I just got back from the SPMS meet and I am in a funk. I have talked to several of my contemporaries who share my dysphoria at getting slower. From age 50-62 I slowed down very little. Ages 63 and 64 were one injury or illness after another, but at least there was a cause and I felt I would do better. Age 65 I aged up and for most of the year was healthy. That was a great year,but my times were all significantly slower than at 62. Since then it is very unusual to have one swim that is faster than I did the previous year.At 67(almost 68) I am notably slower than at 65. I have seen the graphs of how times slow with age, intellectually, if I am staying at the same rate of decline as my peers I should accept it, but I don't like it. I know most forumites are much younger and what I am saying may seem like something natural that I should just acknowledge and go on, that is what I thought until I was 63. I know that our having age groups every 5 years is a partial solution to the problem, but there is more difference between a 65 year old and a 68 year old than between a 40 year old and a 50 year old, in my experience. How do the other older swimmers out there cope and have a good attitude? The common saying in Masters Swimming is that "you are only competing against yourself",but my slightly younger self is kicking my butt and I am tired of it.
So bummed out after practice today. Did 4200 yards in 90 minutes but about 1500 of them were kick/swim with fins and 500 with paddles. But I either couldn't make the intervals I set, or if I made them, I wasn't happy with my swim times.
i didn't start competing until I was 55, I'm now 61. Never did anything athletic in high school or college. So from 55-59 I had huge time drops . Now I stink, sometimes getting personal worsts. Losing speed and endurance. I've always been a 200+ swimmer because I have no kick for sprint speed. I try to improve technique, not sure if I am doing so or not, but I'm definitely always thinking about details ( admittedly not always executing them on the tough intervals). I've heard the only way to swim fast is to swim fast but I just can't swim fast! A friend told me today I need to do sets in which I feel uncomfortable for a long time. She said I need to do more repeats even if I don't make the interval and the back half of them are done with no rest. Yuck! So hard mentally as a solo swimmer. Kind of opposite to the USRP approach. Getting tougher and tougher for me to want to endure a really high heart rate. I always feel sluggish in warmup and tired in my sets. Doc and lab tests say I'm healthy. I usually swim 5-6 days per week, and lift twice per week. On the lift days I just do drills, mainly 25s with lots of rest at the wall. I don't think I'm doing too much, but am I for an old lady? It's so depressing to feel like I'm working so hard only to go backwards. And listening to my friend, she said, I've been wasting my time if I stop for rest after too few reps just because I fell off interval. Not supposed to let the heart rate drop. That's what really sent me into this funk. That I've been wasting time and gaining nothing for my efforts? Any thoughts? I know I sound like I'm whining, or making excuses. I just wish I didn't have to be so hard on myself. Is the only solution to just woman up to the killer heart rate- even more uncomfortable than the past because I'm getting older? I'm tempted to try doing less, but nervous to try that approach. I'd like to think I'm "broken down" right now and it's all going to be good when I get ready for championships, but I don't really trust that either. Not likely to be a miracle if not seeing improvements during the season. Any words of encouragement or advice?
So bummed out after practice today. Did 4200 yards in 90 minutes but about 1500 of them were kick/swim with fins and 500 with paddles. But I either couldn't make the intervals I set, or if I made them, I wasn't happy with my swim times.
i didn't start competing until I was 55, I'm now 61. Never did anything athletic in high school or college. So from 55-59 I had huge time drops . Now I stink, sometimes getting personal worsts. Losing speed and endurance. I've always been a 200+ swimmer because I have no kick for sprint speed. I try to improve technique, not sure if I am doing so or not, but I'm definitely always thinking about details ( admittedly not always executing them on the tough intervals). I've heard the only way to swim fast is to swim fast but I just can't swim fast! A friend told me today I need to do sets in which I feel uncomfortable for a long time. She said I need to do more repeats even if I don't make the interval and the back half of them are done with no rest. Yuck! So hard mentally as a solo swimmer. Kind of opposite to the USRP approach. Getting tougher and tougher for me to want to endure a really high heart rate. I always feel sluggish in warmup and tired in my sets. Doc and lab tests say I'm healthy. I usually swim 5-6 days per week, and lift twice per week. On the lift days I just do drills, mainly 25s with lots of rest at the wall. I don't think I'm doing too much, but am I for an old lady? It's so depressing to feel like I'm working so hard only to go backwards. And listening to my friend, she said, I've been wasting my time if I stop for rest after too few reps just because I fell off interval. Not supposed to let the heart rate drop. That's what really sent me into this funk. That I've been wasting time and gaining nothing for my efforts? Any thoughts? I know I sound like I'm whining, or making excuses. I just wish I didn't have to be so hard on myself. Is the only solution to just woman up to the killer heart rate- even more uncomfortable than the past because I'm getting older? I'm tempted to try doing less, but nervous to try that approach. I'd like to think I'm "broken down" right now and it's all going to be good when I get ready for championships, but I don't really trust that either. Not likely to be a miracle if not seeing improvements during the season. Any words of encouragement or advice?
