help! my 1st masters practice

Originally posted by ande here's my advice show up on time Sorry Ande, I could not help but laugh at this one! :D

Ande I have noticed you have been on time lately is this your new years resolution.

I think some of my comments in an earlier post were misconstrued so I'll clarify. A 500 daily calorie deficit is a good goal. Food diaries can help you be honest with yourself especially if you are like me and cannot rely on your perceived hunger/level of fullness for appropriate calorie intake. I bought a food scale and some books to get up to speed on portion sizes to get going. If you don't have enough carbs your body will use protein for energy if the fat metabolism isn't rapid enough to fuel the type of work you're doing. Sometimes it can be frustrating to be in the slow lane if it contains people with no swimming background and limited concept of lane etiquette. The good thing is that with your swim background you should graduate to a faster lane quickly. I would definitely recommend swimming with the Masters group even if you are off to the side doing a basic conditioning workout for a couple of weeks rather than trying to do the end-of-season race preparation workouts the rest of the group is doing. It sounds like you are fairly young (as Masters go) so you can swim 4-6 days a week. Try to get some other exercise on the other days if you swim less than 6 days.

Erica - When I started back to master's swimming it was after a 10 year layoff. I remember being frustrated at first because I, too, was impatient and looking for results. I swam about 3x per week for about 3 months before I attempted a meet (which happened to be our state meet). I did well enough that I really caught the bug again. I still took the summer off but started preparing for the next state meet in November. Soon, I was working out 5-6x per week and doing about 100,000 yards per month. I can remember not being able to lift my arms high enough to get them under my pillow at night but the hard work paid off as I was able to get within 1 second of my lifetime best in the 100 yard freestyle (as a 33 year old). Now, 6 years later, I'm still swimming and attempting to transition into a year round swimmer (seems like every year when I take a break, it gets harder and harder to get back in shape). Anyway, my advice is to join the team ASAP. Don't worry that you think you need to build your endurance, it will come. Tell the coach you want to join and join now. Being part of the team will help motivate you to continue to show up. If you have friends (which you will develop) they help get thru the times you really don't feel like being there. In addition, they'll help you thru the plateaus that develop in the training. Good Luck and keep us posted. Just remember, the two hardest things about workouts are getting up in the morning and jumping into the pool. After that its all endorphins!

I agree, join the team now. When I joined Masters at age 38, my background was learning to swim with adult lessons 6 months prior. I stayed in the slowest lane, did what I could(rested on some of the sets when others were continuing), and just kept plugging along. I have moved up a few lanes since then. :D

Hey, the best of us let ourselves go. It's really easy to preach "Just stop eating" but it's more than that and those of us who have dealt with serious weight issues, understand that. I've lost and kept off 100 pounds and let me tell you, if it was as easy as "eat less, move more" I would have lost that weight WELL before I did. It was the whole mental aspect that people who have had the blessing of never having a weight issue, can't begin to understand. (At least some of them.) I will say that I think you're 100% on the right track. You have found your inner athlete and you are redefining who you are. You are not a "former athlete" you're a current athlete. I know once I started thinking of myself as an athlete (well before anyone else might even CONSIDER applying that label to me...and I'm sure it would have made many people on this board laugh), it gave me a different focus. Athletes eat well to fuel their bodies and their workouts. They train because it is a means to an end (as well as mentally and physically enriching). I'm a runner and triathlete who has a big swimming improvement goal this year (which is why I'm here) and I know that if I decide to have a fatty breakfast and then go out on a 15 mile run, good things will not come of it. Therefore I have to think about everything I eat in relation to where my training is, what my plans are, and how it will impact my performance and the way I feel. That has helped me stay lean and clean for over three years now. My own personal secret of success isn't so secret...I journal everything I eat. I'm one of those type-a control freaks (I like to refer to myself as "charmingly in control...of EVERYTHING) so to me it is comforting to know, with a small margin of error, exactly what I've eaten, how many calories I've burned, what the calorie deficit is (if necessary), and how that's averaging out over time. I also exercise daily and happen to run daily (it is the sport I love). I won't bid you good luck because this isn't about luck. It's about health...so instead good health!

Originally posted by Sydney 1. Do some (at least 30 min) of exercise every day, rather than only 4 days a week (ease into it, though). As a BIG loser, I can't shout this one loud enough. It is WAY too easy to say "I'll work out three days a week!" and really really mean it, but then let life get in the way. Before you know it's Friday, your gym clothes have left you for another athlete citing "abandonment" in the divorce papers, and you forgot that you even set the goal in the first place. If instead you work out every day it is simply "something you do." I tell people it's like health hygiene the way brushing my teeth and showering every day is part of my personal hygiene. While I may not wake up in the morning and think "Hot damn I get to brush my teeth this morning! WOOO!!! Go me!" every day, I do it because I like teeth. They benefit me in many ways. Since I like them, I have to take care of them. I also like my body. It too benefits me in many ways...so why would I give it LESS attention than I give my teeth or the plants in my livingroom? Heck, many MANY Americans out there pay more attention to what they put into and onto their vehicles than what they put into their bodies. "Don't drive my baby too hard and only premium gas!" they say through mouthfuls of junk food, dragging on a cigarette. I'm preaching. I'll stop now. My second post, and already I'm preaching. I came here to ASK questions! ACK!

here's my advice show up on time pick an easy lane be friendly don't lead have fun stay out of people's way if the lane you chose is too fast move too a slower lane if the lane you chose is too slow move too a faster lane take it easy only do part of the work out be consistent

My advice would be to not go overboard on watching what you eat. If you are working out hard several days a week you'll be burning WAY more calories than you did before and you'll lose weight if you just keep up the same diet you have been. I wasn't overweight before I started swimming masters, but I did lose at least ten pounds in the first couple months and have stayed at around that weight since. I'm only pointing this out because "your mileage may vary" if you have a lot more weight to lose than I did.

Originally posted by knelson My advice would be to not go overboard on watching what you eat. Amen to that! Why do you think we all swim - so we can eat and, for some of us, drink to our heart's delight!