Hi all,
I'm all over the streamline thing, hence one thread for two questions (or maybe that actually undercuts streamlined thread, but whatevah!). ;)
1. Suffering from "slowswimmeritis," I still have the goal of increasing swim distance every other weekend (alternating weekends are for increasing running distance, as I'm training for a half marathon in March, but that's for the running forum). Yesterday, I had a goal of 4200 yards, and so I arrived at the pool early b/4 masters' practice to get in some of my yards, with a plan to stay afterward to complete the remainder (it's a one hour practice, and the day I manage 4200 yards in an hour, I'll be dancing in the streets if I'm not too tired!). I was well on my way to achieving this goal. With the swim practice and the pre-swim, I had amassed 3300 yards, and I knew it would be no problem to add the rest, still feeling pretty good. But :mad: guess which time/day the local h.s. swim team had to use the pool for their workout--RIGHT after our masters' practice!! So goodbye goal!
However, my seething self needed some kind of victory. First thought was to go to my local h.s. pool (not the same h.s. as the swim team's) and start the whole thing from scratch, so I could get the whole bunch of yards in a single swim. But the coach wisely advised against that. He suggested instead, if I must double up, to just complete the difference btw what I did and what I wanted to do. Did that--900--and added 300 more for good measure. (Kept this easy, threw in some drills.)
But I'm curious: what would you have done in my situation? And have I (at least indirectly) achieved my goal? I figure getting the yards into a single day had to be close enough for the time being, and today I have a two hour workout where I may have another chance...but given that at the end of the day I found myself w/ a cold and my knee twinging, I'll have to go lighter than I'd hoped. So hard to balance all this as a newcomer to swimming!
2. This is something I need to get used to, since my butterfly isn't strong enough to scare away other swimmers. ;) I notice that if others are in my lane, I tend to lose my focus on technique and instead get preoccupied with staying out of the way of the other swimmer(s). Also (related), I tense up when there are others in the lane. Of course, I'm mindful that the reality of pools is lane sharing, so rather than shooting other swimmers who enter the lane, I want to get to a place where I can keep my focus/concentration/form (such as it is... needs work for sure). Do others run into this problem and how do you deal w/ it?
Should mention that it sometimes depends on the swimmer: there's a guy who does a quiet little breaststroke in one of the open swim periods, and I never find it a problem to swim in his lane even doing my freestyle because we seem to have a rhythm for staying out of each other's way and respecting each other's pace. Yet someone else doing the same thing would make me nutz! And generally, I'm very accommodating if someone wants to join my lane, although there's the guy who dives into the pool making a huge splash and taking up a good part of the lane... or the guy who half walks/half swims... or ... well you know... and when I see these folks coming, I have to admit, I speed up a lot until they choose other lanes. ;) But even with reasonable ppl, I just have a hard time getting focused. Advice appreciated!
Ah ha! Doh! Half marathon - running. Got it.
But, yes, a 5.25 mile swim is a challenging swim too. My first 5K (not miles) was in a lake and it was actually my most challenging OW swim to date due to poor visability, a poorly marked course, and a terrible chop. It felt like I was swimming in molasses, and I just about sprinted the whole way after running into a catfish half the size of me! :laugh2:
Seriously though, why not try a set or even a 500 warm up with the highschool team? It was the last thing I wanted to do when I first started back (had a lot of doubts like what if they lap me, etc.). HOWEVER, if you do it, it's a great way to feel like Rocky post your success. I've had great fun in the past getting into shape with them (sort of as a get ready for swimming with Masters). You sound focused and organized (with how much yardage you want to accomplish each day). But yes, if you're under the weather (like I am now too!!), rest!!
I'll check into that idea about the h.s. team, although I think that yesterday was an exception and they normally don't train at the Y. But maybe just in case, it's good to have the option to slip in there with them to finish off my yards if needed.
