping. My issue, I cannot motivate myself to go further. I did 50 laps once, I know it is possible now. However, I cannot seem to push myself to do it every day. I think I simply get bored going back and forth in the pool. I'd like to do open water, perhaps 3-5 miles yet without practice of longer than 20 laps I simply don't feel I"ll be ready. I wonder if any of you have a way to continue going back and forth without something to motivate? I am hoping when the water warms in the local bodies of water I'll be able to push farther but as much of the year is cold here in VT I'd like your input.
all the above suggestions are good.
You can try not counting laps at all - just swim continuously for x number of minutes. You know how long it takes to do 20 laps. Add 5 minutes to that and make that your goal. Look at the clock before you start and figure out the stop time. Start swimming and don't worry about counting laps. Look at the clock occasionally and keep swimming until you meet your time goal.
Say you are now swimming 20 laps in 20 minutes. Make your goal 25 minutes. Start at 5:30 and swim until clock is at 5:55.
Maybe it would help if you shift your motivation for being in the pool from swimming due to a back issue to swimming to be the best swimmer you can be. There are so many individual bits to think about to have a decent stroke, a good kick, be streamlined, etc. Maybe if you focus on one or two things that you're trying to improve with each lap, you'll be so busy you won't get bored.
My motivation can wane when I don't have an event towards which I'm training. There are shorter open water events you can enter (a mile or shorter). I find that once I click submit on registration for an event, motivation kicks in immediately.
I also recommend varying workouts rather than just swimming freestyle laps. I only enter open water events, but I train on all four strokes, add kick and pull sets, and I even include some sprint sets (which actually have improved my distance pace).
You may be getting bored if you're just doing the 20 laps straight through. Try mixing things up a bit and if you are a USMS member, you have access to all kinds of workouts on this forum. Use them.
But you should try to break up the workout by playing with the clock. For example, start out with 200 yards just to warm up. Then do 4x50's, each one getting a bit faster. Then mix things up a bit by doing some 75's where you kick 25 yards , then swim 50. Then try to do something else in a certain amount of time. Next thing you know, you've gone further than you have before and actually probably are getting a better workout than by just drudging along straight through.
When my motivation started to wain, I joined the local masters team. A couple workouts a week with some other like-minded individuals helped. Having somebody (the coach) offer a variety of workout ideas I would have never thought of myself helped. I still workout 2-3 times a week by myself, but I look forward to team practice more.
