Ok, picture this. You get to the pool and it's empty. You think to yourself, this is gonna be a great swim, especially since the rest of my day as been not so great. Then when you finally get into the water, you push off and begin swimming when something amazing happens. Now picture this. This amazing thing is comparable only to you first day in the pool.....every! You realize that you are going to have an off day. This is what happened to me today. My breastroke was making waves so big you could body surf...My fly was like trying to watch a chipmunk do an IM (not that my fly has ever been good, but today was especially bad meaning it was the thing of nightmares), my free was horrible! The only thing that seemed to be going right was my backstroke. So anyways, I was looking for what people do to get over their bad days? I just reverted back to very elementary drills and tried to float (yes it was that bad I was sinking like I was made of lead). What do you do on your off days? Do you finish your workout, leave immediatly and hope that no one noticed, or stay extra and try to make the best of it? Hopefully tomorrow will be better!!
~Kyra
Former Member
that's a great way to look at it, because by that point (at least for me) it's become psychological. There have been times when I've been training alone and I feel so "off", and if I can just grit my teeth and bear down, the workout actually gets better.
I just think that you have to workout through the bad days and keep plugging along-making sure that your form is still correct. When you make it through those bad days it makes it so easy on the great ones.
Sometimes pushing yourself works wonders. But, I think sometimes pushing yourself can backfire. If I want to be able to function the rest of the day, sometimes its better for me to call it a day and hope for a better workout tomorrow!
I just plow through the workout. Its not easy for me to get to the pool so when I am there I need to workout. So I just make do with what I have in me that day and hope for a better one next time.
Great timing on the post!I just had one yesterday, it was frustrating.I actually switched to the drills first, then tried to swim long smooth strokes to hold a good DPS and then it gradually got a little better...Maybe I just was not warmed up enough or something ... but I do believe you need to stick to a work-out even harder at such points and it usually gets better later on in a work-out.
Originally posted by newmastersswimmer
Kinda hard to let much get you down these days eh? ... With the way the Steelers are playing this year and all....Everything is beautiful when your team is kicking butt!!
newmastersswimmer
p.s. I'm a poor Tennessee Volunteers fan....so life is not so peachy right now for me unfortunately.
Well, I'm a Penn State Alum. Things have been tough from that end for a while now. But yes, the Steelers make me smile!:D
For me, when I am off and plow through the workout, I often find that at the end of the workout - say the last 25% or so - it finally all clicks and I feel great in the last few sets. Not always, but sometimes. It almost seems like there is something going on in my body - based on not enough sleep, poor eating for a couple of days, stress, whatever - and working out hard makes my body process the bad stuff and get it out of my system.
Of course, there are the days when I don't get it worked out, I struggle to complete the workout and feel like crap when I'm done. But I don't let myself quit in the middle of a workout - time in the pool is too limited to just get out.
Yay! Today was better, lot's better, except for my fly. Like I said, my fly has never been good, but for some reason my hips were really sinking today. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get them up. I tried pushing on my chest more, lifting my legs, different head positions. Nothing seemed to work. Any suggestions?
~Kyra
Don't do fly!:p
Seriously though, the thing that I have to concentrate on the most is keeping my head in line with my spine. If I am doing this right, my head enters the water before my hands (not by much) and it keeps my hips from sinking.
Ok kind of a technique question now. So then when my hands are almost out in front then my head should be down, or going back down, and my hips should be going up, while pushing my legs and chest down right? So that by the end of the stroke my body is in like a pike position, head and chest down, hips and butt up, and legs down with my hands out in front right? So then when it's time to stroke again I can "push" my chest up, pull my hands back and let my legs kick from the wave motion. (Did any of that description make sense, I hope it did cuz I need some hlep here) This is how I generally try to do fly. If this is wrong would someone PLEASE tell me the right timing and correct way to have my limbs in relation to my other limbs! Thanx a million!!
~Kyra
