help! my 1st masters practice

It only takes a little while don't worry you will find the swimmers are of all levels, the good, the bad and the ugly. When I go to a masters work out I always swim with the begginers. I never do what the coach asks me to do I do my own work out. But that is me. I joined a masters group fo $300 but decided I would be better not to swim with the group. I just go to the pool and swim laps.

Originally posted by geochuck It only takes a little while don't worry you will find the swimmers are of all levels, the good, the bad and the ugly. When I go to a masters work out I always swim with the begginers. I never do what the coach asks me to do I do my own work out. But that is me. I joined a masters group fo $300 but decided I would be better not to swim with the group. I just go to the pool and swim laps. I know I'm probably working it up to be a lot worse than it actually is. But I always seem to have anxiety in new situations like this. So, do you mean you joined the team, but you do the workouts on your own? I wonder if my team would allow that. I'm not sure how strict the coach is so I don't know if he'd allow me to do my own workout. Thanks for your help!

Originally posted by postcollegeswimr I know I'm probably working it up to be a lot worse than it actually is. But I always seem to have anxiety in new situations like this. So, do you mean you joined the team, but you do the workouts on your own? I wonder if my team would allow that. I'm not sure how strict the coach is so I don't know if he'd allow me to do my own workout. Thanks for your help! Go to practice and give 'er hell! I am 99.9% sure that you will be glad you went. If, on the off chance, I am wrong at least you won't be wondering what it is that you are missing. No regrets. That is my mantra that I "attempt" to live by every day. I have been to a few Masters meets now and I was surprised at the various levels of skill present. There were some dynamite fast people that made me look like I was standing still and then there were some overweight and out of shapers who swim a 50 in the time I do a 100. I am sure that you will fit in somehow. The beauty of your position right now is that you are bound to improve greatly over the next few months which will be fun for you and inspirational to others on your team. Go get 'em and keep us posted.

With your swimming background you will almost certainly be much faster than most the people who only started swimming as adults so I wouldn't worry about being left behind. It is extremely unlikely that the coach is going to be "pushing" you on your first day with the club. Just find the lane that is swimming at your current speed and join in. If you misjudge which lane you fit in move up or down a lane. Unless this club is very untypical everyone will be welcoming and no one will get the least bit worked up about whether you are working hard enough or are fast enough. With all due respect to George I do not recommend that you set out to do your own (different) workout, that would generally be disruptive of the other people in the lane and not likely to be appreciated.

You are going to be fine. I have WAY less swimming experience than you, and I did fine (I was petrified too). Some people might be standoffish at first, but definitely don't let that deter you. Most times people will warm up to you after a few practices. As for the weight issue, I know it is completely impossible, but try not to worry about them. You will start dropping pounds sooner rather than later if you start swimming NOW. Also, there are many many many overweight masters swimmers. You will not be alone. I have a friend who swore that she would start swimming as soon as she had lost a few pounds. That was two years ago and she has not been in the pool once. Some people tell themselves that they'll go as soon as they shave their legs, or as soon as the horrible zit on their chin clears up. When it comes down to it, you just have to go. Let us know how it goes!

I joined the club but hated their workouts so just go to the open swims. The coach told me I had to do all of their drills and wanted me to swim breaststroke. I don't swim breaststroke as I have problems doing the whip kick and to me it is a useless stroke. I am too old to do the butterfly in workouts but will race a 50 or 100, I get seasick when I do the backstroke so no longer do the backstroke I don't like to break my stroke up into little pieces so I swim front crawl only. I am really a non believer in drills or very hard work outs.

Hi Erica, Approach the experience with a sense of humor, and you'll be fine. You'll probably find Masters is a little different than the swimming experiences you've had in the past. There are very few requirements. Your coach isn't going to make you do push-ups if you have to go to the restroom in the middle of a set. Want to test the waters without the worry? Reintroduce yourself to the water in a peaceful environment without too much distraction. Go to the pool when it's not busy, grab a lane to yourself, and try doing a little lap swimming to get a sense of where you are (intervals, pace, conditioning, etc.). If you're still too nervous to jump into the practice group, go and observe a practice and talk to the coach when he/she is available. Enjoy! Swimmer Bill

Originally posted by postcollegeswimr First off, I'd like to thank ALL of you for your great responses and your encouragement. It sure isn't easy getting back into the pool after so many years of not swimming, but you're all right...you have to start somewhere. Well I came into last night's practice and introduced myself to the coach. I gave him a little bit of my background in swimming and told him I literally have not touched water in 6 years. There were 6 lanes reserved for the team's workout and 2 open lap lanes for regular gym members to do laps. The coach told me to do some laps in the open lanes and he'd watch me and see how I did. After about 500 yards or so I was really hurting and could feel how out of shape I was. He told me I did well after such a long time out of the water and that I would probably fit into one of the middle lanes for the workout. The team is currently doing a taper so the yardage isn't as high as usual, but I still didn't think I could endure a 2 hour workout. So I swam for 90 minutes on my own doing laps to try and build up my endurance. The coach said I should give myself a few weeks of practicing on my own and then I could join the team for workouts. I'm proud of myself for going, and I kept trying to tell myself that I have to start somewhere and I can't keep putting it off. I just can't believe I let myself get this out of shape and gain so much weight. I've been trying to eat healthier and cut down on proportion sizes. I'm going to start doing some walking on my hour lunch break to try and accelerate my weight loss. Are there any suggestions that you could give to help me lose weight but without over-doing it? Also, how many times a week would you recommend that I swim to get myself back into "swimming mode" but again without over-doing it? If you want to lose weight, you need to know what you are putting in your mouth. You need to keep a food diary for at least a week and be honest about it. Take a look at what you are eating, when you are eating, and focus on cutting out 500 calories a day, preferably from the non-healthy catagory. A lot of people dislike food journaling, and that is fine, but doing it every now and then gets you focused on what you are putting in your mouth. Without that in black and white, we tend to have selective memory of what we ate and then say, I don't know why I can't lose. Also, start looking into ways to do resistance training. Walking at lunch....great, add some walking lunges in your walk, stop and do wall push-ups or dips off a bench. Do crunches when you are watching TV.

You didn't get out of shape overnight so give yourself some time to get back. You'll be adding stress to your body with your swim workouts so don't add too much more stress to it by adding extra dryland workouts and not getting enough calories to fuel you too. Working on your own in the lap lane will help you stay within your limits so you don't overextend to where you have to take some days off for muscle soreness or picking up some colds. If the group wasn't tapering, I would suggest modeling your swims after what the group is doing. I wouldn't suggest race pace or lactate tolerance sets just yet. Long slow swims; some work in all 4 strokes; some kicking and pulling; some stroke drills. Flipturns and kicking dolphin on your back to get your abs conditioned. Some butterfly sprints to build strength. What works for me is to try to get more fruits and vegetables and cut down on fatty or sugary foods and (alas!) alcohol. Food is fuel. Calories matter. The other Masters swimmers probably don't know what your old times were and don't care. I remember starting up very out-of-shape and being really embarrassed when the coach looked me over head-to-toe and rolled his eyes, but he really enjoyed helping me drop my times and get back into it. It was a great experience. Good luck!

I think you'll find the swimming will come back to you pretty easily. Six years out of the water is nothing. Your weight might hinder you a little, but I think it will hamper you less than you think. Yes, it will take some time to get back into great shape, but keep working at it and you'll get there. I started out by swimming three days per week, but decided I needed to go four to get into the kind of shape I wanted to be in. Two hour workouts are pretty long for masters, though, so I think three days a week would be a good starting point for you. Good luck!