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?
I'm still half dead and recovering ... but
if people don't want to improve, what's the point of meets, the US Masters, coaches, etc. I saw this morning HUGE evidence of more than a couple dozen people in the cold and wet pay for a coach flown in. I saw in another spot in my area, where a third coaching seminar is going on. If you don't want to improve, you aren't going to join teams, join relays, join meets, buy a lot of suits because the emphasis isn't there. It drags down all of us. I went thru a lot just to get the women in my group to swim 2 relays. I swam the harder fly and another the ***, just so we could get another relay. All the revenue and help that goes into making people better swimmers makes them glad they did it. YMMV.
Improvement is like any other area in life: if you don't want to improve, you stagnate off. If you look at leaders, its those who continuously change, who make the difference. You become what the people call millenials: snowflakes. They are ridiculed, derided for a lot of good reasons. Want some reasons why relationships die or they're not formed? The ability to grow.
I go out of my comfort zone quite a bit. Stress can be a positive thing. The non native Americans in my workplace and the like have blessed my life because they introduce new and different. I love a lot of the positives and the exchange we have back and forth. America was built on incorporating great things from others, and new ideas. I hope it never dies like that.
That applies to swimming. Instead of saying I can't, how about I'll try. I hear a lot of "I could never do that" but until you have stress in your life you never know what you can accomplish. I used to say it about the 100, 200 fly, 400 IM, any breaststroke. I'm not great at it by a long shot, but I know the satisfaction and the courage of looking fear in the eyes, and saying yes I can and the ability to achieve and overcome.
I'm still half dead and recovering ... but
if people don't want to improve, what's the point of meets, the US Masters, coaches, etc. I saw this morning HUGE evidence of more than a couple dozen people in the cold and wet pay for a coach flown in. I saw in another spot in my area, where a third coaching seminar is going on. If you don't want to improve, you aren't going to join teams, join relays, join meets, buy a lot of suits because the emphasis isn't there. It drags down all of us. I went thru a lot just to get the women in my group to swim 2 relays. I swam the harder fly and another the ***, just so we could get another relay. All the revenue and help that goes into making people better swimmers makes them glad they did it. YMMV.
Improvement is like any other area in life: if you don't want to improve, you stagnate off. If you look at leaders, its those who continuously change, who make the difference. You become what the people call millenials: snowflakes. They are ridiculed, derided for a lot of good reasons. Want some reasons why relationships die or they're not formed? The ability to grow.
I go out of my comfort zone quite a bit. Stress can be a positive thing. The non native Americans in my workplace and the like have blessed my life because they introduce new and different. I love a lot of the positives and the exchange we have back and forth. America was built on incorporating great things from others, and new ideas. I hope it never dies like that.
That applies to swimming. Instead of saying I can't, how about I'll try. I hear a lot of "I could never do that" but until you have stress in your life you never know what you can accomplish. I used to say it about the 100, 200 fly, 400 IM, any breaststroke. I'm not great at it by a long shot, but I know the satisfaction and the courage of looking fear in the eyes, and saying yes I can and the ability to achieve and overcome.
