Hi all, I've been lurking here for the past few months. I swam as a young girl in age groups, and was decently fast as a young'un, mostly free and backstroke, but quit at age 12 for reasons too stupid to believe. I then proceeded to not swim a single length for almost three decades. Two months ago, I decided to get back in the water as my kids are getting older and I have more time to work out, and it's been the best thing I have done in ages. I'm enjoying it a ton.
I am am overweight and out of shape and slower than a snail: I swim a 50 free in about 55 seconds "normal," closer to 49/50 if going all out -- molasses pace either way. But after I completed the zero-to-mile program, which came fairly easy (if slow!) to me with open turns, I decided maybe I should venture to one of the local Masters clubs and try it out. When I did, the coach recommended I swim the entire workout with fins, explaining that it would get more yardage in so would enable me to get in shape faster, and also let me focus more on stroke. This seems odd to me, since I feel like it's easier in a lot of ways to swim with the fins, but I'm certainly not a swim coach...
Any advice or thoughts? Is this common? It kind of feels like cheating. But it would be weird not to use them when the coach has told me to or to push back with a bunch of questions, since the whole reason for doing this is to work with a coached group.
At this point I am thinking I could work out 2x a week with that group and then 1-2x on my own, and when on my own only use the fins occasionally (kick sets, occasional drills, or for when I attempt butterfly which I do want to do again someday if only to say I tried!).
Fwiw, there are plenty of lanes available at the pool and time when I swim with the Masters group -- I have had either half a lane or whole lane to myself (!), more space than I get at the fitness club where I swim solo. So it's not an issue of keeping up with the slow lane... Most of the newer/slower swimmers seem to be following the same practice of always having fins though.
sorry for such a long first post, trying to include all relevant info --
That makes sense and you are right that we are all adults who get to make our own decisions. :) I just didn't want to start out immediately questioning with the coach recommendation, because what do I know? Not much!
Good point about the coach probably seeing it as a way to avoid people getting discouraged/dropping. I usually do about 2000y on my own, in about 50-55 mins, and the slow lane Masters workout is 90 mins and typically around 2800-3000y. So I probably wouldn't be able to finish the whole thing without fins in my usual speed... but at the same time, my goal is to get better and stronger, not just to get as many yards in as possible right away. I guess I'm a little unclear at this point on whether they will help along the path to better and stronger.
Maybe I will just switch on and off with the fins or something. I don't want to get too reliant on them. (I do find them fun -- luckily haven't had the foot cramps or irritation some others have described.)
That makes sense and you are right that we are all adults who get to make our own decisions. :) I just didn't want to start out immediately questioning with the coach recommendation, because what do I know? Not much!
Good point about the coach probably seeing it as a way to avoid people getting discouraged/dropping. I usually do about 2000y on my own, in about 50-55 mins, and the slow lane Masters workout is 90 mins and typically around 2800-3000y. So I probably wouldn't be able to finish the whole thing without fins in my usual speed... but at the same time, my goal is to get better and stronger, not just to get as many yards in as possible right away. I guess I'm a little unclear at this point on whether they will help along the path to better and stronger.
Maybe I will just switch on and off with the fins or something. I don't want to get too reliant on them. (I do find them fun -- luckily haven't had the foot cramps or irritation some others have described.)
