Started swimming again this year in an effort to get in better shape. Haven't done it since college (I'm 43), and that was just for exercise. Did it as a kid, now my kids also swim. At any rate, I'm just doing laps right now. Usually 6 sets of 500, occasionally only 5 and occasionally 7 or 8. ~5 days a week when life doesn't get in the way (so about 15,000 yards per week). About 25% ***, 25% back, and 50% free. I have occasionally thrown some fly in there, but I just can't do it without it fatiguing me to the point where the remainder of the set is very suboptimal.
At any rate, I am wondering at what point I should start looking to transition to doing workouts, rather than just laps. There is no Masters program that will work for me, so I'd just be following the posted workouts from the forums. Should I just jump right in? Should I start from "week 1," or just hit it right in the middle? Also, should I just be looking mostly at the general workouts, of mixing it up with the IM workouts to get more strokes, or start with general and slowly work my way towards the IM stuff?
Anything y'all need to know to help guide me the right way?
Congrats on deciding to get back into swimming! I would only recommend plunging directly into workouts if you can say with confidence that you have a perfect stroke technique - and this is pretty difficult to do especially if you've been out of the pool for awhile. I would suggest finding a coach who can analyze your stroke technique and your specific needs. You might have, for example, a weaker side of the body, or need to adjust the timing of your stroke, etc. Knowing your technical needs will allow you to have more efficient workouts since you will be able to adjust them such that you are both developing strength and fine-tuning your technique,which is a very important consideration. Making sure your technique is sound will also help you avoid injuries as your build up strength and conditioning.
And since you are going to be a solo swimmer, which can be challenging, I would recommend Elaine K's article with six suggestions for the solo swimmer: www.swimspire.com/.../
Elaine also started a forum thread on this topic which you might find interesting: forums.usms.org/showthread.php
All the best of luck to you on your new swimming journey!
Thanks for the shout-out, Julia! :D +1 on your advice to 67. May I add to it? One of the reasons to work on perfect stroke technique is to avoid repetitive stress injuries. If you plunge into workouts and ramp up your swimming without proper stroke technique, you can end up with all sorts of physical problems you would be best to avoid.
At the very least, have somebody shoot video of your stroke, upload it to YouTube, and post the link here on the forums. Your fellow Forumites would be happy to provide stroke technique feedback. :agree:
Congrats on deciding to get back into swimming! I would only recommend plunging directly into workouts if you can say with confidence that you have a perfect stroke technique - and this is pretty difficult to do especially if you've been out of the pool for awhile. I would suggest finding a coach who can analyze your stroke technique and your specific needs. You might have, for example, a weaker side of the body, or need to adjust the timing of your stroke, etc. Knowing your technical needs will allow you to have more efficient workouts since you will be able to adjust them such that you are both developing strength and fine-tuning your technique,which is a very important consideration. Making sure your technique is sound will also help you avoid injuries as your build up strength and conditioning.
And since you are going to be a solo swimmer, which can be challenging, I would recommend Elaine K's article with six suggestions for the solo swimmer: www.swimspire.com/.../
Elaine also started a forum thread on this topic which you might find interesting: forums.usms.org/showthread.php
All the best of luck to you on your new swimming journey!
Thanks for the shout-out, Julia! :D +1 on your advice to 67. May I add to it? One of the reasons to work on perfect stroke technique is to avoid repetitive stress injuries. If you plunge into workouts and ramp up your swimming without proper stroke technique, you can end up with all sorts of physical problems you would be best to avoid.
At the very least, have somebody shoot video of your stroke, upload it to YouTube, and post the link here on the forums. Your fellow Forumites would be happy to provide stroke technique feedback. :agree:
