How many of you swim on your own and have had success stories? Masters PB's or better, perhaps? What difficulties do you face on your own?
I have often heard people give the advice to join a team, stating that the friendly competition is good motivation. Is it possible to be motivated enough whilst training by yourself and really excel?
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How experienced do you have to be join a team? What does ones fitness level have to be like? I just started swimming again 3 or so weeks ago, initially to lose some weight, but I have fallen in love with it. I know how to "swim" in the recreational, not exactly 100% proper technique sense, and am working hard at trying to get better, as I would like to enter some OW swims/friendly competitions one of these years. So in that sense, I think I would benefit from some coaching and teamwork (not unless someone has a better suggestion). I am in Canada though, so I am not sure how and if our Masters groups differ from the U.S ones.
In high school to make Jr. Varsity you just had to show up. As long as you put in the time the coach helped you get where you needed to go.
From what I've seen, the same is true of all the masters programs. If you're able to swim 25y without stopping, and have a general idea of what freestyle looks like I don't see why they wouldn't take you in. At first it'll be frustrating seeing people do 3,000y sets with only 1 or 2 minutes total break, but you'll get to that point too after a couple months of showing up every day and putting your best effort in.
When I started high school swimming we did a 500y for time, it took me 10:58 to complete it. After 6 months of swimming with the team I had it down to a 6:45.32. You'll make remarkable progress if you just keep at it.
How experienced do you have to be join a team? What does ones fitness level have to be like? I just started swimming again 3 or so weeks ago, initially to lose some weight, but I have fallen in love with it. I know how to "swim" in the recreational, not exactly 100% proper technique sense, and am working hard at trying to get better, as I would like to enter some OW swims/friendly competitions one of these years. So in that sense, I think I would benefit from some coaching and teamwork (not unless someone has a better suggestion). I am in Canada though, so I am not sure how and if our Masters groups differ from the U.S ones.
In high school to make Jr. Varsity you just had to show up. As long as you put in the time the coach helped you get where you needed to go.
From what I've seen, the same is true of all the masters programs. If you're able to swim 25y without stopping, and have a general idea of what freestyle looks like I don't see why they wouldn't take you in. At first it'll be frustrating seeing people do 3,000y sets with only 1 or 2 minutes total break, but you'll get to that point too after a couple months of showing up every day and putting your best effort in.
When I started high school swimming we did a 500y for time, it took me 10:58 to complete it. After 6 months of swimming with the team I had it down to a 6:45.32. You'll make remarkable progress if you just keep at it.
