How to Stick with Masters Swimming - Addressing Monotony

I've been swimming masters for nearly 20 years now and here's what I found. If its getting to the pool that's the problem, get a workout partner/friend. That way you tell yourself so and so is waiting for me and I don't want to let them down. If it's the workout itself, there's no shame in adjusting it to your needs (interval, length, stroke, etc). Remember, it's masters swimming, it has to be for you first and the friendships/comradery are the fringe benefits.

I am one of those lazy bunch that hates to feel like I'm sweating. So I tend to stay away from any dry land sports. The only form of fitness that seems to work for me is swimming. That is the #1 reason why I keep swimming. Each day I skip swimming, I tend to be grumpy and lethargic throughout the day. Also, since I've started going to swim meets, I want to beat my personal best, that's reason #2 why I keep swimming. I think you just need to find a goal/reason as to why you want to continue swimming. If you are a triathlete, it could be to improve the swimming leg of your race. Or just it could be just pure fitness reasons.

Jacques - What did you find challenging and rewarding at first? Just some thoughts... Do you have a goal in mind of something that might be just out of reach? Do you have a meet or a race you can do to test yourself? Having a goal helps give each practice new meaning, whether it's working on speed or technique. If you can easily do a 100 on a 1:30, for example, work to get that down to a 1:25. Personally, each practice is an opportunity to make tweaks. I'll focus on one thing for about a month until it becomes ingrained, like this past 3ish weeks, I'm working hard at making turns faster. Before it was working on head position when I'm breathing. This is a sport where minor tweaks can make a difference and multiple tweaks will add up to improvements. You can never be perfect, but you can work to get close. :)

One is to be able to do a 400 IM.Good move. As I was reading through this thread, before I got to this comment, I was going to suggest training for the 400 IM as doing a good 400 IM requires you to vary your workouts, focusing on both endurance and speed, all four strokes, technique, kicking, etc. Also, if you are training with a Masters team and don't find the coach's workouts providing enough variety, consider doing some solo workouts where you do what you want to do. While I love Masters swimming and there are truly some awesome coaches out there in our community, I have found that some coaches can fall into a routine, not be creative enough to keep swimmers engaged. I have found the best way to avoid monotony is to train by myself most of the time as I can ensure my workouts have the kind of variety I need.

"If it's the workout itself, there's no shame in adjusting it to your needs (interval, length, stroke, etc). Remember, it's masters swimming, it has to be for you first and the friendships/comradery are the fringe benefits". Thanks Waves. I think I do put pressure on myself and maybe taking some of that off will be helpful. I'll thinking about how a change or two may help me out. "Also, since I've started going to swim meets, I want to beat my personal best, that's reason #2 why I keep swimming". I'm looking forward to doing my first meet Assumargo, thanks. Maybe if I get that under-my-belt I can set some important goals. "Do you have a goal in mind of something that might be just out of reach? Do you have a meet or a race you can do to test yourself? Having a goal helps give each practice new meaning, whether it's working on speed or technique". Actually, Flystorms, I achieved a huge goal of mine withing the first 6 weeks! :) - to do 1 mile non-stop using flip-turns. That was a great feeling. I'll try to set up some more important goals. One is to be able to do a 400 IM. I need to learn strokes other than freestyle in order to do this. I'm pretty much a perfectionist so my mind is almost always on technique when I'm swimming - as least one aspect of technique anyway. Maybe if I put in writing what I would like to accomplish each month will be helpful. I'll be sure to try this. Thanks :)

... One thing I noticed, and I supposed this is related to the topic, is that there doesn't appear to be a strong emphasis on technique/drills in the masters. ... You just hit a hot button for me! and you can drop the qualifier "masters" too. For a sport that is so heavily technique based, I am astounded by the percentage of coaches that either ignore technique entirely, or give lip service to working on technique, but then take minimal action. Most coaches seem to think that their job is to write a workout on the white board, and perhaps occasionally yell at the swimmers to go faster. Really? I can buy a book of workouts of $10 if that's all I want. If I'm paying a coach I'm expecting a lot more. Just about any coach can write a workout that will get your HR up for an hour (or two or three) but those that will actually work with the swimmers to build better, faster strokes are very rare. ...and I agree, it sure looks like there is a lot of low-hanging fruit for many swimmers. I've even talked to some respected coaches about this. The response: The swimmers won't listen and won't try to fix their strokes anyway so what's the point in giving stroke instruction? The good news is that this is one of the things that makes swim training endlessly interesting, trying to eek every last ounce of speed out by improving strokes. Read books, watch YouTube videos, watch swim meets, then try to emulate the best swimmers. Video yourself, identify something you think should be improved, try to fix it. See if it your "fix" lowers your stroke count. See if it makes your top speed faster. See if it makes your pace-work faster at the same level of effort. Video yourself again. Did you accomplish what you set out to do? If no, try again. If yes, what's next to work on? Oh, and I second pwb, working on the 400 IM can be very absorbing (albeit quite uncomfortable at times.) Have fun!

