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.
JMurray, sorry to hear you've been facing some challenges in trying to increase the intensity of your workouts. However, it's great that you are taking steps to improve and turning to the forum is a good way of getting advice from plenty of fellow swimmers and coaches!
While it is of course difficult to be absolutely certain without seeing you and doing a complete assessment, I don't think the main obstacle to your progress has to do exclusively with your age. From your post, it sounds like you are self-coached and that you decided to increase the intensity of your workouts without simultaneously increasing the yardage. This raises some important follow up questions. What do you mean by increasing intensity - are you swimming faster and harder or are you taking less rest in between sets, or both? Was this a gradual transition or did you try to start suddenly and then your cold forced you to stop? Do your practices target specific areas of weakness in your stroke technique?
My number one advice would be to get a coach to make an analysis (video-based or on-deck) of your stroke technique. A stroke analysis and a consultation about goals and current ability is of paramount importance to creating ideal swim workouts that allow for an increase in speed, conditioning and efficiency, while avoiding injuries or illness that is related to a sudden increase in intensity or yardage. Swim workouts need to strike the right balance.
Best of luck to you!
JMurray, sorry to hear you've been facing some challenges in trying to increase the intensity of your workouts. However, it's great that you are taking steps to improve and turning to the forum is a good way of getting advice from plenty of fellow swimmers and coaches!
While it is of course difficult to be absolutely certain without seeing you and doing a complete assessment, I don't think the main obstacle to your progress has to do exclusively with your age. From your post, it sounds like you are self-coached and that you decided to increase the intensity of your workouts without simultaneously increasing the yardage. This raises some important follow up questions. What do you mean by increasing intensity - are you swimming faster and harder or are you taking less rest in between sets, or both? Was this a gradual transition or did you try to start suddenly and then your cold forced you to stop? Do your practices target specific areas of weakness in your stroke technique?
My number one advice would be to get a coach to make an analysis (video-based or on-deck) of your stroke technique. A stroke analysis and a consultation about goals and current ability is of paramount importance to creating ideal swim workouts that allow for an increase in speed, conditioning and efficiency, while avoiding injuries or illness that is related to a sudden increase in intensity or yardage. Swim workouts need to strike the right balance.
Best of luck to you!
