Hi all,
I'm trying to get fit after a 2.5 years spell of sitting on my butt and eating ice cream and chocolate in-between regular meals. I vaguely remember feeling much fitter when I swam and rode my bike regularly, so I thought I'd get back into swimming.
I went to the pool yesterday. The 25m pool was booked out for kiddie lessons so I had to go and gently lower myself into the 50m pool instead to get my much awaited workout.
The good thing is that I remember how to swim. The bad thing is that I swam all of six laps in the 30 minutes allotted for my swim, and couldn't complete a single 50m length once - I had to stop in the middle of the lane and cling to the wall to get my breath.
However despairing the first swim has proven, I'd like to continue on the path to fitness. I know this may seem laughable for the folks on here who are much fitter, but what sort of "workouts" could you suggest for the likes of me? I know about the zero to 1 mile plan but I'll have to work up to that for some time I think as I can't as yet complete a single lap, and the workout starts with 100 yards straight!
Any help, advice, and jokes at my expense are much appreciated.
My running coach always uses the phrase "small steps" when I get impatient with my progress. And one masters swim coach used to head workout sheets with "Do the best you can do. Don't worry about what others are doing."
Give yourself credit for starting back, no matter how modest a beginning. It's still a beginning.
If you can wrest the 25m pool away from the kiddies at some point ;) that actually might be a better place for you to work so as to have the confidence boost of completing lengths of the pool. But even in the 50 m., if you stay on the wall lane, see how far you can go each time without stopping. If you stopped halfway, then aim to go a little more than halfway next time, and a little more the time after that.
Does your club have someone who can offer adult lessons, especially private lessons? An instructor might be able to point out ways that you can go further per stroke and do so more comfortably.
Don't worry too much about speed. Just set distance goals for now--and also, with the help of a swim instructor, some technique qoals.
Congrats on getting back in the game!
My running coach always uses the phrase "small steps" when I get impatient with my progress. And one masters swim coach used to head workout sheets with "Do the best you can do. Don't worry about what others are doing."
Give yourself credit for starting back, no matter how modest a beginning. It's still a beginning.
If you can wrest the 25m pool away from the kiddies at some point ;) that actually might be a better place for you to work so as to have the confidence boost of completing lengths of the pool. But even in the 50 m., if you stay on the wall lane, see how far you can go each time without stopping. If you stopped halfway, then aim to go a little more than halfway next time, and a little more the time after that.
Does your club have someone who can offer adult lessons, especially private lessons? An instructor might be able to point out ways that you can go further per stroke and do so more comfortably.
Don't worry too much about speed. Just set distance goals for now--and also, with the help of a swim instructor, some technique qoals.
Congrats on getting back in the game!
