Fighting Burnout. Suggestions?

RE: Fighting Burnout. Suggestions?

Former Member — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 16:18:45 GMT

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.

RE: Fighting Burnout. Suggestions?

Former Member — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 07:59:21 GMT

Detrimental only if OP is in a hurry to lose the weight ;) Dropping practices in half isn't going to cause weight GAIN either... it'll just not be as fast as it would otherwise be. I guess I feel it'd be worth dropping practices down if it saves someone from quitting altogether over burnout. Some swimming is still better than none in a weight loss program. The only thing wioth that is, some people (like me) can be a bit obsessive.... I have to do my 5-6 days a week, or I fall off completely. varying intensity of workouts is one way to strike a balance between falling off, and overtraining and burning out. However, I seldom tend to quit, or fall off due to burnout. I tend to need to stay focused, and too many days off seem to derail me.... I start hyperfocusing on something else (like fun and rest). Anyway, a lot can depend on individual personality.

RE: Fighting Burnout. Suggestions?

Former Member — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 05:44:19 GMT

OK, sorry, I hear you. Sounds like the OP is swimming for weight management, though, so I thinking dropping down to two practices a week would be detrimental to this unless she added in something else to replace the lost swimming. Detrimental only if OP is in a hurry to lose the weight ;) Dropping practices in half isn't going to cause weight GAIN either... it'll just not be as fast as it would otherwise be. I guess I feel it'd be worth dropping practices down if it saves someone from quitting altogether over burnout. Some swimming is still better than none in a weight loss program.

RE: Fighting Burnout. Suggestions?

Former Member — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 15:55:30 GMT

My feeling is more is better up to a point. I think you need days to recover. My opinion is five days a week is plenty. I'm sure there are those who swim seven days a week, but I'll bet even they use a couple days per week as recovery days and only swim easily. My best advice is to listen to your body and your mind. If you feel too tired or just mentally aren't into it that day, don't swim. Swimming should never be drudgery. What I used to do, when I wanted to do a lot of fat burning yardage for weight loss, and doing it every day, I would 'borrow' what is often done in weight training. Asoide from a good warmup and warmdown, I would vary the goal of my workouts. I would have 2-3 more intense 'complete' workouts a week, then one day where I'm doing lot of easy stretchy swimming - an active recovery day, where you're not straining, but mostly loosening. Often this is a great day to slow down and just focus on drills, rather then strenght and speed. Then another day, I would do the whole workout with bigger fins and kicking.... that would be my 'stairmaster like' workout. Rest the shoulders and smaller muscles, and hit the legs hard. Doing that in an outdoor pool, with a two piece suit, you can get a tan at the same time. To get a more even tan, alternate your kicking, front, back and both sides. Side kicking can be great breathing improvement exercise. There are lot of ways to break things up, if one stays open minded.

RE: Fighting Burnout. Suggestions?

Former Member — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 15:46:02 GMT

For me, a small change of scenery can help with a burnout on tedious tasks. One of the examples: recruiting and mentorig a new team member... Often the enthusiasam new people often tend to show can be catchy... and knowing that they may realy on you for some of their accountability works on you too. Another example: For me, often entering a swim meet, just for the social side of things is a good change of scenery - even if I finish last in my events. Goal for coming to a swim meet isn't always to swim your Personal Best, often you just want to spend a day doing something very physical, and social. I used to do a 'fat burning' swim meet day, withoug the pressure to seriously improve my times, but swim as many events as I can, especially distance events. My goal for that swim meet may be to burn as many calories as possible. (Weight loss is often my main goal). Competing is not always just about the speed. Often it's more about competing against yourself. Swimming several distance events in a meet is a lot less monotonous then a daily 3000Y workout. Then you get things like this happen... at oneof our zone meets, again, my goal was to swim all of my events, however slow I am.... so I entered 200 back, LCM, for the second time ever. I was in a 35-39 age group, and my time was so slow and new to it that most of the 80 year olds were passing me. Well, I ended up getting first in that event, and a team record for a year... because the event was close to the end of the meet, IIRC, and everyone else in my age group scratched the 200back. So, even though the time was atrociously slow, and I felt kind of guilty for getting first by default, it was kind of fun too.

