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
Good point. Back when my coach told me that, nobody ever talked about overtraining. I guess you have to distinguish between overtraining and just feeling unmotivated.
Originally posted by gull80
A coach once told me that you accomplish the most on the days that you work out when you really don't feel like it. Usually I find that if I hang in there I can finish with a good set.
My coach told me the same thing. It is true unless you have a few bad days in a row. When that happens, I think it is better to take a day off. Training tired is good to a point. I think everyone has to do what works for them. I find if I have 3-4 days that I don't feel good, it is better for me to take a day or two off. I come back able to workout much harder. I am a sprinter though. I imagine distance swimmers may be different....they are a whole different species!:D
A coach once told me that you accomplish the most on the days that you work out when you really don't feel like it. Usually I find that if I hang in there I can finish with a good set.
I tend to breath every stroke. I'm trying to breath every other stroke but when I do then I feel starved for oxygen and like I get tired really quickly. Oh that brings up another question, I can go about three quaters of the way down the pool and feel really good, like I could on forever, but then all of a sudden I sink. I don't think it's because I'm tired, cuz I can go one length and not be to bad. Any ideas? Thanx!!
~Kyra
Kyra, regarding your fly –
There was a good article in this month’s Swim, which may answer some of your questions. Also, you didn’t mention your breathing pattern. I find that breathing every other stroke really helps to keep my body aligned and my hips up. If I drop down to 2-1-2-1 or 1-1-1-1 my hips start to drop.
I had a terrible workout on Friday. One of those days you just want to get it over with. Who knew that I would be spending the rest of my weekend in bed sick. Of course I got better just in time to come into work today.
I hate off days!!!
Its true, upon entering the water you almost know right away if your swim will be "on" or "off". When I have an off day its extreme. On a typical day, I can hold 10x100 Free’s on 1:03-1:05, but on an “off” day I find it very hard to break 1:10. I get so discouraged that my whole workout is shot. I have to try to swim through it, but its frustrating. I don’t understand why this happens, but you can allay all fears knowing that many face the same problem.
It takes a lot more strength to hold together butterfly breathing every stroke (a la Phelps) than it does to breath every other stroke (a la Crocker). In the last couple of years I have been working to go from a 2-1-2-1 breathing pattern to breathing every other stroke. It took a while to get comfortable with the new breathing pattern, but my 200 fly at nationals this year felt as good as any 200 fly in recent memory and my time was faster than it had been in years.
Breathing every other stroke will initially cause you to fatigue more quickly, so I suggest you try to slow down your stroke and focus on breathing and technique and slowly increase intensity as you get more comfortable.
I am still learning butterfly and experimenting with breathing patterns. I have a theory, which might be total rubbish, that breathing every other stroke makes it easier to keep one's hips up but that one can learn to keep one's hips up while breathing every stroke. I've been making progress in this regard, and I am not sure it takes more strength, timing seems to be the key for me. The biggest challenge for me is that as I tire I tend to draw out the breath and not get my head back down soon enough. Having said all that I am still faster breathing every second stroke than breathing every stroke, but the gap is closing.
When I suddenly tire it is usually the result of losing the rhythm of the stroke and letting my hips drop so that I am pulling up instead of forward. An oncoming wave that interferes with a breath is all it takes to throw me off, I hope that will improve with practice.
One "breakthrough" for me was when I started exhaling earlier in the stroke, this allows me to get a quicker deeper inhale which helps with the "I need oxygen!" feeling and helps keeping the timing going.
Like I said, I'm just learning and I could be all wet...
Back in the pool today after a week off, and it feels *so* on.
I keep a swim journal and looking back at the frequency of off days, I really needed that break.
