Training Long Term

I have found getting out of the pool can make it difficult to get back in because I have to coordinate my swimming around the pool schedule whereas with other workouts I can pretty much do them on my time all the time. When I have to make it to the pool when it's open, the whole family feels the shift of not being so flexible. One time I realized I couldn't make it to the pool as much as I liked, I decided to just cross train more but after a few weeks I realized I was pretty much cross training for triathlons and ended up racing in only tris for three years. So, watch out...you could end up falling for a whole new sport if you're not careful! Lol! I have to be careful cross training through as I find myself getting injured more easily doing other sports since I have strength and endurance but my body isn't used to the motions, so I am prone to tendinitis if I'm not careful. I've decided in the future if I ever want to cut back on swimming I need to do what the fitness swimmers do - get in and out for 1,000 yards or 20 minutes three times a week and be done. That way I keep my foot in the pool door, know what's happening on the schedule and keep tabs on a bit of feel. As far as how I do things, I like to vary and keep things interesting. I picked an entirely unusual event to focus on for the spring and will be swimming my first 400 IM in competition this weekend. It actually amazes me at this point there's still events I haven't done but that's what you get when your coaches peg you as a breaststroker at 9 years old. I've got my summer taper meet this weekend (not going to Nats), so I'm going to try to get in at least a few long open water swims after for a month or two while the weather is nice instead of pool workouts. For SCM season I've decided I'm going to focus on something a bit different again but I haven't decided what yet. I even go to different pools. The hours at the pool 5 minutes away are TERRIBLE, so I split my time between there and a pool with better hours 25 minutes away. In my adult life, in swimming years I tend to average about 500 miles a year but that isn't a consistent 3,500 yards 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year...that's 3 weeks of higher yardage, followed by a few weeks average with a couple weeks low yardage...basically every couple weeks has a different focus.

Wookie beat me to it. I had just read the article on SwimSwam from Josh Davis about his experiences and results with USRPT over the past 2 years and it seemed like it might be a good option given your ebbing desire to swim frequently and for long periods of time. As for taking a break from the pool, I did take several months off of swimming a few years ago to focus on road biking. I ultimately found myself missing swimming and lost interest in biking. Getting back into swimming shape wasn't the most enjoyable experience but I haven't felt a need to take a break from the pool since then. I think my advice would be to shake up your training and if that still leaves you uninspired, there's certainly no harm in taking some time off from the pool. If you haven't been enjoying the process of training recently, forcing yourself to continue doing the same thing in hopes of eventually coming around seems unlikely to cure what ails you. EDIT: I hope you bring back your blog at some point in time. It's always been one that I read regularly.

kirk i think you have to vary or else you will get ground down. so what if you dont make 550 or 500 miles...who cares? mileage proves nothing. it has to be fun or it becomes a job. EWWWWW! no thanks. ever! and by vary i dont mean get hurt and need surgery....oh that is a big NO NO!!! steve

so what if you dont make 550 or 500 miles...who cares? mileage proves nothing. I agree with that, but I was just using it to show how much less I've trained this year than normally.

so maybe you change some events? or not! go to a meet someplace you havent been before...you missed the one down south! or do a swim that you would never consider or do a wierd workout - 25,75,125,175,225,275s in a 50m pool and stop mid point try breaststroke---EEEWWWWW no dont thats just a joke. pm's some of your friends (the insane ones like McRib and Ewok and PWB or Sandbagger) and ask for a little psycotherapy. this morning i showed up to swim....i volunteered to coach when nobody showed up on deck.

I think Patrick has a good plan in place. If your background is similar to mine, then you started at a young age. You swam summer club, age group year round, 4 years of HS and lucky enough to make it through 4 years of college swimming. Even while I served in the military I found time to get to a pool. I did not have the long competitive break off, as I started back into Masters in 1996. So just think about the amount of yards you have put in. I have only been track GTD since 2008, and I have over 3 million yards. Think about that. How many yards over a lifetime one could accumulate? Mind blowing stuff if you ask me. Steve makes a valid point about being injured. Your mental side can certainly be influence by your injury report. All was going well for me until 2007, then wham first right shoulder surgery. Came back for 2008 Nat’s in Austin and did well. Then two years later, had knee and left shoulder. Just a few weeks into 2011, March to be exact another knee surgery. The irony about the knees was neither was not due to over use of swimming, but rather getting out of the pool, slipping and damaging my meniscus. Then in April 2012, another left shoulder surgery. So I admit I was depressed because I essentially missed two years of competition. Also, many of friends have gotten out of the sport. So, I have had to try and reinvent myself and find new ways to enjoy the sport. Swimming is a very tough demanding sport. I think Waves101 makes the best point of all, find the little things that make it exciting for you and run with those. Make yourself happy.

I think we all go through periods where our priorities change. I've recently had a rather long period of time with so-so effort - what helped me more than anything, was going to a meet and seeing how slow I had gotten! I had been going to workouts diligently, but for some reason, I just couldn't muster up the emotional energy to care about whether or not I made such and such interval, or whether I swam a certain amount of distance. I had some Saturdays I would go to the pool and get in about 1500, and then I'd just leave, disgusted with myself, but totally unmotivated to keep going just for the sake of getting in yardage. I'm very fortunate to have found a few people fairly close to my speed that train quite regularly that I enjoy seeing most mornings. We don't talk smack, we lift each other up, encourage each other to go home and get rest or whatever -- and we text each other all the time. It has made a world of difference. When I swam with another group that had mostly either really fast men, or seriously slower than me swimmers, I had a hard time not getting discouraged. Now I have people who are just as interested in doing the things I like to do, as I am, and we are all close to the same speed. So, I guess I'm saying, maybe you need to change your workout group? That being said, there have been many a morning when I woke up at 4:50am, feeling super tired and unmotivated, when I told myself "just get up and go to the pool! It's what you DO!"

I hear you, Kirk. Its a constant struggle. I, too, have been swimming Masters since 1999 and keeping the drive and desire is a challenge. Luckily I have a great group of swimming friends who are waiting for me at the pool. Just knowing this helps me get out of bed at 5:15am in temps as low as -24 this winter (I know you lived in Michigan too) to drive to a pool and jump in. Sometimes we like the crazy part of it. I don't swim near the mileage that you do but one year I did make the MAD club in Go the Distance. After that I said to myself, who cares about the mileage, I'd rather be swimming for decades. What I learned is sometimes you do need a break (either in routine or away from swimming). Usually I schedule my away time around other activities I'm passionate about. But, always in the back of my head, I know its harder and harder to get back in shape as we age. This summer I've really enjoyed going to a new pool in a neighboring city so I can swim outside and LCM. I also try to mix in some sprinting or USRPT sets as I do believe we need to train the body to swim fast. It's the little things that make the long haul bearable. I'm also looking forward to Nats as I usually don't swim LCM. So I guess my best long term advice is find the little things that make it exciting for you and run with those. They will continuously change as we age and learn but the big picture will never really change. And that is... we all want to be swimming when we're in our (enter appropriate ages here).

Love this discussion. It's tough going through the burnout times and getting back into it. ONe thing that has helped me lately is getting to the gym and doing some rowing. Change it up between speed and distance on different days. It's fun and it doesn't take long to get pooped out, but it does help work many of the same muscles as swimming does.

I like to vary my training and mix it up with gym, but still sometimes I'm really not that into it and just try to keep ticking over. After a while, I'll get my 'mojo' back and I get back on it. I think you have to be able to give yourself a break.