RE: Fighting Burnout. Suggestions?

knelson — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 07:16:28 GMT

I realize this and I wasn't really trying to say that i'm better off overweight or anything like that. I'm in no real hurry, and the weight IS dropping doing what i'm doing, albeit not as fast as if i was actively trying to lose it (down about 20lbs since december). OK, sorry, I hear you. Sounds like the OP is swimming for weight management, though, so I thinking dropping down to two practices a week would be detrimental to this unless she added in something else to replace the lost swimming.

RE: Fighting Burnout. Suggestions?

Former Member — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:44:45 GMT

To me that's the key. The whole goal is to enjoy it, everything else is a side-effect. What do you enjoy? I enjoy being able to train with different people and teams. Every once and awhile, I am able to travel up to Knoxville to swim with Judd and his teammates. That puts me in a new enviroment, which refreshes the mental side for me.

RE: Fighting Burnout. Suggestions?

Former Member — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 11:25:01 GMT

The number one reason people can't stay motivated - no goals! :2cents: I agree also. It is harder to do things "because you think you should" than if they are getting you closer to a goal or if they are intrinsicly fun. I also struggle with my weight and have best results with a lot of exercise done frequently. I have found that bike riding is fun and is very friendly on my crappy knees. It is much easier for me to go on an outdoor 2-hour bike ride than to sit in the gym on a stationary bike or ride a trainer for 30 minutes. It complements swimming nicely. In the pool, I give myself permission to do things I enjoy when I am swimming on my own. For me that means doing lots of IM sets and wearing fins. Some people (me) just aren't morning people. If you can swim at a different time of the day that might help. Sometimes I get demotivated when I hit a plateau or get slower. It can help to buy new toys, use a heart rate monitor, and otherwise shift the focus and increase the novelty in your workouts.

RE: Fighting Burnout. Suggestions?

Jim Clemmons — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 11:02:49 GMT

Have you competed in any meets? I get bored with practice if I don't have a goal. I need to be preparing for a meet to get the most from my practices. The meets are fun and show my progress. The number one reason people can't stay motivated - no goals! :2cents:

RE: Fighting Burnout. Suggestions?

Swimosaur — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 10:30:45 GMT

... a goal to just do it to enjoy it ... To me that's the key. The whole goal is to enjoy it, everything else is a side-effect. What do you enjoy? For me, I enjoy the whole process of going to meets. I enjoy finding them, deciding what events I want to swim, working out a travel schedule, minimizing cost, traveling, hanging out with my buddies, actually swimming the events!, geeking out on split times, and seeing the results posted on USMS. I like swimming faster at meets! But if I swim a little slower, I'm not going to agonize over it. I enjoy preparing for meets! I like working on the little puzzles, like how many SDKs can I put off each wall in a backstroke event, or how the heck am I going to do a 100 fly at the start of a 400 IM and still have anything left for the other legs. I enjoy conditioning sets when I know it'll improve my 500 free. I enjoy shooters when I know it'll improve my 50 back. I'm looking forward to going to the FINA World Masters Championships in Riccione Italy in 2012! That will be an adventure! I will get my butt kicked by faster swimmers from all over the world, and then enjoy a glass of wine. I'm looking forward to all the other meets between now and then as well! And in the meantime, in the middle of all this enjoyment, I'll stay fit and healthy. Cool side effect! What do you enjoy?

RE: Fighting Burnout. Suggestions?

Former Member — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 09:39:11 GMT

But is this really where you want to be weight-wise? Maybe you could swim more and you'd lose the weight. It's not just about swimming fast in masters, after all. I realize this and I wasn't really trying to say that i'm better off overweight or anything like that. I'm in no real hurry, and the weight IS dropping doing what i'm doing, albeit not as fast as if i was actively trying to lose it (down about 20lbs since december). I more put that fact in there for a reference point to attempt to explain why the times were indeed slower. IF the weight slows one down, then perhaps my current "slower" times are alot more on par with midseason college swims back in the day. (i was always low 22's untapered). If the weight is indeed the factor keeping me in the low 23's, then maybe i'm not all that far off doing about 1/5th the yardage per week of what i did back then. IF the weight doesn't actually slow a person down, then maybe I really have gotten slower relative to myself over time. Perhaps then my argument is wrong that a quality 6-7k yards per week is just as valuable as 25-30k of mindless yard pounding to keep the race speed up.

