Anyone deal with prolonged breaks from routine workouts? I was going 5-6 days per week, averaging 3000 yards or so each workout through May. School's out, kids stuff, and all of that, and now I'm lucky if I can hit one per week. Well, my kid just made the Zones team, so now I'm gone all next week, too. Not complaining, more bragging, but still.
So, I'm lucky if I get in one workout per week. And I have a really hard time wiht it (following the basic training workouts on the workout forum). I went from struggling to get through a workout to flat out not being able to. That's where I am, now.
So the question I have is, has anyone been in a similar situation, and what did you do? Would I be better off just going there and noodling it through a few thousand easy yards just to keep the body moving? Or should I try to do a workout, knowing I might not get in but 22-2300 yards before I'm done?
Should be able to get back to a routine in a few more weeks, but until then, what i the best thing to do? I'm inclined to just going back to doing 6-8 sets of 500 yards.
* *Hi 67King, first of all congrats to your child for making Zones! I think it's great that you are also swimming as their parent, and hopefully *sharing this great sport will help to motivate you both.
In terms of working out on limited time, it would be better to swim whenever you get the chance, even if you are not going to be able to have time to get in a full workout. You can actually maximize the time you have by creating more concentrated workouts that focus both on stroke technique, particularly your weakest areas, and on higher intensity sets. This is actually a good approach to workouts in general, allowing you to balance between strength, endurance and technique.
I am a big proponent of quality over quantity. If all you can do right now is 2000 yards of quality swimming, that's ok. It's much better than 3000 yards of garbage. That's my :2cents: :2cents:
Take whatever time you can get in the pool for whatever yards you can get, in whatever pool you can find. It is better than nothing. I've had to take 1000 yards at times because that was all the time that I could get. You really do not want to lose a feel for the water due to long absences.
I have had a couple of similar periods. One lasted 9 months in which my work schedule prevented my hitting a pool. I took up jogging, which I don't really like, but it felt good to stay fit, and one can jog at any hour. When I returned to the pool, though, everything was wrong including stroke. I wish I'd at least used some Sundays to find a pool and do the few thousand of easy yards to keep the stroke moving smoothly and used the jogging for fitness.
Thanks for the thoughts. Definitely going when I can. Might get a second workout in this week, actually! But this morning is typical of what happens. Do some warmup stuff. Get ready to do a main set. Going to shoot for 100's on 1:45, which shouldn't be too tough. I hit my first 50, and there's nothing left. Was a bit faster than I intended, about 37 seconds. So I decide I'll do twice as many 50's on a minute. That 37 turns into a 39, then a 40 (what I was shooting for), and after about 7 of them, I'm at 42-43. I do 10, and take an extra couple of minutes rest. Same thing for the next set, but add about a second to each of those numbers.
Before the Summer was over, I could do 37 second 50's all day (with 20 seconds rest), and that was a DPS rate. Can hold 45 second 50's for 1000 yards or so. Can hold 47 for a mile. Obviously I can't come close to that, now!
I ended up warming down with a 150 ***/150 back/200 free. I used to alternate between 500 free, rest for a few minutes, 250breast/250back, rest for a few minutes. And I'd go 3000-4000 yards depending on how much time I had.
Looks like most of you think I should keep trying to do the interval, and just slog through it, rather than reverting to the lap swimming thing?
THanks for the congrats on the daughter. She had a great LC Championship meet. 5 AAAA times, 6 team records, 2 wins, 2 2nds, a 3rd, and a 4th. 3rd overall in points for her age group. I think she got a few senior sectional cuts, too (she is 12). Our team in general had a great meet. Only 65 kids on the team, but half made cuts (only 21 went though). We ended up with 10 wins, 10 seconds, and 2 3rds. 3 kids made the Zones team (we have two 11-12 girls going!). I think the team finished 7th out of 44, and beat some teams with more kids there than we have period.
THanks for the congrats on the daughter. She had a great LC Championship meet. 5 AAAA times, 6 team records, 2 wins, 2 2nds, a 3rd, and a 4th. 3rd overall in points for her age group. I think she got a few senior sectional cuts, too (she is 12). Our team in general had a great meet. Only 65 kids on the team, but half made cuts (only 21 went though). We ended up with 10 wins, 10 seconds, and 2 3rds. 3 kids made the Zones team (we have two 11-12 girls going!). I think the team finished 7th out of 44, and beat some teams with more kids there than we have period.
Fantastic! Congratulations to your daughter!! I know one person (besides you and your wife) who will be VERY proud of your daughter! ;) I'm sure I'll hear all about it when GCA starts up again for the 2017-2018 season! :agree:
