hi I swim on a college swim team and I swim distance I pratice 3 hrs 5 days a week all swimming but my times in races and pratice are getting dramitically slower I never make the intervals my coach gives the distance lane it seems I worked on my stroke tech. and flip turns and cont. do so I'm complety frustrated it seems everyone on my time is getting faster while I'm getting slower yet I'm working hard I have a full class load and 40 hrs of work a week yet I never miss prarice wether I get 2 or 5 hrs of sleep which is all I have time to get right now any advice is greatly appreciated
I swim the 500 1000 and some sprints the 100 and 200 in the beginning of the season my 200 a 2 48 my 500 was a 734 and my 100 was a 119 my times last weekend was 744 for my 500 a 2 54 for my 200 and 116 for my 100 thanks for all the advice guys
hi I swim on a college swim team and I swim distance I pratice 3 hrs 5 days a week all swimming but my times in races and pratice are getting dramitically slower I never make the intervals my coach gives the distance lane it seems I worked on my stroke tech. and flip turns and cont. do so I'm complety frustrated it seems everyone on my time is getting faster while I'm getting slower yet I'm working hard I have a full class load and 40 hrs of work a week yet I never miss prarice wether I get 2 or 5 hrs of sleep which is all I have time to get right now any advice is greatly appreciated
Having recently completed my college life, without the swimming and full time job, I would still be running on empty on 2-5 hours of sleep (I was always amazed at how my apartment-mates could go to sleep at 3 or 4am all the time).
But even before I saw the low sleep number, I had a feeling it wasn't adding up, since:
15hr: practice
40hr: job
15hr: attending classes
15-30hr: homework/studying
=======
85-110hr
That's before doing things such as eating or going from place to place or showering, etc. That probably tacks on another 15 hours or so, meaning that you have 100-125 hours scheduled in a 168 hour week. And since most of your restricted time is on the weekdays, there isn't much left for sleeping. Even with a more efficient time usage, you probably couldn't squeeze much more time out of your days if you tried.
Just from experience, for normal students, working a 40 hour job while full time (or even a 20 hour job with a heavy load!) can be a disaster waiting to happen, and you are far from a normal student. But reading between the lines a little, I also get the feeling that severing your ties with the 40 hour job is not going to be an easy matter, because it might be what's putting your through school financially.
If you're still before the drop without permission date at your university, and you're a course above full-time (for example, if full time is 12hrs/4 courses and you carry the expected 15hrs/5 courses), you might consider severing your hardest course or most time consuming, assuming your major can handle it. Even if you're past the drop date, your advisor (academic or otherwise!) might realize that it's in your best interest to help you out on that one (and if you don't like your advisor, find one you're comfortable talking with). I'd also recommend talking with your coach to see if he suggests any modifications to your workout routines (either shorten or eliminate a workout to give you more time and energy). These steps may not improve your conditioning per se, but it may prevent a major collapse that is certainly a possibility, or the grades in all of your courses going down the tubes. Surviving that is the #1 name of the game for the rest of the semester.
You may consider this summer either working so that you can save up money so you don't have to work so much (if you have the option) or taking a course or two in summer school to reduce next year's courseloads. These steps might not be enough for you, but it's somewhere to start.
Whatever you have to do to avoid a breakdown and keep your grades from disaster is imperative. With luck you probably only have 6-8 weeks left this semester, so the end is hopefully in sight.
Best of luck with the rest of your semester.
Patrick King
get more sleep
you've got a lot on your plate
swimmming 3 hours a day
school &
work
not sure why you're swimming slower
hard distance training first takes you down but as you do it week after week
you should get in better shape and soon be able to do things you weren't able to do before
give us more specifics of times and intervals
plus more info about you
hi I swim on a college swim team and I swim distance I pratice 3 hrs 5 days a week all swimming but my times in races and pratice are getting dramitically slower I never make the intervals my coach gives the distance lane it seems I worked on my stroke tech. and flip turns and cont. do so I'm complety frustrated it seems everyone on my time is getting faster while I'm getting slower yet I'm working hard I have a full class load and 40 hrs of work a week yet I never miss prarice wether I get 2 or 5 hrs of sleep which is all I have time to get right now any advice is greatly appreciated
Full class load, distance swimming in college 3 hours a day, 5 days a week, and 40 hour a week job? I think you're body is telling you something. It's too heavy a load for even superman; you must not be sleeping (which is how your body recovers and repairs itself); and something's gotta go.
It's hard to imagine your coach not being concerned and talking to you about this. Missing intervals, times not improving, etc. should be things that a coach would pick up on and work to correct. Sounds to me like you are overworking your body and not giving yourself enough rest. My suggestion would be to talk to your coach about this. Something has to change.
How much of the season do you have left? Maybe your taper will be awesome. What yr. (Fr, So, Jr or Sr.)? What events do you compete in?
Two a days (When do you practice)?
I remember those days and they weren't fun but if you can do it - you'll graduate knowing you can do anything (true !). I think you'll have to train smarter (within the coach's parameters) that means you may have to develop a strategy that will allow you make your sets productive (e.g. when I had 10 x 200 on a tough interval I tried to touch the feet of the guy in front of me on every other one - it motivated me). You need to find little thing that will work for you during a practice so that you can come away with something you can pat yourself on the back for doing. You're smart and you'll need to come up with something. Good luck! Coach T.