RE: Fighting Burnout. Suggestions?

waves101 — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 09:04:11 GMT

Fight the boredom of the pool. Go swim in a lake. I've been swimming 5x per week in the pool for months but just recently started replacing one of those workouts with a weekend morning swim in a lake. I look forward to these swims and it helps to keep me interested/motivated.

RE: Fighting Burnout. Suggestions?

Former Member — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 08:11:26 GMT

I can train longer and much, much harder and I recover like a twelve-year-old (I'm 45), if I stick to a vegan, 60-80% raw diet :bliss: If I eat meat, dairy products, refined sugar etc. I get tired, loose training motivation and generally find my couch more attractive than the pool :bed: You can live an ordinary, western-style life on a rather lousy diet without really "paying" until you reach your late forties - or later, if you're lucky. If you train 6x week on a lousy diet, you will tire out (physically and mentally) sooner or later, no matter how young you are. Most of us know what is good and what is bad for our bodies, the difficult thing is to actually do it: Take in a lot of the good stuff (fruits, vegetables, whole grain products, water), reduce the not so good stuff (light meat, white bread) and avoid the bad stuff (refined sugar, tobacco, alcohol, caffeine, red meat, animal fat, industry processed food, dairy products).

RE: Fighting Burnout. Suggestions?

Former Member — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 07:48:21 GMT

If you're near the ocean, go surfing or better yet go paddleboarding prone style. Avoid the pool; stick on some short fins, goggles and sunblock; and swim out to the breakers enjoying the view beneath you. Please no snorkles, practice your breathing and stroke while exploring the reef system. You'll be amazed at how much interesting yardage you'll cover that you don't see in a pool. Swim with the current, swim against it and become a fish.

RE: Fighting Burnout. Suggestions?

Former Member — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 07:04:12 GMT

And I've seen the advice on this board from time to time that if you want to swim faster, swim more often. Sorry this is long and only semi related to the original post. Honestly, coming from a college program that wasn't light on quantity, I can't believe how much yardage some of the people on this forum do at an older age. I've long questioned the need for major yardage if you're a short event swimmer, and I tested this theory about 3 years ago and again now. My best in college in yards for the 50 was 21.7 and 47.1 in the 100. I trained 6000 yards a week for an entire winter when I was about 28 (2 x 3000), and I was still 50 lbs heavier than my college "race weight" and I went 22.6 for the 50y and 49.1 in the 100y (in an aquablade jammer, never believed in nor tried one of the new speed suits). Fast forward to this year. 2-3 times a week on my lunch i swim about 2400m on average. First meet I was at 23.4 in 50y and 26.9 in the 50m (standard speedo jammer), only this time i was even heavier at about 80lbs more than college race weight. I only swam the 100y once this year and it was kindof plagued by a horrible reaction and improper pacing so the 52.2 time isn't something I can really judge progress on. The only problem I see with this type of workout, is that there's not much of a base to taper from. I don't think I'll see the same kind of taper effect when there's so little to taper off, but time will tell. I've made a few changes to my stroke since my last race and i'm seeing decent results in practice sprints so maybe that'll pay off. To get back on topic, the only reason i elaborated here was to further my opinion that you don't have to get mentally drained on 5-6 day a week practices to still have the speed. Maybe that's different if you're into distance, but I think you can train distance pretty well also with pace work instead of mindless yards. Doing so can certainly keep the interest in the sport and save the dreaded burnout. One thing I'll add for the OP along those lines, if you swim alone, try swimming with a team or partner. If you swim with a team or partner, try swimming alone. Change it up. I trained exclusively with teams until this year. I now swim alone, in my own lane, doing my own workout, and it has contributed greatly to not getting burned out. I always felt people were just in my way when i had to swim with a team. :cool:

RE: Fighting Burnout. Suggestions?

