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 think I need some fins? I won't be in a regular swim class until November, which feels really far away right now! I hope to avoid learning too many bad habits while I sort of flail around at the pool, until then.
I asked at the pool desk, about the swim classes there, and I think perhaps the nice lady was worried that I had come for lap swimming but couldn't stay afloat. I can swim, generally! However, I don't swim well (I never competed, never swam in a team, remember). I've been watching YT videos and signed up for and follow SwimGuru. And I've found a good bit of good tips and advice here in various areas of the forums. But in person lessons can't hurt!
I really appreciate the camaraderie on here - I don't as yet have anything like this forum, IRL. I guess I also would love if the swimming lessons gave me an intro to a few likeminded folks!
I am a little bit lazy, and the nearer the pool, to me, the better. So, at least for now, I'm swimming at the local community college's pool, which is just about 15 minutes away from me. It doesn't AFAIK have a Masters team but it's a nice pool. I've found a few old posts about Anne Arundel County MD pools, and I will try to get to some of those, too - it seems as if all of the USMS action is farther from me than I'd like.
I'm in Anne Arundel. Olympic Swim Center in Annapolis is the best pool in the county and North Arundel Swim Center is good, too, though not as big. I don't know what part of AA you're in but there's also a great pool in Columbia aquaticfun.net/ColumbiaMarylandaquaticcenter. If you look up the masters clubs in Maryland you'll find the ones that are near you - none near me but I'm out by Crofton.
I think I need some fins? I won't be in a regular swim class until November, which feels really far away right now! I hope to avoid learning too many bad habits while I sort of flail around at the pool, until then.
I asked at the pool desk, about the swim classes there, and I think perhaps the nice lady was worried that I had come for lap swimming but couldn't stay afloat. I can swim, generally! However, I don't swim well (I never competed, never swam in a team, remember). I've been watching YT videos and signed up for and follow SwimGuru. And I've found a good bit of good tips and advice here in various areas of the forums. But in person lessons can't hurt!
I really appreciate the camaraderie on here - I don't as yet have anything like this forum, IRL. I guess I also would love if the swimming lessons gave me an intro to a few likeminded folks!
I am a little bit lazy, and the nearer the pool, to me, the better. So, at least for now, I'm swimming at the local community college's pool, which is just about 15 minutes away from me. It doesn't AFAIK have a Masters team but it's a nice pool. I've found a few old posts about Anne Arundel County MD pools, and I will try to get to some of those, too - it seems as if all of the USMS action is farther from me than I'd like.
I'm in Anne Arundel. Olympic Swim Center in Annapolis is the best pool in the county and North Arundel Swim Center is good, too, though not as big. I don't know what part of AA you're in but there's also a great pool in Columbia aquaticfun.net/ColumbiaMarylandaquaticcenter. If you look up the masters clubs in Maryland you'll find the ones that are near you - none near me but I'm out by Crofton.
