Exhausted

I usually swim five days, actually late at night, and take the weekend off, mainly because the pool hours are short and it is overcrowded with weekend warriors strutting their stuff. But, I always come back on Monday feeling rested and stronger. By Wednesday, I am getting a little blah and I just tell myself go down to the pool, jump in, get wet, do some drills, work on form, have some fun without hammering, but after I get warmed up I usually hammer a couple of sets anyway. Then on Thursday, I am really tired and just tell myself go down to the pool, jump in, get wet, do some drills, work on my form, have some fun and that is what I usually do on Thursday, because I feel like I earned an easy day and I am too tired to do any real quality speed sets anyway. Then on Friday I am a little recovered and maybe do a few fast sets, maybe reduce the distance a little and then I am ready to do something totally different all weekend. By Monday, I am ready to swim again. What I am saying is that you can burn yourself out going at it hard everyday and it is not fun anymore. You need to find a routine that is right for you, so you don't dread it, that is the worse thing to do, dreading the workout every day all week long. You have to find a routine that is good and balanced, maybe it is two or three hard days in a row followed by a day off or you do a five day work week and have fun on the weekend, or maybe you just go do the masters workout three to five times a week and that's it, you don't think about it anymore, you just do it. And when you feel the blah, just tell yourself, today, I am just going down to the pool, jump in, get wet, work on form and have some fun. And even if you spend a week or a month or even a year just working on form it can be incredibly productive in the long run, because swimming is maybe 50% form anyway. You can always do lighter more paced form sets instead of speed sets as well, personally I love doing all kinds of sets. So just remember to tell yourself, "Ok, today, I am just going down to the pool, jump in, get wet, do some drills, work on form and have fun," and then see what happens.

I usually swim five days, actually late at night, and take the weekend off, mainly because the pool hours are short and it is overcrowded with weekend warriors strutting their stuff. But, I always come back on Monday feeling rested and stronger. By Wednesday, I am getting a little blah and I just tell myself go down to the pool, jump in, get wet, do some drills, work on form, have some fun without hammering, but after I get warmed up I usually hammer a couple of sets anyway. Then on Thursday, I am really tired and just tell myself go down to the pool, jump in, get wet, do some drills, work on my form, have some fun and that is what I usually do on Thursday, because I feel like I earned an easy day and I am too tired to do any real quality speed sets anyway. Then on Friday I am a little recovered and maybe do a few fast sets, maybe reduce the distance a little and then I am ready to do something totally different all weekend. By Monday, I am ready to swim again. What I am saying is that you can burn yourself out going at it hard everyday and it is not fun anymore. You need to find a routine that is right for you, so you don't dread it, that is the worse thing to do, dreading the workout every day all week long. You have to find a routine that is good and balanced, maybe it is two or three hard days in a row followed by a day off or you do a five day work week and have fun on the weekend, or maybe you just go do the masters workout three to five times a week and that's it, you don't think about it anymore, you just do it. And when you feel the blah, just tell yourself, today, I am just going down to the pool, jump in, get wet, work on form and have some fun. And even if you spend a week or a month or even a year just working on form it can be incredibly productive in the long run, because swimming is maybe 50% form anyway. You can always do lighter more paced form sets instead of speed sets as well, personally I love doing all kinds of sets. So just remember to tell yourself, "Ok, today, I am just going down to the pool, jump in, get wet, do some drills, work on form and have fun," and then see what happens.