Hi all,
I've been faithfully going to practice 6x week for the past last year without missing but for the occasional work event/meeting keeping me away. I'd say about two weeks ago, after having a few months of making some good improvement in my times, I just started to feel bad in the water in general. I didn't feel like I was progressing at all. I felt like getting through practice was all I could do. I'm not ill or anything.
Now for the past week except for Monday, I've ignored all three of my alarm clocks and have not come to practice despite a fully packed bag ready to go.
I guess I'm just a bit burned out. I feel guilty for missing and know that every day that I'm out of the water I will have a even more painful return swim, but that’s just not been enough to get me out of bed.
Any suggestions for beating burn out?
Parents
Former Member
After college I didn't want to swim at all. Took about a 4 year break. I made a couple comebacks to the sport since then, each time I started hot n heavy on practice 5-6 days a week, got a lot of my speed back and was competing, then after about 9 months in each time i just found i lost interest for it altogether for another year or two. I finally started back up this past december with a 2-3 time per week swimming program and a goal to just do it to enjoy it rather than as a structured training regimen. I don't think i've ever enjoyed swimming so much. No burnout so far, not even close to what I felt after 6 months of swimming in the other "comeback" attempts i made, and my speed is right on par with what it was swimming 5-6 days a week but I'm only doing 2-3000 yards 2-3 times a week with better quality rather than quantity.
Try dropping the frequency down to 2-3 days a week for a month or two. Even experiment with different types of practices. Tone down the yardage and up the quality for a while. Then use the extra time you would've been in the pool to get into something else that you enjoy . I personally like my time with video games :applaud: but i'm just a big kid yet at 31 :D
After college I didn't want to swim at all. Took about a 4 year break. I made a couple comebacks to the sport since then, each time I started hot n heavy on practice 5-6 days a week, got a lot of my speed back and was competing, then after about 9 months in each time i just found i lost interest for it altogether for another year or two. I finally started back up this past december with a 2-3 time per week swimming program and a goal to just do it to enjoy it rather than as a structured training regimen. I don't think i've ever enjoyed swimming so much. No burnout so far, not even close to what I felt after 6 months of swimming in the other "comeback" attempts i made, and my speed is right on par with what it was swimming 5-6 days a week but I'm only doing 2-3000 yards 2-3 times a week with better quality rather than quantity.
Try dropping the frequency down to 2-3 days a week for a month or two. Even experiment with different types of practices. Tone down the yardage and up the quality for a while. Then use the extra time you would've been in the pool to get into something else that you enjoy . I personally like my time with video games :applaud: but i'm just a big kid yet at 31 :D
