To swim or not to swim

Originally posted by DanSad How do you correctly "listen to your body"? If you swim on a regular basis you seem to build up a certain level of fatigue. So if on a particular day you feel more tired than usual and/or you're having trouble maintaining the paces you can typically maintain how do you know whether you should push through it or if your body needs rest? I've read in swimming books that you can get to a point of "failing adaptation" but I don't think I'm at that point because I swim appx 5 days a week and 3500-4500 yards each day. In addition to The Good Smith's comments on the importance of having a good coach (which I'm lucky to have) few more thoughts... In my particualr case, I can tell by the intensity of the pain and tiredness, and some of the weak spots I'm aware of from experience... Sometimes I can be tired one day, and push through it just fine, and even get fired up mid workout, other days I know that if I push through *this* workout, I'll pay for it ny hurting too much, or getting myself close to the injury. Also depends on the workout that I'm about to do... in my poersonal case, when I'm tired, I'm still up for a medium intensity distance workout, but a set of sprints will do me in. Also, I never judge how I feel before the workout, I get in, warm up, and see how it goes. If it's too much, I'll cut down on the length or the intensity of the sets, or even get out mid workout if I need to. It takes some trial and error to get there. If ytou don't tend to remember details of how you feel during and after a workout, keep a diary. Personally, I'm taking the advantage of that "well known" female trait of having an elephant memory when it comes to remembering how something made you feel... ;) So I tend to just remember the details.

Originally posted by DanSad How do you correctly "listen to your body"? If you swim on a regular basis you seem to build up a certain level of fatigue. So if on a particular day you feel more tired than usual and/or you're having trouble maintaining the paces you can typically maintain how do you know whether you should push through it or if your body needs rest? I've read in swimming books that you can get to a point of "failing adaptation" but I don't think I'm at that point because I swim appx 5 days a week and 3500-4500 yards each day. In addition to The Good Smith's comments on the importance of having a good coach (which I'm lucky to have) few more thoughts... In my particualr case, I can tell by the intensity of the pain and tiredness, and some of the weak spots I'm aware of from experience... Sometimes I can be tired one day, and push through it just fine, and even get fired up mid workout, other days I know that if I push through *this* workout, I'll pay for it ny hurting too much, or getting myself close to the injury. Also depends on the workout that I'm about to do... in my poersonal case, when I'm tired, I'm still up for a medium intensity distance workout, but a set of sprints will do me in. Also, I never judge how I feel before the workout, I get in, warm up, and see how it goes. If it's too much, I'll cut down on the length or the intensity of the sets, or even get out mid workout if I need to. It takes some trial and error to get there. If ytou don't tend to remember details of how you feel during and after a workout, keep a diary. Personally, I'm taking the advantage of that "well known" female trait of having an elephant memory when it comes to remembering how something made you feel... ;) So I tend to just remember the details.