Ok, here goes. New here, so hello everyone. Not very new to swimming, though I feel like I am today. I swam from 5 & unders through high school. Then I ignored my body for 20 years, drank lots of bad things (not in a dangerous way), ate lots of bad things, exercised maybe 10 times per year, yes "year", got married, got lazy, blah blah...you've heard this before. Now have two small children and suddenly realized that I'd love to see them grow up, so I made up my mind to get back in shape. Swimming was always my first love exercise/wise...sooo.
Flash forward to November, 2007. 18 months or so ago, give or take. Started with 1000 yards, just swam them, no sets, no breaks, just wind and grind. Moved on to a mile. Still swimming the whole way, no breaks, but determined to get that mile under 30 mins. Did that by April or so of last year. Didn't really know what to try next so I just started adding laps. Pushed on to 2000, 2500, then 3k, STILL just grinding them out. There's nothing cerebral about this swimming stuff, right? You either swim or you don't. So I thought... Oh, I got pretty fast too, not "you guys" fast, but fast at my pool, beating (silently competing with every human that entered the pool, is that normal?) all but a very small few of the other swimmers. Then stupidly, I started reading about swimming. Uh oh...appears I'm using the wrong approach. But I'd alreayd put on so much lean muscle, lost sooooooo much fat, dropped 37 lbs, lost my man-boobs that were oh so attractive to the ladies.... How could this be the wrong way to do it?
Enter sets: Fall, 2008. Ahhh, sets. (4) 500's on 9 minutes with about 2 minutes rest, followed by (5) 100's on 1.5 mins, and (10) 50's on a minute. It didn't start off that way, but nearly and now that's pretty much my routine. Yes, I know I should be swimming other strokes, I'm not. *** stroke was always my best, but I'm vanity-swimming now, and I have no time for that. So that's my routine...
Enter mechanics: Uh oh...appears that I've been swimming the wrong way now...all this time. Darn You Tube and the TI stuff! So I read Total Immersion. Ugh. I'm the worst swimmer of all time apparantly. Alright, so now I'm working on my mechanics. I'm waiting to start my stroke as my recovery arm is just about to enter the water. I'm keeping a high elbow catch. I'm "skulling" from side to side and stretching my lead arm as best as I can (keeping the vessel long). I'm also about to drown! Granted, I'm really new to this (3 sessions of trying it out), but my times are awful, and I'm winded as can be using this stuff. I think I'm kicking my fanny off trying to keep this up and those old big leg muscles are zapping my O2 supply. Now, my first couple of laps in the 500 are nice and smooth, but I break down into some kind of wounded dog paddle after that.
Questions:
1) Is any of this normal, or are y'all so seasoned and good at this stuff that you're past being able to answer these elementary questions?? I'm not being smart here, I picture you guys sitting there in your dens with your lycra caps on thinking "what's he talking about?? Can't he swim at all?"
2) Will it get better? Should I just give it up and go back to my old style? I've added a smooth 15 seconds to my 100 time!!! Uh, that's not congruent with my vanity-swim. I got grandmothers lapping me in the 100!!
3) Am I doing something wrong and do I need to do some kind of funky front-quadrant drill to make this go easier? Like I said, I can feel it sometimes. But this feeling is brief.
So I just feel like I've given up a lot to pursue this stroke and I'm worried that I've lost my speed (what speed there was) and will never get it back. If someone will tell me to stick with it, I will. But at this point, I'm on the edge of pursuing a different route - like pilates or spinning...
Blue
Blue, I know what you're talking about. I have a similar swimming background (age group and 1 year high school swimming), similar hiatus (27 years or so), similar ambition to lose weight and get back in shape (I saw a picture from a vacation in Mexico in which I looked suspiciously like a 46 year old fat, out of shape old man), similar go it on my own for a while mentality, similar "races" with 93 year old noodlers in adjacent lanes, and similar perceived schedule conflicts (possibly exaggerated as a result of my reluctance/fear to join the team environment).
