Hello,
I'm 30 year old male that just started to swim again with consistency and motivation. It's been 15 years since I swum competitively. I used to be very strong, competitive swimmer through early high school and then one day I just stopped to focus on my academics. One of the biggest mistakes and regrets of my life.
Just completed 2 mile swim in a time I'm happy with so I just joined Masters again after a brief failed bout in 2009. I am looking to become competitive again, but I have been out of it so long I don't know how much time and commitment is required. I work full time and getting a Master's degree in the evenings. Wife and I are looking to starting a family soon too.
So far I've committed an hour a day for swimming and triathlon related training. Are any of you in situations with busy life schedules that have been able to successfully carve time and effort towards competitive swimming? Any tips for someone trying to get back into it after a long time?
Thanks
Depending on how you define "competitive," it is possible to get there with an hour a day. When I came back to swimming two years ago, after a 27 year layoff (and a ~23 year layoff from doing any sort of regular exercise), I started with 3 workouts a week of about an hour each. By month four, I was up to five-six times a week, but still only an hour each on average. At month 11, I swam at the 2016 USMS Summer Nationals. I finished 16th out of 24 in the 50 free, 18th out 27 in the 100 free, and 11th out of 19 in the 400 free. I considered that mission accomplished in terms of "being competitive." After that, I backed down slightly to 4-5 hours a week. I've still found competitive success, however, with 2nd and 3rd place overall finishes at two local 1.2 mile open water swims, a 6th in age group at the USMS 2-Mile Cable National open water swim, a 4th and 7th in two events at the Illinois Masters State Championship meet, and several top 50 end-of-season overall nationals rankings.
If you only have a modest amount of time to devote to training, and are competitive-minded, I would highly recommend Ultra Short Race-Pace Training, or USRPT for short. While there's a lot controversy over claims that it the most effective training method overall, my experience shows that it is one effective way to train. I happen to think it probably is the most effective method for adults like you and me who can only devote a few hours a week to the sport. I can't imagine I would have made as much progress as I did using a more conventional training approach, given the rather limited amount of pool time I was able to muster up.
After the Cable National, I did back way off the swimming for a couple months to have time to run and bike in preparation for my first triathlon. I just recently got back into my regular pool routine and have found I've regressed a lot speed-wise. It's gonna take me a few weeks to get it back. In the meantime, my run and bike speed is likely to diminish. What I'm getting at is that I don't know if it's possible to train effectively for by pool competitions and triathlons in just an hour a day. It certainly wouldn't be for me.
Depending on how you define "competitive," it is possible to get there with an hour a day. When I came back to swimming two years ago, after a 27 year layoff (and a ~23 year layoff from doing any sort of regular exercise), I started with 3 workouts a week of about an hour each. By month four, I was up to five-six times a week, but still only an hour each on average. At month 11, I swam at the 2016 USMS Summer Nationals. I finished 16th out of 24 in the 50 free, 18th out 27 in the 100 free, and 11th out of 19 in the 400 free. I considered that mission accomplished in terms of "being competitive." After that, I backed down slightly to 4-5 hours a week. I've still found competitive success, however, with 2nd and 3rd place overall finishes at two local 1.2 mile open water swims, a 6th in age group at the USMS 2-Mile Cable National open water swim, a 4th and 7th in two events at the Illinois Masters State Championship meet, and several top 50 end-of-season overall nationals rankings.
If you only have a modest amount of time to devote to training, and are competitive-minded, I would highly recommend Ultra Short Race-Pace Training, or USRPT for short. While there's a lot controversy over claims that it the most effective training method overall, my experience shows that it is one effective way to train. I happen to think it probably is the most effective method for adults like you and me who can only devote a few hours a week to the sport. I can't imagine I would have made as much progress as I did using a more conventional training approach, given the rather limited amount of pool time I was able to muster up.
After the Cable National, I did back way off the swimming for a couple months to have time to run and bike in preparation for my first triathlon. I just recently got back into my regular pool routine and have found I've regressed a lot speed-wise. It's gonna take me a few weeks to get it back. In the meantime, my run and bike speed is likely to diminish. What I'm getting at is that I don't know if it's possible to train effectively for by pool competitions and triathlons in just an hour a day. It certainly wouldn't be for me.
