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
I swim mainly for weight management. I have some injuries, so many other easy/common cardio options aren't an option for me. Cutting back sessions/week with the efficiency of my 34 year old fat cells scares me.
What I have found is that when I swim regularly I can eat pretty much what I want and maintain whatever weight I am at. When I stop the swimming the pounds pile on instantly (I'm 36 with very efficient fat cells too!).
So, if I'm not swimming I have to watch what I eat or do some other form of excercise, or just gain weight - the latter is what usually happens.
I have never been able to lose weight through swimming alone, I have to diet or do extra exercise, both of which I hate. Right now I am swimming 4 x per week and not dieting as I am racing next week and can't race if I'm weak and starving. However earlier this year I did combine dieting with swimming and have lost 16lbs so far :banana: but now plateaued with 10 lbs to go.
I guess all that is to say it depends if you're maintaining or wanting to lose weight....perhaps if you want to lose a few lbs give yourself a manageable goal, get a heart-rate monitor and work in your fat-burning zone - I got one a few weeks ago and its fun to see how many calories you burn and how high your heart rate gets. Then I can get all geeky and wonder if my max HR is good or bad for my age, see the average HR for the workout and it beeps at me when my HR is lower or higher than the fat burning zone! Come September I'll be back on the diet and back into fat-burning to try and shift those extra lbs....:blah::blah: There I go again.....
Mini-goals are good - I sometimes have motivation problems, so set yourself something, not necessarily all about speed. I had a goal of simply finishing a 200 fly once. In fact I might set myself that one again.....
I also second the advice for mixing it up, do lots of fins 1 day, distance the next, speed the next and if your not feeling speedy, work on technique. Most of all - enjoy it.
I swim mainly for weight management. I have some injuries, so many other easy/common cardio options aren't an option for me. Cutting back sessions/week with the efficiency of my 34 year old fat cells scares me.
What I have found is that when I swim regularly I can eat pretty much what I want and maintain whatever weight I am at. When I stop the swimming the pounds pile on instantly (I'm 36 with very efficient fat cells too!).
So, if I'm not swimming I have to watch what I eat or do some other form of excercise, or just gain weight - the latter is what usually happens.
I have never been able to lose weight through swimming alone, I have to diet or do extra exercise, both of which I hate. Right now I am swimming 4 x per week and not dieting as I am racing next week and can't race if I'm weak and starving. However earlier this year I did combine dieting with swimming and have lost 16lbs so far :banana: but now plateaued with 10 lbs to go.
I guess all that is to say it depends if you're maintaining or wanting to lose weight....perhaps if you want to lose a few lbs give yourself a manageable goal, get a heart-rate monitor and work in your fat-burning zone - I got one a few weeks ago and its fun to see how many calories you burn and how high your heart rate gets. Then I can get all geeky and wonder if my max HR is good or bad for my age, see the average HR for the workout and it beeps at me when my HR is lower or higher than the fat burning zone! Come September I'll be back on the diet and back into fat-burning to try and shift those extra lbs....:blah::blah: There I go again.....
Mini-goals are good - I sometimes have motivation problems, so set yourself something, not necessarily all about speed. I had a goal of simply finishing a 200 fly once. In fact I might set myself that one again.....
I also second the advice for mixing it up, do lots of fins 1 day, distance the next, speed the next and if your not feeling speedy, work on technique. Most of all - enjoy it.
