With all the super fast times being slung around on this board, I have to wonder how long it took people to get there.
If you are a reborn swimmer, how long did it take you to get close (within say 5 seconds on a 100, 2-3 seconds on a 50) to your previous best times?
Did it take two a day or 2 hour a day swimming to get close to college/age group times again? Or is it just a matter of remembering how to swim fast and being dedicated with the time you do have?
Any advice for those re-joining the swimming ranks and are excited to compete but still stuck waaay behind former best times (like 20 seconds in a 100 and 8 seconds in a 50) and getting depressed coming in last in their age group?
With all the super fast times being slung around on this board, I have to wonder how long it took people to get there.
If you are a reborn swimmer, how long did it take you to get close (within say 5 seconds on a 100, 2-3 seconds on a 50) to your previous best times?
Did it take two a day or 2 hour a day swimming to get close to college/age group times again? Or is it just a matter of remembering how to swim fast and being dedicated with the time you do have?
Any advice for those re-joining the swimming ranks and are excited to compete but still stuck waaay behind former best times (like 20 seconds in a 100 and 8 seconds in a 50) and getting depressed coming in last in their age group?
Michelle:
I am a re-joiner/reborn swimmer that came back from a 24 year layoff post college layoff. But as Paul points out, I stayed in pretty good shape during the layoff except for the baby years (some bed rest). I did not get "wet" at all though, but then I didn't get "fat" either.
I've been back in the pool about 20 months now. I'm still about 2 seconds off my best 50 times but not back to within 5 seconds of my best fly/back 100s yet. (Not to be negative, but don't know if I'll ever do those times again. If I ever swim a :58 in the 100 fly, I'll buy everyone on the forum drinks.) Doesn't bug me. I only focus on my adult times and rankings, and hope to improve those. I know people who obsessively look back at their best youth times or their best masters times pre-kid, and they are often very depressed and frustrated every meet. I tend to have fun at most meets.
I'd stay with both mini-goals, and some long term goals in the back of your mind. For example, some of my initial very modest mini-goals were: don't lose your goggles on the start, try to do an actual backstroke start instead of just flopping on the water; try not to hack away on free at the end of 100 IM, learn to streamline better, try to SDK on fly and back, try to bend the elbows more on free, don't cross over in free, etc. Note: most of these were technique related. Mixing it up with other strokes is a good idea and will help keep you on the path to improvement and keep you fresh.
With respect to training, as a master, I have never done two a day swims. I have never swum 2 hour practices. I don't do all that much engine building, although I work hard when I swim with my team. I rarely exceed 4000 or so, often do just 3000. I seem to do just as well on the aerobic-lite, Salo-like reduced yardage sprint training model. I rarely swim more than 4x a week, 5x max. A couple of those involve some easy swimming and drills and a couple sprints for an hour. I had to really focus initially on deconstructing and re-learning some of my old school strokes. So I have spent (and still spend) a lot of time on drills, technique, and turns. Fly and *** are swum very differently now than when I was a youth -- had to re-learn them. No one SDK'd in my time either, so I've invested tons of time in learning that particular skill as well. But no mega training for me. Technique improvements generally yield bigger dividends. I think sprinters in particular need good technique, along with power. With this approach, I posted some decent times within three months back and had a pretty good first year. It can be done.
In short, I think I essentially did what Paul Smith suggested, although I'm sure I'd be much faster if he was my coach! I also do some running and weight lifting for cross training. I don't do yoga, but I know a lot of people do to stay flexible. Good luck! Be patient and don't rush yourself! Work on technique.
With all the super fast times being slung around on this board, I have to wonder how long it took people to get there.
If you are a reborn swimmer, how long did it take you to get close (within say 5 seconds on a 100, 2-3 seconds on a 50) to your previous best times?
Did it take two a day or 2 hour a day swimming to get close to college/age group times again? Or is it just a matter of remembering how to swim fast and being dedicated with the time you do have?
Any advice for those re-joining the swimming ranks and are excited to compete but still stuck waaay behind former best times (like 20 seconds in a 100 and 8 seconds in a 50) and getting depressed coming in last in their age group?
Michelle:
I am a re-joiner/reborn swimmer that came back from a 24 year layoff post college layoff. But as Paul points out, I stayed in pretty good shape during the layoff except for the baby years (some bed rest). I did not get "wet" at all though, but then I didn't get "fat" either.
I've been back in the pool about 20 months now. I'm still about 2 seconds off my best 50 times but not back to within 5 seconds of my best fly/back 100s yet. (Not to be negative, but don't know if I'll ever do those times again. If I ever swim a :58 in the 100 fly, I'll buy everyone on the forum drinks.) Doesn't bug me. I only focus on my adult times and rankings, and hope to improve those. I know people who obsessively look back at their best youth times or their best masters times pre-kid, and they are often very depressed and frustrated every meet. I tend to have fun at most meets.
I'd stay with both mini-goals, and some long term goals in the back of your mind. For example, some of my initial very modest mini-goals were: don't lose your goggles on the start, try to do an actual backstroke start instead of just flopping on the water; try not to hack away on free at the end of 100 IM, learn to streamline better, try to SDK on fly and back, try to bend the elbows more on free, don't cross over in free, etc. Note: most of these were technique related. Mixing it up with other strokes is a good idea and will help keep you on the path to improvement and keep you fresh.
With respect to training, as a master, I have never done two a day swims. I have never swum 2 hour practices. I don't do all that much engine building, although I work hard when I swim with my team. I rarely exceed 4000 or so, often do just 3000. I seem to do just as well on the aerobic-lite, Salo-like reduced yardage sprint training model. I rarely swim more than 4x a week, 5x max. A couple of those involve some easy swimming and drills and a couple sprints for an hour. I had to really focus initially on deconstructing and re-learning some of my old school strokes. So I have spent (and still spend) a lot of time on drills, technique, and turns. Fly and *** are swum very differently now than when I was a youth -- had to re-learn them. No one SDK'd in my time either, so I've invested tons of time in learning that particular skill as well. But no mega training for me. Technique improvements generally yield bigger dividends. I think sprinters in particular need good technique, along with power. With this approach, I posted some decent times within three months back and had a pretty good first year. It can be done.
In short, I think I essentially did what Paul Smith suggested, although I'm sure I'd be much faster if he was my coach! I also do some running and weight lifting for cross training. I don't do yoga, but I know a lot of people do to stay flexible. Good luck! Be patient and don't rush yourself! Work on technique.