Thanks Karl. It's interesting to hear about your experience on the subject. From what I've learned to date swimming has a lot to do with muscle memory and the way to train those muscles is to do prescribed drills (for each stroke). There's just so much going on, I find, when swimming that unless I have those muscles trained there's no way I'm going to be able to pull things off. I think I can understand some of what the coach you talked to was saying. In my experience there are swimmers out there that don't want to take the time to do drills and focus on technique. It's just not important to them. This must be very frustrating for coaches, though, that try to explain the importance of technique, only for it to fall on deaf ears. Thanks for the +1 on the 400IM. I'm going to put that on my calendar today. The first goal is to complete one and then I'll try to improve my time.

"I have found that some coaches can fall into a routine, not be creative enough to keep swimmers engaged". Thanks pwb. I was kind of under the impression that coaches got their workouts from USMS. But we're in freestyle open water season so this might explain the emphasis on one stroke recently. I might run this by my coach to learn more. One thing I noticed, and I supposed this is related to the topic, is that there doesn't appear to be a strong emphasis on technique/drills in the masters. I say this because at a large regional swim meet (I was a spectator) I noticed that many of the swimmers, at all levels, had poor technique. A straight are pull, for example, seems to run rampant :) - both in the group I swim with and also at the regional swim meet. It's still early in the game for me but these are just some of my observations from the outset. I do know how important technique is, though, and want to be sure that I continue to develop it in my swimming. Thanks pwb. I didn't entertain the aspect of variety in swimming/drills when setting a 400IM as a goal. Thanks for pointing this out.

Make that +2 on the 400 IM. What I love about training for the 400 IM is the variety, which helps reduce the possibility of repetitive stress injuries. Training for the 1650 (or open water distance races) does just the opposite. As much as I love the 1650 and open water, the quantity of freestyle training required is a killer on the shoulders. With the 400 IM, if my shoulders need a rest, I do IM kick sets and work more on my breaststroke. When my hip gets sore from too much breaststroke kick, I switch it up and train fly. Training all four strokes and doing kick and pull drills gives you plenty of options to rest over-worked areas and make things more enjoyable. :bliss:

You just hit a hot button for me! and you can drop the qualifier "masters" too. For a sport that is so heavily technique based, I am astounded by the percentage of coaches that either ignore technique entirely, or give lip service to working on technique, but then take minimal action. Most coaches seem to think that their job is to write a workout on the white board, and perhaps occasionally yell at the swimmers to go faster. Really? I can buy a book of workouts of $10 if that's all I want. If I'm paying a coach I'm expecting a lot more. Just about any coach can write a workout that will get your HR up for an hour (or two or three) but those that will actually work with the swimmers to build better, faster strokes are very rare. ...and I agree, it sure looks like there is a lot of low-hanging fruit for many swimmers. I've even talked to some respected coaches about this. The response: The swimmers won't listen and won't try to fix their strokes anyway so what's the point in giving stroke instruction? The good news is that this is one of the things that makes swim training endlessly interesting, trying to eek every last ounce of speed out by improving strokes. Read books, watch YouTube videos, watch swim meets, then try to emulate the best swimmers. Video yourself, identify something you think should be improved, try to fix it. See if it your "fix" lowers your stroke count. See if it makes your top speed faster. See if it makes your pace-work faster at the same level of effort. Video yourself again. Did you accomplish what you set out to do? If no, try again. If yes, what's next to work on? Oh, and I second pwb, working on the 400 IM can be very absorbing (albeit quite uncomfortable at times.) Have fun! ' I agree most coaches don't deal with it. But the fact is that stroke work once you are older is very individual. Personally I don't even see the point with the "pay 150.00 for the stroke clinic" model. It is a waste of money. The mentality that you can fix your stroke or technique in 2 hours prevails because there is $$$ in it. Stroke development takes a very long time... doing it right and in some cases a very specific progression. And if you have shoulder, neck, or back issues.. it takes alot more work, and even a more challenging progression. And right.. most lap swimmers won't listen, or they argue when you tell them that you need to fix x before you can fix y.. It is easier to work with people who are starting out because they listen. I work with people one on one with stroke development.. and I don't even charge for it.