How do you stay Motivated?

I second the posting about having specific goals. I started master's swimming to lose my 40+ pounds of post swimming weight. What I've found is that I need a specific meet and specific goals for that meet in order to stay motivated and keep myself going to practice. I just came off of shoulder surgery and had a hard time motivating to get back into racing shape, and I believe it's because I did not have a goal meet or times in mind. Now that I do, I find myself waking up for morning practice when tired a lot more often.

Thank you all for the great posts! I think perhaps it's a combination of things and a perspective change that needs to happen. I will certainly use all the info I have received through this post and give it a go again.... lots of great ideas, thanks for sharing! Perhaps there is a little confusion though.. I have never really set goals for myself and gotten frustrated trying to reach them. (Perhaps I need to set some goals period...) I used to swim competitively, and I do already know all the strokes.. Obviously there is always room for improvement, but I feel good in the water (usually, there are always the bad days lol) I live in Oklahoma, and there is no Masters team, or coach to speak of here, in Oklahoma City anyway, which can be frustrating. For awhile it looked like our YMCA was going to start a Masters team, but it seemed to fizzle out, and the guard that was going to coach got a job elsewhere...(also frustrating), this was a dissapointment to say the least. Anyway, with that out of the way, I swam today for the first time in a few weeks and it was WONDERFUL as usual.... It's like I forget how good it feels to be swimming when I've been away for awhile.. ahhhhh.. it's good to be back.. I just hope I can make it over the next block. Thanks again! Jeanette.

just show up to practice as often as you can show up if you can only swim for 30 minutes show up if you're 30 minutes late. the little you do will connect you to your next practice when ever that will be. Do what you can while you're there I swim 6:30 am - 8:00 am not much else happens then Remind yourself of the reasons why you swim what you will gain if you do and what you will lose if you don't have training partners be accountable Start your training thread, right here right now and be accountable to us. Get your butt back in the pool Swim on, ande Originally posted by jswim Hello All, It's been awhile since I've been at the forums; about 4 months actually! AND... about that long since i've swum regularly as well! This, for the last few years, has been my pattern. I will get into a groove and get into decent shape, then something will happen, i.e. I'll get sick, go on vacation, have a really busy week or two and not be able to go workout, holidays, etc.. and I'll lose it completely for about 2-4 months.. then it starts all over again. Regardless, I ALWAYS find the pool calling my name after awhile until I absolutely have to get in it again, then of course remember how good it feels to be swimming.. My question is if anyone else has had similar issues with working out regularly, and what they have done, if anything, to overcome this? Any hints or tricks to help get myself over the little hump and back into the pool quickly before I backslide would be GREATLY appreciated. (I am currently working on self discipline), and any hints on that would be great as well! ;) Jeanette.

I believe I was answering the question, "How do you stay motivated?" Jeannette trains inconsistently, which is a common problem (only 1/3 of the population exercises regularly). I read nothing in her post to suggest that she failed to achieve specific goals, became discouraged and quit.

I stay motivated by establishing goals during my season. The first thing at the begining of my season was to search for one big event at the end of the season which I want to take part in it. So once this event became an event I which I marked as "I will take part in this event, regardless of the time I am swimming or anything else - only the end of the world could stop me from swimming there" it was very easy to stay motivated enough to workout regularly. Then I did a set of time trails myself in which I timed everything that could be important (standart events, 50-100-200-400 *** / free. T-15) so I know where I was starting and than I thought about where I want to go. I than wrote down my season goals and broke them down into smaller steps. So, by now I recognized that my goals were to optimistic but because of the improvemnts I just made until now (cut off 15secs on 50m ***; improved my endurance from 25m free continusly to 3000m free with out stopping) I am motivated enough to make it till the end of the season. And than I will review my season, be happy with what I reached and plan the next season again with more realistic goals.

The fact that jswim finds it disheartening that the swimming not going according to expectations says it all for me. Goals are what get you up in the morning. So, what does it mean when you don't feel like getting up anymore? Does it mean that you've lost your goals and don't have goals anymore? No, it can mean many, many things: Life became complicated, your daughter just learned to drive and wants a car, your sister is marrying a postal worker, whatever... :) That's what happens to all of us. Other things become more important for a while. Then, we look at the thing that used to get us up in the morning and we feel a little guilty for having forgotten about it. What do you tell that person? Personally, I'd tell that person to not worry about it. Go do the thing. Stop putting so much pressure on yourself and all will be right again. Like I said, I don't think you're wrong. I just think that in this case it's the wrong advise. jswim can, of course, correct me if it's me that is wrong.

How do I stay motivated? My motivation to keep going back to the pool is driven by the way I feel after I swim. After a good strong workout I feel like a million bucks and the scent of chlorine that follows me for the next several hours is just icing on the cake.

I went through what you did for a long time (20 yrs). Then I started getting in the water and asking very little of myself beyond consistancy. Now I swim with a group (except when I don't want to). My main motivation is the knowledge that if I stop I will eventually come back, and I will have to go through the pain of getting back into shape. Frankly I'd rather just stay in shape. As to goals, I tend to play with them rather than pursue them (I save goal pursuit for my work). What keeps me going is something to be curious about, whether it be performance in an event at a meet, or how I can change my stroke to make it feel or work better. Having friends to swim with helps get me to the pool. But I try to be very sensitive to my motivation and not swim more than I really want to.

I enjoy swimming more at a coached workout than when I have to swim on my own. I also do some cross training. I find riding my bike on weekends and doing a run once or twice a week instead of swimming has helped me. In the summers I usually do BRAG (Bike Ride Across Georgia) and go hiking for two weeks in the Rockies or Alps. I usually find a pool and get in a couple of swims on my trips. In the winter I take a week long ski trip. Because I am a teacher, I am on my feet most of the day. Swimming is the only sport where I do not have to stand up! I have been competing in Masters for over 26 years and in the middle of my age group. I find I need a break from competition periodically.

Hi- I'm glad that you got back to the pool! Why don't you start a workout group? That will keep you motivated :)