hey, i just wanted to ask everyone for their experience with over training and recovery.
i've put my whole heart into swimming since freshman year in high school (im a senior now), and trained as hard as i could since the spring of freshman year. at first i just swam the same practice everyday....then i started doing a lot of dryland, running, biking, and changed up my practices to faster intervals, and different strokes.
i never rested, until i realized that i get faster when i rest/taper. i realized this the summer between my sophmore and junior year. by then , however, it was too late. i broke my body down so much, that it would take a long time for me to recover. when highschool swimming started up again my junior year, i was so broken down, that i was swimming even slower than before my freshman year. i've been battling my coach trying to convince him to let me rest, and understand my situation, and he finally did.
this year, my senior year, im trying to feel strong in the water again.
im posting this on the forum to ask you guys if u know anyone who seemed like a slow swimmer for a while, then had one year where they suddenly started breaking records like crazy. i hope im not crazy, but i really think that with my body, if i get it back to full strength, i could pull off some crazy fast times. now, with this broken down body i can go a 1:10 in the 100 yard ***...and i haven't dropped anytime since my freshman year. this entire time i've been getting in so much better shape, yet dropping no time.
therefore i think once i taper, i will drop 10 seconds at least....am i crazy? or does what i think make some what sense....according to my situation.
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Former Member
freshman year, February...i started training on my own with distance freestyle sets. march, i began with distance plus sprint *** stroke sets (i was a *** stroker) total yardage per day: 6,000
may: i started doing morning practices, (lot's of *** stroke kick and drill)
and afternoon practices, same as before, distance and sprint ***
during these first few months, i had no idea that i should have swam in cycles (train hard, recover, train hard, recover)...so i pretty much swam as much as i could. my mind set was the more u swim the faster you get, given time...but that is not the case.
that summer i continued training, with additional biking, running, and dry land...as well as swimming doubles 4 times a week.
sophomore high school season started up, and i was anticipating fast swimming...but i was shockingly disappointed with same times as my freshman year.
that high school season i just swam with the team, under a coach. he continued to help me with my stroke,...we did dryland everyday, and swam, then tapered for the end season meets. our team was pretty tight, we were ranked 5 th in the state (bridgewater raritan regional high school).
after the season, i went right back to training...
the time between my sophmore and junior year, i trained harder then i ever have in my life. by may, i finally realized i had to take a week brake sometime between the month training cycles, or i would just die. that summer, before my junior year...i trained hard, 6 hours a day, until it got to the point where i got stomach cramps every morning when i took my first big breath in. i could barely walk about a flight of stairs, and my heart rate was very sketchy/inconsistent.
i did taper, and rest up for the summer club championship, but i didn't give myself nearly enough time, given i trained as hard as i possibly could for three straight months...doubles everyday, lots of kick sets, biking, running, lots of body work.
championships...i swam the slowest i ever have in my life...i was shattered...i wanted to quit, i cried that night.
my junior year in highschool was all about trying to swim somewhat decently again....and try to rest enough so that i could get back into my previous training pace.
it worked out somewhat succesfully, at the end of my junior season i went a 29.3 in the 50 *** sprint in yards(relay start), and 24.5 in 50 free.
but i still didn't feel right, i felt as if i had so much more in me, from all that training. so after that all i did was swim easy, for about 4 months....just 50's in the water every day at warm up pace.
little did i realize, that only swimming 50's was not enough to get my blood flowing...and not enough to increase recovery speed, and get me swimming fast again faster.
but nonetheless i was recovering, and i was happier. the summer between my junior and senior year, at summer club championships, i went a 1:07 in the 100 yard ***...still not what i expected...considering the potential i had, as far as body strength and endurance, i wanted to go a 1:03.
and now, im in that same position of trying to get my body to its full potential. i used to be able to do push ups like i weighed no more than a feather, but now for some reason everything just chokes up...
