Hey, solo swimmers! :wave: Welcome to the thread for all of us who train solo. Whether you train on your own due to a lack of a Masters team in your area (or for any other reason), this is our virtual locker room. Please post training tips that you think would be helpful, or anything else you would like to share with the rest of us. Have a rant? Go ahead and vent here! :rantonoff:
I'll start with a tip:
The most frustrating thing for me training solo is not having a coach on deck to evaluate my stroke and keep me on track, so I bought a waterproof camera and enlisted the help of my husband to periodically shoot video of all four strokes. Shooting underwater video became a knee/back buster, so I bought a camera mount and attached it to PVC pipe, so my husband could stand up straight to shoot underwater video. The camera gets dunked underwater, and he twists the pipe to pan the camera as I swim by.
Today, I bought a 2-pack of 12-inch "Gear Tie" reusable rubber twist ties (available at Home Depot), so I can tie the PVC pipe to the pool ladder (located in the corner of the pool) and shoot video myself. (If I angle the camera just right and keep it on wide angle, I can video me coming and going.)
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After each video session, I upload the videos to my desktop computer and compare my stroke to my favorite Go Swim stroke videos to see what I'm doing well (or not). I also post them on the Forums for feedback.
Ok, solo swimmers, what's your tip?
My most important tip as a solo swimmer is to make friends with the regulars at the pool. The person sculling and stopping every 25 yards lane 6 might turn out to be your best cheerleader. They might not know what you're supposed to be doing or what something is supposed to look like but the fact that they might be paying attention will encourage you to be your best. When they say, "you looked so fast today", you want to be able to be proud of it and say, "thanks". You'll feel lousy about the compliment if you were just messing around. They'll look for you to be there and want to know what happened if you aren't. A team mate doesn't have to be on a team with you or doing remotely the same kind of work out to be able to support each other.
Another tip is to use a watch and track your times, at least on important main sets. Being able to see if you're dropping your average by a few tenths in the long term and to know what your target times should be is a big part of ensuring you're working hard enough.
My most important tip as a solo swimmer is to make friends with the regulars at the pool. The person sculling and stopping every 25 yards lane 6 might turn out to be your best cheerleader. They might not know what you're supposed to be doing or what something is supposed to look like but the fact that they might be paying attention will encourage you to be your best. When they say, "you looked so fast today", you want to be able to be proud of it and say, "thanks". You'll feel lousy about the compliment if you were just messing around. They'll look for you to be there and want to know what happened if you aren't. A team mate doesn't have to be on a team with you or doing remotely the same kind of work out to be able to support each other.
Another tip is to use a watch and track your times, at least on important main sets. Being able to see if you're dropping your average by a few tenths in the long term and to know what your target times should be is a big part of ensuring you're working hard enough.
