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?
This is great stuff, Sola! Thanks for your contribution. I will check out your references for sure!
I already read Swimming to Antartica, and I highly recommend it as an inspirational read. My mom gave me an autographed copy of it along with Lynne Cox's other book, Grayson. When I was a kid, I used to watch Lynne Cox train in front of the beach house my family rented during the summer. She would run in the deep soft sand and swim along the buoy line. I greatly admired Lynne and followed her career from her first Catalina Channel swim. She sure was an inspiration!
This is great stuff, Sola! Thanks for your contribution. I will check out your references for sure!
I already read Swimming to Antartica, and I highly recommend it as an inspirational read. My mom gave me an autographed copy of it along with Lynne Cox's other book, Grayson. When I was a kid, I used to watch Lynne Cox train in front of the beach house my family rented during the summer. She would run in the deep soft sand and swim along the buoy line. I greatly admired Lynne and followed her career from her first Catalina Channel swim. She sure was an inspiration!
