I am a 58 year old male swimmer - generally swim 4 times a week - 1800-2200 meters per workout. I was considering going to zones - which is first week in April. I picked up the intensity of my workouts - lots more effort - about the same yardage - after about a month - i was exhausted - i think i ran my immune system down and got a very bad cold that basically sidelined me from doing anything for a few days. i find this very frustrating. I do not feel like i am asking too much of my body to work hard 3 to 4 times a week at these yardage levels which probably put me at the lower end of a competitive scale. Perhaps as we get older - we need to limit the "hard" workouts and give our bodies more time to recover? Thoughts? Just seems a little depressing that i cannot swim hard 4 times a week at 58.
thank you all for the advice. I think i will temper my speed day workouts with an easy day in between and see how i respond to this.
As a side to my swimming - I got into competitive SUP racing about ten years ago.
This article may be of interest. The two sports are very similar. Larry Cain is a former Olympian, and our age as well. I think he does an excellent job in explaining why recovery is important.
Nervous system fatigue is twofold – for lack of better terms consider them “acute” or “chronic”. “Acute” fatigue happens within a short period of time like a workout where your nervous system fatigues and you find it more difficult to control your movement or be powerful at the end of the workout than you did at the beginning or during the middle of it. “Chronic” on the other hand is the result of repeated daily stress on the nervous system with insufficient recovery time. This could theoretically happen from pulling too hard for too many days in a row without sufficient rest or a day off. This is especially likely when training programs intensify and there is more high intensity work with insufficient recovery between. This is why days off are important and balance to the training program is important.
thank you all for the advice. I think i will temper my speed day workouts with an easy day in between and see how i respond to this.
As a side to my swimming - I got into competitive SUP racing about ten years ago.
This article may be of interest. The two sports are very similar. Larry Cain is a former Olympian, and our age as well. I think he does an excellent job in explaining why recovery is important.
Nervous system fatigue is twofold – for lack of better terms consider them “acute” or “chronic”. “Acute” fatigue happens within a short period of time like a workout where your nervous system fatigues and you find it more difficult to control your movement or be powerful at the end of the workout than you did at the beginning or during the middle of it. “Chronic” on the other hand is the result of repeated daily stress on the nervous system with insufficient recovery time. This could theoretically happen from pulling too hard for too many days in a row without sufficient rest or a day off. This is especially likely when training programs intensify and there is more high intensity work with insufficient recovery between. This is why days off are important and balance to the training program is important.
