https://community.usms.org/swimming/f/open-water-training-and-technique/13395/long-plateau-mental-trainingA little background. I swam seasonally in high school, and despite the lack of opportunity for year-round swimming where I grew up, I always enjoyed the sport and training. After a ten year hiatus from meets, I returned to Master&#39;s a couple years agoen-USTelligent Community 12https://community.usms.org/thread/207496?ContentTypeID=1Wed, 05 Feb 2020 08:39:43 GMT3187ac58-ba85-4314-b79a-c45cd885e09a:bb3a7543-d7f0-4260-8d5e-15d8824f5c66sickfishBetween 2004 and 2014 my 50 fly was 25.xx every single time (I count eighteen of them here on usms). I believe that counts as a plateau. I think I got through it with a new personal trainer (not an option for everyone) and a new coach who had the knowledge and ability to work with a 30-something sprinter (also not an option for everyone). The same old generic Masters workouts were not cutting it for me. I also started reading a lot about this stuff - I learned about HIIT and USRPT, tried some of it, saw some results. Fwiw at my pool we also have a few great open-water swimmers, and I think they&#39;re seeing such success because the coaches are willing to write separate workouts for them. Anyway: yes, it&#39;s normal, and the solution is probably to change things up. Talk with your coach, lift some weights. You could try focusing on a different event for a while, just for fun.<div style="clear:both;"></div>