According to the recent poll it seems more people swim in the morning than other time of the day. Without considering the factors of distance from home to pools and work schedule, etc., would you still swim the time you do now? I can think of some pros and cons of morning/evening/midday swims:
Morning swim:
Pros: Great start of the day! Good feeling carried throughout the day. :) Water is cleaner, too.
Cons: May get sleepy or tired by late afternoon. :(
Evening swim:
Pros: No time pressure. Calm and relaxing after a long day of work. No need to take another shower at home.:)
Cons: May be too exhausted to get up early the next day. :( End of day water not as clean as morning.
Midday swim:
Pros: Take a good change of mind and a good break!
Cons: Time consuming. May have to go back to work looking like a bedraggled bird if your hair doesn't dry in time ;)
Anything to add?
Morning swim:
Pros: Great start of the day! Good feeling carried throughout the day. :) Water is cleaner, too.
Cons: May get sleepy or tired by late afternoon. :(
Pros: more time in the evenings with the family
Cons: hard to get a real meal in before swimming at 6am, and if one is to go straight to work, it will be hard to eat after too
Evening swim:
Pros: No time pressure. Calm and relaxing after a long day of work. No need to take another shower at home.:)
Cons: May be too exhausted to get up early the next day. :( End of day water not as clean as morning.
Pros: being able to eat a full meal 1-2 hrs before training and still having time to snack after
I'm home from the pool just before 22:00 and I have no problems getting up again at 5:30.
Cons: if you swim too early you miss quality time with the family
Midday swim:
Pros: Take a good change of mind and a good break!
Cons: Time consuming. May have to go back to work looking like a bedraggled bird if your hair doesn't dry in time ;)
Pros: more time at home with the family in the evenings
Cons: finding time to eat properly before a lunch time swim.
I tried swimming at lunch and it worked out that during my 60-70 minute lunch I could eat a sandwich on the way to the pool, swim about 2000m, and then eat a second sandwich on the way back to work. but my body didn't like all the swimming and not eating. so now if I can not make my evening work out, I take off from work early and swim between 15-17
Former Member
I'm big on evening swimming. I'm incapable of functioning in the morning so I would never get to the pool if I had to be there at 5AM... that's part of what keeps me from joining a masters team.
I like swimming evenings at my pool because it's:
dark - not sure why I like that so much, there's like 4 underwater lights and moonlight when it's not foggy
not crowded - I've never had to share a lane
no noodlers - I don't have to worry about someone getting mad that my butterflying got their hair wet in the pool
antisocial - No one has ever really tried to chit chat with me while I'm swimming at night
That might not be for everybody but I like to get in, do my workout and get moving. I can be fun and talk to people at meets.
I find myself not as flexible and end up swimming stiffer in the morning workouts. Interesting that more 'older' (40's, 50's) swimmers swim early mornings on our team, and more 'younger' (20's & 30's) swimmers tend to swim evenings. Yes, I am an anomaly.
Former Member
I am on masters swim team we do evenings 6-8pm 5 days per week. It works for me perfect. although i am considering adding few morning 1 hour each swims at my local health club-it may be too much-i'm still on the fence.
i guess it is personal preference. I find morings to be harder because time pressure and all day ahead.
jjpj
Former Member
I'm a morning swimmer and I'd say the advatages are energy for the day (big time) and it doesn't infringe on family time in the evenings.
Downside is that I am sleepy in the early evening. I take one day off a week to actually catch up on my sleep because it wears me out in that department.
I like the morning better. I can get my workout done, get to work(when I am working on the same job site everyday), and at the end of the work day, I go home. I feel that the night practices take more hours up than the morning practice. With the morning practice, I get up an hour earlier than I normally do.
Former Member
The single best reason for me to swim in the morning is that I can't blow it off because I had a long tiring day at work.
It is far easier to control the beginning of my day than the end of my day.
Mid-day would never work because of transit time to/from the pool.
Former Member
I'm on a masters team, and we practice 7-8:30pm 3 nights a week and 10-12p on Saturday mornings. On one of the other days, I swim at the pool in my gym at around 8am. It's nice swimming in the morning because it gets me up, and I don't like to sleep late. I also don't get tired from swimming, so it wakes me up for the rest of the day. The other two days, I go to the gym and do some dryland stuff.
According to the recent poll it seems more people swim in the morning than other time of the day. Without considering the factors of distance from home to pools and work schedule, etc., would you still swim the time you do now? I can think of some pros and cons of morning/evening/midday swims:
Morning swim:
Pros: Great start of the day! Good feeling carried throughout the day. :) Water is cleaner, too.
Cons: May get sleepy or tired by late afternoon. :(
Evening swim:
Pros: No time pressure. Calm and relaxing after a long day of work. No need to take another shower at home.:)
Cons: May be too exhausted to get up early the next day. :( End of day water not as clean as morning.
Midday swim:
Pros: Take a good change of mind and a good break!
Cons: Time consuming. May have to go back to work looking like a bedraggled bird if your hair doesn't dry in time ;)
Anything to add?
Evening swim: Cuts into beer drinking time. Morning swim cuts into coffee drinking time, but I can take a big travel mug with me to the pool. Our local police actively discourage driving with 24 oz mugs of frosty adult malt beverages.
Former Member
Some people are morning persons; others are not.
And this changes with time (I used to be a morning person. Up and about and raring to go at 0500.) But since I've been having trouble sleeping and now being on some three/four sleeping pills/aids and other medications, I have a hard time getting moving in the morning. Also, this being Canada, ten months of the year, after getting home at around 1730 and having a bite to eat, it's too dreary (and cold) out to even think of going out for a 2000 swim. Short of winning the lottery and (retiring, of course) building a home with indoors and outdoors swimming pools, I'll just let my old bones (and sciatica and slipped disc) dictate my behaviour.