I don't want it to become a self-fulfilling prophecy but, it seems without fail that, I swim faster in the afternoon than in the morning. My 50's are faster by 1-2 seconds, my 100's by 3-4 seconds and my 200's by 6-8 seconds. I am guessing it is related to being more warmed up in the afternoon. I hardly ever do a warm up on the deck. I usually just jump into the pool and swim untill I feel good (about 500 meters) and then do a main set or two followed by a warm down. Could there be another reason?
Just agreeing this is very common, due to sleep cycles and food.
There have been studies that athletic performance overall is better in the afternoon/evening.
Are you swimming on an empty stomach in the morning? That might be something to look at. How long do you give yourself to wake up?
No, I don't swim on an empty stomach. I always eat something. Usually scrambled eggs and a cup of coffee. Nothing too heavy. I eat that about 40 minutes before I swim and get about an hour in total from getting up to diving into the pool. Ideally, I need more time between getting up and getting into the pool but it isn't practical.
not doing a proper warm up is certainly not good.
i dont know how far you usually go in a workout nor your abilities, but a 500 warmup may not be enough.
Deckside stretching or a longer warm up might alleviate it a bit, but I only have about 45 minutes to swim in the morning so I try to get as much main set swim time as possible. I guess it is a trade off.
In the afternoon, you are more awake, more nourished, perhaps more stressed (the worse my mood, the faster I swim).
Quite!
I think this is fairly common and due to sleep inertia. Your body just can't transition from sleep to vigorous activity that quickly. I would suggest warming up a little longer and make sure that warmup includes building to some fast swimming.
Sleep inertia! I like that phrase. I remember reading somehere once that Gennadi Touretski used to make Popov do an all-out 100 for time without warming up to stimulate his fight or flight response (to be always on the ready, combat prepared, as it were).
Right-e-o. Try stretching first thing in the morning. Yow! I'm not flexible in general, but in the morning I'm about as stretchy as a piece of oak.
Oak just about describes it! Oddly enough, on the odd occassion when I have had a late night and gotten into bed in the wee hours in the morning, only to get up a few hours later and go swimming, I have had my best morning practices and come close to my afternoon times.
Just agreeing this is very common, due to sleep cycles and food.
There have been studies that athletic performance overall is better in the afternoon/evening.
Are you swimming on an empty stomach in the morning? That might be something to look at. How long do you give yourself to wake up?
No, I don't swim on an empty stomach. I always eat something. Usually scrambled eggs and a cup of coffee. Nothing too heavy. I eat that about 40 minutes before I swim and get about an hour in total from getting up to diving into the pool. Ideally, I need more time between getting up and getting into the pool but it isn't practical.
not doing a proper warm up is certainly not good.
i dont know how far you usually go in a workout nor your abilities, but a 500 warmup may not be enough.
Deckside stretching or a longer warm up might alleviate it a bit, but I only have about 45 minutes to swim in the morning so I try to get as much main set swim time as possible. I guess it is a trade off.
In the afternoon, you are more awake, more nourished, perhaps more stressed (the worse my mood, the faster I swim).
Quite!
I think this is fairly common and due to sleep inertia. Your body just can't transition from sleep to vigorous activity that quickly. I would suggest warming up a little longer and make sure that warmup includes building to some fast swimming.
Sleep inertia! I like that phrase. I remember reading somehere once that Gennadi Touretski used to make Popov do an all-out 100 for time without warming up to stimulate his fight or flight response (to be always on the ready, combat prepared, as it were).
Right-e-o. Try stretching first thing in the morning. Yow! I'm not flexible in general, but in the morning I'm about as stretchy as a piece of oak.
Oak just about describes it! Oddly enough, on the odd occassion when I have had a late night and gotten into bed in the wee hours in the morning, only to get up a few hours later and go swimming, I have had my best morning practices and come close to my afternoon times.