A catfish half your size?? :eek: I didn't know they got that big! Most of my o.w. experience (which isn't a whole lot) is in salt water, including one ocean mile swim. My biggest fears were (1) sharks (there'd been some attacks off the Jersey shore so my fears weren't entirely groundless) and (2) waves. I'd grown up swimming in salt water, including the ocean, but had some scary experiences when younger and wouldn't have even thought of doing the ocean swim if it hadn't been for a very persuasive masters' coach. After fighting through a bunch of breakers and vowing "never again" (and thinking of what I was going to do to this coach if I survived), I found my way past the breakers and into relatively managable water, then once I got going, I felt a lot better. No sign of sharks either. I figured being a lone swimmer would be riskier than being in an organized group with kayakers and people on surfboards shepherding us along, so I figured, "relax, and just swim and have fun" and by the time I finished and saw the coach cheering me in, I had already cancelled my plans to make him pay. :) (He's such a great guy, in fact, and I only wish he had been able to keep on w/ masters' coaching b/c I got so much from his practices... but now studying in a very intense PT program. When he graduates, his clients will be very lucky!)
I had one lake experience--a short swim, only a quarter mile, followed by a 5k run. The bottom of the lake was full of some kind of rusty metal objects. Theoretically one could wade the swim part on the shallow side, but to wade was to risk stepping on something sharp and risking tetanus, so I stayed to the deep side until almost time to go to the shore. Saw no fish but maybe b/c the water was so murky (just as well I couldn't see much, I figured...maybe I wouldn't like what I saw) --also it was a pretty small lake.
Ah ha! Doh! Half marathon - running. Got it.
But, yes, a 5.25 mile swim is a challenging swim too. My first 5K (not miles) was in a lake and it was actually my most challenging OW swim to date due to poor visability, a poorly marked course, and a terrible chop. It felt like I was swimming in molasses, and I just about sprinted the whole way after running into a catfish half the size of me! :laugh2:
Seriously though, why not try a set or even a 500 warm up with the highschool team? It was the last thing I wanted to do when I first started back (had a lot of doubts like what if they lap me, etc.). HOWEVER, if you do it, it's a great way to feel like Rocky post your success. I've had great fun in the past getting into shape with them (sort of as a get ready for swimming with Masters). You sound focused and organized (with how much yardage you want to accomplish each day). But yes, if you're under the weather (like I am now too!!), rest!!
I'll check into that idea about the h.s. team, although I think that yesterday was an exception and they normally don't train at the Y. But maybe just in case, it's good to have the option to slip in there with them to finish off my yards if needed.
A catfish half your size?? :eek: I didn't know they got that big! Most of my o.w. experience (which isn't a whole lot) is in salt water, including one ocean mile swim. My biggest fears were (1) sharks (there'd been some attacks off the Jersey shore so my fears weren't entirely groundless) and (2) waves. I'd grown up swimming in salt water, including the ocean, but had some scary experiences when younger and wouldn't have even thought of doing the ocean swim if it hadn't been for a very persuasive masters' coach. After fighting through a bunch of breakers and vowing "never again" (and thinking of what I was going to do to this coach if I survived), I found my way past the breakers and into relatively managable water, then once I got going, I felt a lot better. No sign of sharks either. I figured being a lone swimmer would be riskier than being in an organized group with kayakers and people on surfboards shepherding us along, so I figured, "relax, and just swim and have fun" and by the time I finished and saw the coach cheering me in, I had already cancelled my plans to make him pay. :) (He's such a great guy, in fact, and I only wish he had been able to keep on w/ masters' coaching b/c I got so much from his practices... but now studying in a very intense PT program. When he graduates, his clients will be very lucky!)
I had one lake experience--a short swim, only a quarter mile, followed by a 5k run. The bottom of the lake was full of some kind of rusty metal objects. Theoretically one could wade the swim part on the shallow side, but to wade was to risk stepping on something sharp and risking tetanus, so I stayed to the deep side until almost time to go to the shore. Saw no fish but maybe b/c the water was so murky (just as well I couldn't see much, I figured...maybe I wouldn't like what I saw) --also it was a pretty small lake.
