swim night or day?

I have always been slower in early morning workouts but unfortunately that works best for my schedule. In college my afternoon workouts were a lot faster if I'd made it to the morning practice.

I much prefer to swim at night. I have never been a morning person. Last season due to work conflicts, I would swim a coached workout 2-3 times per week in the morning and on my own in the evening 2-3 times per week. I was stiffer during warm ups in the mornings but after that I did not see a difference in flexibility or swim times between morning and nights. I swam morning and nights for 5 months and my body never adjusted to getting up for the early morning workouts and I would end up exhausted by the end of the day. The problem was that when I would swim at night I would get done too late. Due to schedules, I often don’t get done swimming until after midnight (does that count as both an evening and morning workout?) Therefore, after swimming late I was unable to get enough sleep and still get up at 5:00 a.m. on the off swim days as I would if I were swimming that morning to build a routine. Note: I never swam at night and then also the next morning. I think the key is to being consistent with your sleeping and rising times. Over time I’m sure your body will adjust but if you are a true night owl it may take you longer than 3-6 weeks to adapt. For now, I just stick to nights.

When I was swimming in Vancouver a few years ago, I switched from afternoon swims to early morning swims. It was hard for a few months but now I prefer to swim early. I swim from 6:45 to 8:15 or 8:30, then have a BIG breakfast. My coach in Vancouver, Paul Cross, told me that when you swim early in the morning that you can be 3 to 6 seconds slower for each 50m. This is down to flexibility and blood flow etc being more sluggish. He also told me that after a year or two the body adapts and that the differential is less, 2 seconds / 50m, I think. The only time that they have lanes in my local pool is in the early morning slot, so if you are serious about training then that is when you swim.

I don't do morning swims well. It's too easy for me to just turn off the alarm and roll over. I am in the office typically 4 days a week and my pool is a mile away. For some reason, I can get up and get to the office an hour early easier than I can get up and swim. It works well for me to go at lunch. I take a long lunch and make up the time in the morning. Then, I feel my best when I swim and I get an hour or so of concentrated work in the morning before the phone starts ringing etc. When I am out of the office on the fifth day, I try to go whenever I can get there.

Originally posted by sparx35 week 2 now,i'm up at 6am tommorrow morning for a swim,looking forward to it too!!!!! Kewl! Congratulations :)

I do both. On my days off from work I swim mornings or sometimes afternoons when its much cooler. When I work I swim nites at a health club. I swim usually 4 days a week around 2,500 to 3,000 a day.

I have been swimming mornings since I was 10 years old. I have hated them all the way through college, but now with my work schedule, it is the only time I can get any yardage in. Oh well, thats swimming for you

i think all these answer my original quest.. i think both,to swim night and day but on differing days

i now look forward to my sat morn swim.i'm up at 6am tommorrow can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!

i must be mad.....yip....yip....yip.....(men in white coats now approaching)yip....yipppp...yip!!!!!