Lately, between work,stressing out over trying to get financing on a business deal and training I have just been exhausted. My work-out pace-times have dropped off and my "race-pace" sets are either agonizing or just disappointing. This is from a peak about a month ago when I was swimming seconds faster than my projected race pace on all my 50s,75s, and 100s
So what's the solution? Bumble on through the rough spot and hope there is a light at the end of the tunnel? Stop training for a week or more and recover? Switch training to something else altogether? Or maybe pick the pace up and punish my old bones into obeying the master plan?
For days when my practice times are off, I force myself to switch gears and do drill and stroke work. I still have yet to achieve my optimal stroke, and find that when I'm not able to push through things from a physical perspective, I'll switch gears and work on the fine tuning. After a few sessions I'm able to up the intensity/distance and hopefully a little bit of the fine tuning stays with me. It'll pass. My :2cents:
For days when my practice times are off, I force myself to switch gears and do drill and stroke work. I still have yet to achieve my optimal stroke, and find that when I'm not able to push through things from a physical perspective, I'll switch gears and work on the fine tuning. After a few sessions I'm able to up the intensity/distance and hopefully a little bit of the fine tuning stays with me. It'll pass. My :2cents:
Good advice! I've been feeling somewhat tired and perhaps overtrained lately as well. And very exhausted. I've therefore done three recovery workouts in a row (2 easy swims focusing on drills and hypoxic work and 1 yoga). I'm hoping to ramp it back up tomorrow. Do you take a day off every week? I think I veered off course a bit when I failed to do this for a few weeks. But don't try to "punish" and "bludgeon" the already old bones! The older we get, the more recovery and smart training we need. Switch gears or cross train for a bit. Or even take a couple days completely off.
So what's the solution? Bumble on through the rough spot and hope there is a light at the end of the tunnel? Stop training for a week or more and recover? Switch training to something else altogether? Or maybe pick the pace up and punish my old bones into obeying the master plan?I'm right with you right now. My 'grand plan' had me doing quality work now (and over the last 2 weeks) and then tapering for a meet on March 13th. I'm just wiped this week; I'm not over-trained, just wiped from work/life. I toned down today, will take tomorrow off and am going to try, try, try to get more sleep. I imagine I'll cruise a workout on Friday and Saturday and rest again Sunday. Hopefully, by next week, after some nights of good sleep, I'll be able to swim better/faster and can do a mini-taper, but who knows. One thing I do try to do, though, is still get in the water on most days -- today I did only ~1400 yards just to keep the feel.
I NEVER worry too much about my practice times until I get into a taper (then you find out if you trained hard enough). Life is a roller coaster....I always have a mix of how I swim and feel in practice. Enjoy the highs, push through the lows!
Bingo Orca. You nailed it! Swimming is the release to all the other "stresses", keep it enjoyable. Dont let it set on the scales of work. It has to be on the release side, or it will be just one more task to have to accomplish, one more brick on the pile.
Have you ever tried meditation? One of the standard introductions is to count your breaths. I just slow down a bit and count my strokes, and let that settle me down from whatever's been stressing me. Focus on the little things like s/l or rotation, and let go of your goals for a couple of weeks.
LIfe always gets in the way of feeling great every day. Use swimming as a way to get away from the other stuff & have fun with !
I agree with this too. Whenever i'm overly tired (which i have been a lot recently with 55-60 hour work weeks) I try to swim accordingly. I don't think there's any reason that you have to swim hard every session. I'll take a workout and just swim conservatively. Aiming to be long and strong, hold my form and not worry about times being slower. 8 hours of sleep and a day off training at least once a week helps me too.
Have you ever tried meditation? One of the standard introductions is to count your breaths. I just slow down a bit and count my strokes, and let that settle me down from whatever's been stressing me. Focus on the little things like s/l or rotation, and let go of your goals for a couple of weeks.
Mr. Moose is that you?
