Does your coach swim at all for themself?
I am a masters coach and have been for quite a few years now. Coaching is a lot like having a baby: your priorities change away from yourself to your masters group. I used to swim a lot, loved masters workouts, and competed frequently.
On becoming a coach, I do not swim the workout with the masters. That is not really coaching, it is just posting up a workout. Getting in the water and swimming the workout with the masters is mostly selfish, although it also gives swimmers a shared communal experience with the coach, which builds rapport.
As an on-deck coach, I can give encouragement and technique advice, keep swimmers on track with the workout, socialize with swimmers who are too wasted to finish a set, time and care about race efforts, meet and greet late arrivals and early departures, and explain confusing aspects of each set. Most swimmers like a coach who shows such interest. Others are more intense and prefer a zen inner focused and undisturbed workout, and that is ok, too.
I do not lap swim by myself that much, for all the reasons that you enjoy masters. I do not like swimming alone; I cannot push myself as fast or as long without pressure; I like being given a workout with shared expectations; I like being coached. It is also physically difficult to get in and swim my own workout after standing out in the weather, on concrete, for an hour and a half as a coach. Coaching is mentally exhausting and emotionally intense, and needs some recovery time. You as a swimmer come to a workout fresh and leave exhausted, and so do I as a coach.
I miss swimming masters workouts, but I also find on-deck coaching rewarding on many levels: social, technical, troubleshooting, and keeping track of multiple lanes and individual needs. I swim by myself now more for the fun refreshment of swimming, and less for glory speed. Swimming: loved it then, love it still, always have, always will.
Does your coach swim at all for themself?
I am a masters coach and have been for quite a few years now. Coaching is a lot like having a baby: your priorities change away from yourself to your masters group. I used to swim a lot, loved masters workouts, and competed frequently.
On becoming a coach, I do not swim the workout with the masters. That is not really coaching, it is just posting up a workout. Getting in the water and swimming the workout with the masters is mostly selfish, although it also gives swimmers a shared communal experience with the coach, which builds rapport.
As an on-deck coach, I can give encouragement and technique advice, keep swimmers on track with the workout, socialize with swimmers who are too wasted to finish a set, time and care about race efforts, meet and greet late arrivals and early departures, and explain confusing aspects of each set. Most swimmers like a coach who shows such interest. Others are more intense and prefer a zen inner focused and undisturbed workout, and that is ok, too.
I do not lap swim by myself that much, for all the reasons that you enjoy masters. I do not like swimming alone; I cannot push myself as fast or as long without pressure; I like being given a workout with shared expectations; I like being coached. It is also physically difficult to get in and swim my own workout after standing out in the weather, on concrete, for an hour and a half as a coach. Coaching is mentally exhausting and emotionally intense, and needs some recovery time. You as a swimmer come to a workout fresh and leave exhausted, and so do I as a coach.
I miss swimming masters workouts, but I also find on-deck coaching rewarding on many levels: social, technical, troubleshooting, and keeping track of multiple lanes and individual needs. I swim by myself now more for the fun refreshment of swimming, and less for glory speed. Swimming: loved it then, love it still, always have, always will.
You sound like a great coach.
Heart rates for swimmers are, indeed, generally lower, but not due to water pressure. It is due to the body being horizontal and the heart not having to work as hard/fast to move blood through the body. :)
You sound like a great coach
I was thinking the same thing! I spent about three months "coaching" when ours unexpectedly (and thankfully) quit until we got a new one on deck. It was an absolute joy to do and I learned so much more about technique by trying to help others. I love it, but was excited to get back in the water when our new coach started.
I’d like to try my hand at it too, except that I have very little experience being coached, or even as a swimmer. However the quality of the adult swim class at my facility would probably be better if they recruited volunteers instead of the underpaid and over-scheduled college students who earn a whopping $20 a week after tax to run practices.
Isn’t it true water pressure lowers the heart rate significantly when compared to being on land?
I’m not sure, but my heart rate is in the stratosphere when I swim especially during intervals.
You sound like a great coach
I was thinking the same thing! I spent about three months "coaching" when ours unexpectedly (and thankfully) quit until we got a new one on deck. It was an absolute joy to do and I learned so much more about technique by trying to help others. I love it, but was excited to get back in the water when our new coach started.
I belive my coach did not come from a background in swimming. However, every form correction suggested has resulted in improvement
Isn’t it true water pressure lowers the heart rate significantly when compared to being on land?
