I have a question about why so many people on my swim team are so much faster than me. I have been on a year round swim team for over a year, and have been swimming competitively for about 4 years.
I am still always the slowest on my team, and I get lapped so many times during practice. It is so frustrating! I go to practice almost every day, and work just as hard as them.
Are some people just born fast vs. slow in swimming and there is nothing you can do to change your natural speed? Is speed something you can achieve with hard work?
Why is everyone so much faster than me? What can I do to become fast like them?
Amy - In measuring progress, I think it is more important to use yourself as a comparison. Are you doing faster intervals than you did 4 years ago? Are you recovering faster between sets than you did 4 years ago? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, you have made progress and that is wonderful!:applaud:
It is dangerous to compare yourself to others in practice as some people practice harder and faster than others. Also, think about which areas you are doing comparisons. Is it on your weaker areas? Perhaps you are not giving yourself enough credit on the areas where you might be stronger than some other swimmers.
Each person improves or makes progress at his/her own rate. Perserverance is a very important ingredient for success. Hang in there. In the end, you may find that you are one of the few that has toughed it out!
I realized after 10 years of swimming club team growing up that swimming is first and foremost an individual sport. The human body comes in many differnt forms, shapes, and sizes - and some are not cut out to go a sub-50 second 100 m free! I think this lesson sunk in the most when two brothers joined our swim team my 8th grade year. Neither could do much more than swim a few laps at a time, couldn't even do all four strokes as I remember.
By the time we where seniors I couldn't touch either in nearly any event, and they both went on to swim college at UCSB. As for myself, I am happy to be back in the water staying in shape after a 6 year "break"!
You speak of a year-round team. Are you swimming masters or USA/age-group? Whatever the case, it might be helpful to attend a swim clinic/camp where you can have your strokes videotaped and critiqued.
Take your pick..... or combination......
1. History and years of training in the sport
2. Natural talent, ability and feel for the water..... i.e. good genes
3. Current training regime and consistency
4. Drugs and supplements
5. Desire and Motivation
6. Beer
Take your pick..... or combination......
1. History and years of training in the sport
2. Natural talent, ability and feel for the water..... i.e. good genes
3. Current training regime and consistency
4. Drugs and supplements
5. Desire and Motivation
As a former alpha-male wannabe, I would say 1 and 5 are important, but 2 trumps them all (as hard as some work, there are usually others with talent who can easily slap down any attempt at greatness by us no-talent hard-workers:badday:).
As a former alpha-male wannabe, I would say 1 and 5 are important, but 2 trumps them all (as hard as some work, there are usually others with talent who can easily slap down any attempt at greatness by us no-talent hard-workers:badday:).
Former wannabe? Come on, Mr. Alcatraz, give yourself some credit.
Of course, I agree with you on #2 about talent ... but I think it changes over time as we age. I certainly got my butt kicked by a lot of guys in my "real" competitive career who I believe I outworked, but I think hard work and technique adds up over time ... I'm totally going to own the 85-89 world records!
Of course, I agree with you on #2 about talent ... but I think it changes over time as we age. I certainly got my butt kicked by a lot of guys in my "real" competitive career who I believe I outworked, but I think hard work and technique adds up over time ... I'm totally going to own the 85-89 world records!
Not a chance. I'll kick the walker out from under you right before the start and down you go. Nobody's gonna rule that age group while I'm in it.
I realize that I have improved the 4 years since I have been swimming and am proud of my improvments, but I would just really like to achieve my potential in this sport.
I know that I am probably doing something wrong with my technique or something else if everyone is always swimming circles around me. I am not comparing myself to them, I just want to know everything I can do to improve and achieve my potential in this sport.
Thanks for the replies!
Not a chance. I'll kick the walker out from under you right before the start and down you go. Nobody's gonna rule that age group while I'm in it.
The gauntlet is down! :)
I hope to be alive and kicking at 85 (my personal target lifespan), so even if I don't get the records, I'll just be glad to be swimming ... of course, I'm sure my competitive drive will still be there, so I'll have on my 2050-ish version of the B70 and, I guess, have my 50-something daughters there to watch my back / walker.
The biggest difference will no doubt be technique -- if I look across the lanes in our workouts, it easy to see the difference in under water technique. Are you just moving your hands / arms through the water or are using the hands to move your body through the water ?
Another suprising factor can be the level of intensity in the workouts - this is not as general a principle - but I have had people check heartrates during and after sets and the average rate in each lane was much higher for the faster lanes.