but the difference this year, is that instead of 50's, im swimming hunderds on 2:00, and usually holding 1:35 (warm up pace). this really gets my blood flowing, and keeps my muscles warm, so when i go to bed that night my body gets stronger faster. today, i actually had a great swim. i swam 10 x 100's
odds freestyle sprint, evens, 100 im. i was going 1:17's in a meter pool on the 100s....and i was pleasantly surprised. the thing is, i know my body well enough to say without doubt, i still have a lot of recovering to do, and that's why i think i can go so much faster than i am....and that's what i meant by overtraining....
the overtraining set me back a lot....and now im just trying to recover...
and lastly...i don't have a coach...i figured almost everything out on my self...and maybe thats the problem...if i had a coach i wouldn't be dealing with these problems and frustration...
freshman year, February...i started training on my own with distance freestyle sets. march, i began with distance plus sprint *** stroke sets (i was a *** stroker) total yardage per day: 6,000
may: i started doing morning practices, (lot's of *** stroke kick and drill)
and afternoon practices, same as before, distance and sprint ***
during these first few months, i had no idea that i should have swam in cycles (train hard, recover, train hard, recover)...so i pretty much swam as much as i could. my mind set was the more u swim the faster you get, given time...but that is not the case.
that summer i continued training, with additional biking, running, and dry land...as well as swimming doubles 4 times a week.
sophomore high school season started up, and i was anticipating fast swimming...but i was shockingly disappointed with same times as my freshman year.
that high school season i just swam with the team, under a coach. he continued to help me with my stroke,...we did dryland everyday, and swam, then tapered for the end season meets. our team was pretty tight, we were ranked 5 th in the state (bridgewater raritan regional high school).
after the season, i went right back to training...
the time between my sophmore and junior year, i trained harder then i ever have in my life. by may, i finally realized i had to take a week brake sometime between the month training cycles, or i would just die. that summer, before my junior year...i trained hard, 6 hours a day, until it got to the point where i got stomach cramps every morning when i took my first big breath in. i could barely walk about a flight of stairs, and my heart rate was very sketchy/inconsistent.
i did taper, and rest up for the summer club championship, but i didn't give myself nearly enough time, given i trained as hard as i possibly could for three straight months...doubles everyday, lots of kick sets, biking, running, lots of body work.
championships...i swam the slowest i ever have in my life...i was shattered...i wanted to quit, i cried that night.
my junior year in highschool was all about trying to swim somewhat decently again....and try to rest enough so that i could get back into my previous training pace.
it worked out somewhat succesfully, at the end of my junior season i went a 29.3 in the 50 *** sprint in yards(relay start), and 24.5 in 50 free.
but i still didn't feel right, i felt as if i had so much more in me, from all that training. so after that all i did was swim easy, for about 4 months....just 50's in the water every day at warm up pace.
little did i realize, that only swimming 50's was not enough to get my blood flowing...and not enough to increase recovery speed, and get me swimming fast again faster.
but nonetheless i was recovering, and i was happier. the summer between my junior and senior year, at summer club championships, i went a 1:07 in the 100 yard ***...still not what i expected...considering the potential i had, as far as body strength and endurance, i wanted to go a 1:03.
and now, im in that same position of trying to get my body to its full potential. i used to be able to do push ups like i weighed no more than a feather, but now for some reason everything just chokes up...
but the difference this year, is that instead of 50's, im swimming hunderds on 2:00, and usually holding 1:35 (warm up pace). this really gets my blood flowing, and keeps my muscles warm, so when i go to bed that night my body gets stronger faster. today, i actually had a great swim. i swam 10 x 100's
odds freestyle sprint, evens, 100 im. i was going 1:17's in a meter pool on the 100s....and i was pleasantly surprised. the thing is, i know my body well enough to say without doubt, i still have a lot of recovering to do, and that's why i think i can go so much faster than i am....and that's what i meant by overtraining....
the overtraining set me back a lot....and now im just trying to recover...
and lastly...i don't have a coach...i figured almost everything out on my self...and maybe thats the problem...if i had a coach i wouldn't be dealing with these problems and frustration...