I did a lot of reading, watching, lurking here, and stroke tweaking on my own for a while and yes, I slowed down initially. I did start cribbing workouts from here and doing them (well, mostly doing them), instead of trying to make stuff up on my own. I started trying to learn fly, something I had never learned as a kid.
Finally, after almost a year of solo dweebing and noodler racing, I screwed up my courage and showed up at masters team practice at 6 one September morning a few years ago. In my Phelpsian fantasy world of out-touching 93 year olds at the finish of the 100 fly, I was sure I would be the fastest thing the team had ever seen. No doubt articles would be written about my unique, self-taught training methods which had gotten me to this point; men would weep and women would swoon at my swimming prowess.
Of course I promptly got my *** handed to me. My lanemates would look at me with pity as I lay weeping quietly in the gutter in those early days. "It gets better, really!" one sweet young thing would chirp, before blasting off on another "recovery" 100 -- which was about 15 seconds faster than my all-out sprint. But through the pain and humiliation (the latter being self-induced. Masters swimmers are the nicest people you will ever meet) I knew this was what my swimming needed.
By that November I had signed up for my first meet since high school; within a couple of years I went to my first Nationals and have been to a few since. Through it all, I kept showing up at 6, and the sweet young thing was right -- it does get better. Friends kept asking what I had done to my body, I got faster, the technique stuff began to make more sense, fellow team members were hugely encouraging and held me accountable, and most of all it's a whole bunch of fun.
I am lucky to have an incredible, active, competitive team and a great pool. We have coaches who actually coach the workouts (no whiteboards), technique clinics and video sessions, socials, plenty of willing participants for meets and relays, and a great group of folks to hang out with.
Give your team a try. It worked for me.
Blue, I know what you're talking about. I have a similar swimming background (age group and 1 year high school swimming), similar hiatus (27 years or so), similar ambition to lose weight and get back in shape (I saw a picture from a vacation in Mexico in which I looked suspiciously like a 46 year old fat, out of shape old man), similar go it on my own for a while mentality, similar "races" with 93 year old noodlers in adjacent lanes, and similar perceived schedule conflicts (possibly exaggerated as a result of my reluctance/fear to join the team environment).
I did a lot of reading, watching, lurking here, and stroke tweaking on my own for a while and yes, I slowed down initially. I did start cribbing workouts from here and doing them (well, mostly doing them), instead of trying to make stuff up on my own. I started trying to learn fly, something I had never learned as a kid.
Finally, after almost a year of solo dweebing and noodler racing, I screwed up my courage and showed up at masters team practice at 6 one September morning a few years ago. In my Phelpsian fantasy world of out-touching 93 year olds at the finish of the 100 fly, I was sure I would be the fastest thing the team had ever seen. No doubt articles would be written about my unique, self-taught training methods which had gotten me to this point; men would weep and women would swoon at my swimming prowess.
Of course I promptly got my *** handed to me. My lanemates would look at me with pity as I lay weeping quietly in the gutter in those early days. "It gets better, really!" one sweet young thing would chirp, before blasting off on another "recovery" 100 -- which was about 15 seconds faster than my all-out sprint. But through the pain and humiliation (the latter being self-induced. Masters swimmers are the nicest people you will ever meet) I knew this was what my swimming needed.
By that November I had signed up for my first meet since high school; within a couple of years I went to my first Nationals and have been to a few since. Through it all, I kept showing up at 6, and the sweet young thing was right -- it does get better. Friends kept asking what I had done to my body, I got faster, the technique stuff began to make more sense, fellow team members were hugely encouraging and held me accountable, and most of all it's a whole bunch of fun.
I am lucky to have an incredible, active, competitive team and a great pool. We have coaches who actually coach the workouts (no whiteboards), technique clinics and video sessions, socials, plenty of willing participants for meets and relays, and a great group of folks to hang out with.
Give your team a try. It worked for me.
