Hi there!
So I'm new to this forum and would really appreciate if someone could listen to my story and help me out!
So I swam in college and graduated last May(yes I'm a youngster). I took a full year break from swimming and any exercise what-so-ever. Literally was a couch potato for a year, felt so good. Anyways, I just joined a masters team and started going to practice about a month ago. I started slow and only went 2 times a week and now I'm up to 4 times a week. The masters team I practice with does about 3,500-4,000 a practice.
I'm really out of shape(I know, in comparison to those who have taken a decade or more out of the pool, maybe not so much), and I don't know how to put together a reasonable timeline or expectations of how long it will take me to get back to where I was. My slowness is demoralizing, and I know I have to be patient, but is it unreasonable to think I'm going to get back in shape and go close to my best times further down the road with only doing 4,000 a practice? Should I do more? I've never taken so much as a month off of swimming, so the whole getting back in shape thing is new to me.
Just as a background, I'm a female, and swim butterfly(58 in the 100, 2:07 in the 200) but I can barely do a 25 fly without feeling like my arms are going to fall off! Does anyone have suggestions of how to get back in reasonable shape or some kind of timeline?
Thanks! I really appreciate any input!
Parents
Former Member
It depends on what kind of training you were doing in college to achieve those times; and if you feel that you reached your potential in college or not.
Generally in Masters swimming you aren't competing against college swimmers, you're competing against other Masters swimmers who may be in a similar situation to yours. Less training mileage and different priorities in life, too.
Some USMS swimmers swim lifetime best times as Masters; for some it's due to enjoying the sport more, changes in rules, swimwear improvements, technique improvements, reaching peak physical maturity, avoiding injury.
Others do not. Some "wipe the slate clean" for their best times whenever they age up to a new age group.
But there's more to Masters than just your times.
It depends on what kind of training you were doing in college to achieve those times; and if you feel that you reached your potential in college or not.
Generally in Masters swimming you aren't competing against college swimmers, you're competing against other Masters swimmers who may be in a similar situation to yours. Less training mileage and different priorities in life, too.
Some USMS swimmers swim lifetime best times as Masters; for some it's due to enjoying the sport more, changes in rules, swimwear improvements, technique improvements, reaching peak physical maturity, avoiding injury.
Others do not. Some "wipe the slate clean" for their best times whenever they age up to a new age group.
But there's more to Masters than just your times.
