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.)
10687
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?
If I had to swim with a club to swim, I wouldn't swim at all. Similarly, if I had to swim pool meets to swim, I wouldn't do it. Plain and simple. Years ago, I quit my high school team after just my second season, not because I didn't enjoy the act of swimming or the accomplishment that comes from pushing myself in the pool but rather because I just didn't find group practice or meets enjoyable or motivating.
I came back to swimming a few years ago and found that I can both push myself and enjoy it if I let it be a largely solo sport for me. I particularly like open water swimming, and the desire to be strong enough of a swimmer to take on new distances or more challenging conditions in the open water pushes me to keep going back to the pool. I do swim an organized open water event once or twice a year, but the swims that are just me and my husband paddling alongside are just as valuable to me. I enjoy improving my butterfly stroke in large part because, as a solo swimmer who doesn't go to meets, I'm only comparing my stroke to what it once was, not to that of other swimmers who never let theirs go to pot. I'd probably be too ashamed of it if I were in a club or meet context, but because I'm by myself in the pool I feel a freedom to keep trying, even if the road to improvement is long and messy. And yes, I also feel a freedom to barely swim any breaststroke because I have an irrationally intense dislike of that stroke. I conquered it once, swimming IM back in my teenage years. I have no need to deal with it again.
I appreciate that USMS is not simply a competitive organization. I guess it comes down to recognizing that there is more to an athletic endeavor than the "sport" aspect of it. I can't say I personally care that much about who swims the fastest, but I care very much about swimming, and I'm glad USMS has room for people like me. I'm glad that those of you who get something out of facing off against others have that opportunity through the organization -- that really is great, if it's your thing -- but I'm also just as glad that the group offers resources and support for people who get a lot of challenging variety in the rest of their life and look to swimming to be a more stable, steady, unchanging part of their routine.
:applaud::applaud::applaud: Very well said, looney! Kudos for two things:
#1 Having your *&%# together, and knowing yourself well enough to do what's best for you
and
#2 Being able to articulate it so well! :agree:
If I had to swim with a club to swim, I wouldn't swim at all. Similarly, if I had to swim pool meets to swim, I wouldn't do it. Plain and simple. Years ago, I quit my high school team after just my second season, not because I didn't enjoy the act of swimming or the accomplishment that comes from pushing myself in the pool but rather because I just didn't find group practice or meets enjoyable or motivating.
I came back to swimming a few years ago and found that I can both push myself and enjoy it if I let it be a largely solo sport for me. I particularly like open water swimming, and the desire to be strong enough of a swimmer to take on new distances or more challenging conditions in the open water pushes me to keep going back to the pool. I do swim an organized open water event once or twice a year, but the swims that are just me and my husband paddling alongside are just as valuable to me. I enjoy improving my butterfly stroke in large part because, as a solo swimmer who doesn't go to meets, I'm only comparing my stroke to what it once was, not to that of other swimmers who never let theirs go to pot. I'd probably be too ashamed of it if I were in a club or meet context, but because I'm by myself in the pool I feel a freedom to keep trying, even if the road to improvement is long and messy. And yes, I also feel a freedom to barely swim any breaststroke because I have an irrationally intense dislike of that stroke. I conquered it once, swimming IM back in my teenage years. I have no need to deal with it again.
I appreciate that USMS is not simply a competitive organization. I guess it comes down to recognizing that there is more to an athletic endeavor than the "sport" aspect of it. I can't say I personally care that much about who swims the fastest, but I care very much about swimming, and I'm glad USMS has room for people like me. I'm glad that those of you who get something out of facing off against others have that opportunity through the organization -- that really is great, if it's your thing -- but I'm also just as glad that the group offers resources and support for people who get a lot of challenging variety in the rest of their life and look to swimming to be a more stable, steady, unchanging part of their routine.
:applaud::applaud::applaud: Very well said, looney! Kudos for two things:
#1 Having your *&%# together, and knowing yourself well enough to do what's best for you
and
#2 Being able to articulate it so well! :agree:
