Anyone train on your own?

Wow! I didn't expect so many self-coached people, that's great! Sometimes I miss the push from my coach, I also belive that having some one stand at the edge of the deck at yell at me can be pretty helpful. My coach had a way of knowing exactly what to say to get me to push myself harder. On the other hand, I'm also a little done with the yelling. Of course there wasn't a lot of yelling to being with, but being on my own is pretty nice. If I were to get back with a team, it would have to be with my old coach. Where I've been swimming lately (I'm a nomad) there's a group that gets together a few times per week to swim, and they invited me to join them. But it seemed they were just doing fitness workouts, not the more competitive push I feel like doing. So for now I'm on my own.

While I don't train on my own, I'm also not coached. Our whole masters team is a group of individuals who sometimes get together in varying degrees to train. Sometimes its just me and sometimes we have up to 20 people show up. Usually its 2 or 3 people. Probably 50% of the entire group compete in meets mostly states but a few nationals. Several are state champs and some are national champs. I find its great just to have others to swim with. Most of the time its the only reason I actually get out of bed (AM workouts) because I know someone will be waiting at the pool. Try to find a swimming partner, it'll help immensly with your motivation levels.

I coach myself with notes I make from my TI DVDs, and I get tips and advice from this and the TI forum. Does that count for coaching?

I have coached myself as a runner (2:38 marathon) and as a swimmer (1:16 for 5k SCM pool). Training with other people is more fun, but not always possible. For instance, I once told my running club mates I was doing 8x1 mile that evening. They just looked at me as if I had 2 heads. I also find it easier to train in the morning, so that I see the family a bit in the evenings.

I train on my own, too. I would like to train with a team, though. I just haven't found one yet. I think the competition would benefit me. Also I am desperate for someone to take a look at my stroke and give me some tips on where to improve. Looking at a video of my own stroke won't help me much as I might not even recognise any flaws. I need a proper coach to do that. Despite this, I have been training on my own for some six months now (after a 24 year abcence) and in that short period, I have managed to equal some of the times I was doing when I last swam competitively. So in one sense I am satisfied. However, I am not sure if I have reached the limit of where I can go on my own. Time will tell. I still have a lot, that I know, I can improve on. I do think if you had good coaches as a kid and your stroke is 90% good, then you should be okay on your own. But perhaps, if you are a late starter, or have serious stroke problems, then it would be better to get a coach. What keeps me going on my own? Well, I have no motivation problems. In fact, my biggest problem at the moment is trying to convince myself that I should, at least, rest one day a week. I just love swimming. And I love swimming fast even better. Because I have no lanemates, the clock is the only means I have of measuring my progress, or lack of it. So, everyday, I will try to do at least one event at race pace. Also, I have this imaginary competitor in the lane next to me. This person is always one stroke ahead of me and you have no idea how much this inspires me to swim harder. sincerely Syd

I train on my own, which is both: - by necessity: I swim at lunch-time or early w/e mornings, and there is no team nearby; and - by choice: I know what I want and I know when I want it (in other words, I want to swim my chosen events fast, and train for that and that alone). Depending on one's level of experience, competency level (technique-wise) and degree of self-motivation, solo training can either be great or a bummer... Of course, YMMV. Just my :2cents:

I train on my own. I did have 2 good coaches but they both had to move on to bigger and better things. The only coach that's left basically just writes the workout down and then chats with the aqua instructors for the rest of the time. So one day I realized that I could just get my own workouts (from old ones and ones I found in the workout section here) and I'm on my own. I may want a coach again someday, but for now I'm concentrating on interval training and the clock is my coach. JIM

I mostly train alone generally because I find that master's workouts have too much of an 'entertainment' factor built in to keep the swimmers from getting bored. I don't need entertainment, I need training: many, many boring repeats until I get it right. It works great for me! I also study stroke mechanics through videos and watching successful swimmers ply their craft. Most of my time is spent on technical issues of swimming.

Getting a proper workout without a coach or lanemates pushing you is difficult. But it can be a good thing to do occasionally too, if you want to work on technique at your own pace without having to worry about keeping up with lanemates or following a structured workout. I may add an uncoached saturday swim to my routine, now that I've found an okay place nearby, that isn't heated to an unusable temperature like the pool at the gym I go to.

I train both with a team and on my own. I can usually only get to 2 team practices a week, so I try to supplement by swimming alone to get the weekly practice total up to 4. Our team also takes a break from mid-Sept to mid-Nov, so I've got a few more weeks on my own till we start up again. I get the most out of my practices if I write down the workout BEFORE I leave for the pool, at least the main set. Sometimes I also ask my husband (he coaches masters and HS girls) to email/IM me a workout and that works well too because I don't want to report back at dinner that night that I wussed out on his workout! :)