Patrick W. Brundage — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 06:22:29 GMT

Many good suggestions. ... 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. Have you contemplated flow / hatha yoga classes? Free weights are also great for weight managment, IMHO. I'm not an expert, but I think more muscle helps with increasing metabolism. ... Some of the swimmers on our team like to do open water swimming in the summer. Maybe they like it because it is outdoors or because the pace clock isn't relevant, but it seems like the open water swimmers suffer less from burn-out. Tim A great suggestion. In addition, Rachael, given your concerns about competing, most OW races (at least where I swim) have loads of tri-folks who are not the most excellent swimmers. The more party-esque, even more laid-back air of most open water swims is also appealing.

RE: Fighting Burnout. Suggestions?

Tim L — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 06:06:33 GMT

I felt a little swim in me this morning, not enough to get up, but a little. I like that approach and use it often. Wait until you have that feeling back and maybe mix it up a bit once you get back in the water. Do more sprints, do long slow-paced stuff and don't look at the clock, or try to get better in your weaker strokes. Doing consistent interval training only can be a drag. Some of the swimmers on our team like to do open water swimming in the summer. Maybe they like it because it is outdoors or because the pace clock isn't relevant, but it seems like the open water swimmers suffer less from burn-out. Tim

RE: Fighting Burnout. Suggestions?

RachaelM — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 05:32:40 GMT

Many good suggestions. I don't compete and really have no interest in doing so as I'm not fast enough for it to be worth the time and expense just to race against "myself". That’s not to say that I don’t like getting faster and compete with my lanemates. 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. For change, I'm going to go swim by myself this weekend and just swim smooth, no workout, no length in mind. If that goes well, I'm on vacation next week, so I'm going to try to force myself back into it and hope that the funk passes. Hopefully, vacation from work might help with this too. I felt a little swim in me this morning, not enough to get up, but a little.

RE: Fighting Burnout. Suggestions?

knelson — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 05:00:51 GMT

only this time i was even heavier at about 80lbs more than college race weight. But is this really where you want to be weight-wise? Maybe you could swim more and you'd lose the weight. It's not just about swimming fast in masters, after all.

RE: Fighting Burnout. Suggestions?

philoswimmer — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 01:59:05 GMT

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 This is very interesting to me. I have been thinking of bumping up my # of workouts per week. And I've seen the advice on this board from time to time that if you want to swim faster, swim more often. But maybe that's not true? Maybe some of us would suffer psychological burnout if we swam too often, not to mention that our old muscles might not fully recover? Maybe we're better off doing non-swimming activities some days? I'd love to hear others thoughts on this.

RE: Fighting Burnout. Suggestions?

knelson — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 01:58:31 GMT

And I've seen the advice on this board from time to time that if you want to swim faster, swim more often. But maybe that's not true? Maybe some of us would suffer psychological burnout if we swam too often, not to mention that our old muscles might not fully recover? My feeling is more is better up to a point. I think you need days to recover. My opinion is five days a week is plenty. I'm sure there are those who swim seven days a week, but I'll bet even they use a couple days per week as recovery days and only swim easily. My best advice is to listen to your body and your mind. If you feel too tired or just mentally aren't into it that day, don't swim. Swimming should never be drudgery.

RE: Fighting Burnout. Suggestions?

orca1946 — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 01:46:41 GMT

You need to find other ways to workout, like biking running,skiing, weights or not doing so much in the off season or taking a break.

RE: Fighting Burnout. Suggestions?

Betsy — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:32:41 GMT

Have you competed in any meets? I get bored with practice if I don't have a goal. I need to be preparing for a meet to get the most from my practices. The meets are fun and show my progress.

RE: Fighting Burnout. Suggestions?

Former Member — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 09:06:09 GMT

RE: Fighting Burnout. Suggestions?

Patrick W. Brundage — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 07:04:49 GMT

Powerful is the dark side.Fear not. I think the end result will just be that the first 50 of my 500 in the future is faster. Oh yeah, and I'll probably have a cool Gary Hall Jr. boxing gown to wear for the 50 at Mesa Nationals.