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
Man, I'm a bit overwhelmed with all of the great advice and friendliness! Thanks so much guys. I'm taking the following away from your tips:
1) Keep at it!!! I hope I didn't give the impression that I was about to throw in the towel altogether. I'm not. I'm very very committed, I meant that I might throw in the towel on the TI stuff. Which I'm also hearing. And I had a great session today, after I wrote the original post, so I'm feeling a bit more confident!
2) Join the Masters deal. Don't be intimidated. Ok listen to me, I will trust you people that I don't know and try it. I have to travel for work until Friday, so I will try it asap. I'm not blowing it off, I have to go to Mobile, Al tomorrow. I'm trusting y'all on this one.
3) Vary my workout! Yeah, I kinda knew I was gonna catch a little on this one. I tend to go to restaurants, find something I like, and never try the other dishes there, ever. I like what I like and am scared that if I order something I do not like, then I've wasted my time and should have ordered what I already knew I liked... All of the books that I've read have had this one thing in common-the varied sets thing. Some people actually have the nerve to call me stubborn, I know you're shocked.
4) At the very least, I'm doing myself and family some good by being in the water. This is very true, more than you know. What actually prompted me to start and stick with it this time was a bad physical in the summer of 2007. The doctor said I was overweight, and my blood pressure was 115/85 or something. I've never had my lower number get above the low low 70's. He said something about "pre-hypertensive" and that was all I needed to hear. I started swimming a month later after trying to run a bit. I took my BP every week for over a year. My average has now dropped to 105/73 with several that were under 100 on the high number and under 70 on the low number. It still is trending downward. I'm not doctor, but I think this is a good thing. The weight has also dropped off. Went from a delicate 6'3" 244 lbs, to 207. I also eat right now, with the occasional food orgy.
So thank you so much for all of the free advice. I will do what you all seem to agree are the right things. I hope I didn't give the impression that I'm not at all good. In my current workout that you all suggest I change up a bit, I do :30 50's, 1:05 100's, and try to average 7:00 on the 500's. Surely I can handle the masters thing as a beginner with that, right? Maybe I am a little intimidated... I won't get trampled/drowned at one of these things will I????
Blue
Couple more thoughts:
(1) Tell your masters coach right off that you can hold 5 x 1:05 on a 1:30 sendoff (I think that's what I saw above, modify as appropriate). That will get you started in roughly the right lane.
(2) Do your best to swim the set your coach assigns. Yes, there's a master's prerogative, but use it sparingly, especially at first. Absolutely stop doing something when you are hurting or your stroke has completely broken down, but if the set is 5 x 200 fly on 2:30 (OK, bad example), give it the old college try. Move down a lane or two if need be, for example on IM or stroke days. The goal is to get better, and I firmly believe the best way to do that for those of us trying to overcome a couple of decades of inertia is through swimming real live sets built around all 4 strokes. Plus it alleviates the boredom factor.
(3) If the team is not a good fit for you, find another team. If it needs a little something done to make it better, roll up your sleeves and get involved. I do some little stuff here and there for my team, and I feel like I get back a whole lot more than I put in.
Man, I'm a bit overwhelmed with all of the great advice and friendliness! Thanks so much guys. I'm taking the following away from your tips:
1) Keep at it!!! I hope I didn't give the impression that I was about to throw in the towel altogether. I'm not. I'm very very committed, I meant that I might throw in the towel on the TI stuff. Which I'm also hearing. And I had a great session today, after I wrote the original post, so I'm feeling a bit more confident!
2) Join the Masters deal. Don't be intimidated. Ok listen to me, I will trust you people that I don't know and try it. I have to travel for work until Friday, so I will try it asap. I'm not blowing it off, I have to go to Mobile, Al tomorrow. I'm trusting y'all on this one.
3) Vary my workout! Yeah, I kinda knew I was gonna catch a little on this one. I tend to go to restaurants, find something I like, and never try the other dishes there, ever. I like what I like and am scared that if I order something I do not like, then I've wasted my time and should have ordered what I already knew I liked... All of the books that I've read have had this one thing in common-the varied sets thing. Some people actually have the nerve to call me stubborn, I know you're shocked.
4) At the very least, I'm doing myself and family some good by being in the water. This is very true, more than you know. What actually prompted me to start and stick with it this time was a bad physical in the summer of 2007. The doctor said I was overweight, and my blood pressure was 115/85 or something. I've never had my lower number get above the low low 70's. He said something about "pre-hypertensive" and that was all I needed to hear. I started swimming a month later after trying to run a bit. I took my BP every week for over a year. My average has now dropped to 105/73 with several that were under 100 on the high number and under 70 on the low number. It still is trending downward. I'm not doctor, but I think this is a good thing. The weight has also dropped off. Went from a delicate 6'3" 244 lbs, to 207. I also eat right now, with the occasional food orgy.
So thank you so much for all of the free advice. I will do what you all seem to agree are the right things. I hope I didn't give the impression that I'm not at all good. In my current workout that you all suggest I change up a bit, I do :30 50's, 1:05 100's, and try to average 7:00 on the 500's. Surely I can handle the masters thing as a beginner with that, right? Maybe I am a little intimidated... I won't get trampled/drowned at one of these things will I????
Blue
Couple more thoughts:
(1) Tell your masters coach right off that you can hold 5 x 1:05 on a 1:30 sendoff (I think that's what I saw above, modify as appropriate). That will get you started in roughly the right lane.
(2) Do your best to swim the set your coach assigns. Yes, there's a master's prerogative, but use it sparingly, especially at first. Absolutely stop doing something when you are hurting or your stroke has completely broken down, but if the set is 5 x 200 fly on 2:30 (OK, bad example), give it the old college try. Move down a lane or two if need be, for example on IM or stroke days. The goal is to get better, and I firmly believe the best way to do that for those of us trying to overcome a couple of decades of inertia is through swimming real live sets built around all 4 strokes. Plus it alleviates the boredom factor.
(3) If the team is not a good fit for you, find another team. If it needs a little something done to make it better, roll up your sleeves and get involved. I do some little stuff here and there for my team, and I feel like I get back a whole lot more than I put in.
