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?
Thanks 67King! WOW - what an amazing success story about getting back in the pool.
I really thoguhr I could get back up to my 16-1700 yards after a couple weeks. I just get so week at the 800 mark and really have to push for that last 50yards.
I was reading on another post people eat PB&J before swimming. So tomorrow I am going to try that on my way to the gym. Maybe my food intake is not proving me the fuel I need?
Hardest part is convincing yourself. Mentally, I break things up, and say "I'm going to get to this point." And then when I'm at that point, I'll tell myself, "okay, now to do one more set" or whatever. Back when I was just doing laps, it was "okay, gotta make this 500 yard set." And then "Alright, one more." Now, wiht intervals, I break them up in my mind. Say you have a set where you are doing 40 50's. Each 10 is 1/4. So each one is 10% of that quartile. So after 5 of them, mentally I tell myself "halfway through the first quartile!"
Another thing you might do to reach your goal is a Davis mile set. A competition mile is 1650 yards. The Davis mile is this:
11 laps, rest 10 seconds
10 laps, rest 10 seconds
9 laps, rest 10 seconds.
.....
2 laps, rest 10 seconds.
1 laps.
So you count down, doing one fewer lap each time, and get a 10 second rest. Add 'em all up, and you've gotten in your 1650 yards. Subtract 100 seconds and get your mile time. But the point is, the breaks, although they are small, give you something to work towards psychologically. Just push yourself to that next interval, and when there, push to the next. It is tough, but if you can get through that mental barrier, you can start making some seriously quick progress. E.g., I was doing 28 minute miles, say, 15 months ago, and now I"m doing 22 minute ones. But I find that the fatigue is more mental than physical.
For fuel, need some complex carbs and some protein. I eat granola with greek yogurt. And as I swim at 5:00AM, of course I have some coffee, too :)
Thanks 67King! WOW - what an amazing success story about getting back in the pool.
I really thoguhr I could get back up to my 16-1700 yards after a couple weeks. I just get so week at the 800 mark and really have to push for that last 50yards.
I was reading on another post people eat PB&J before swimming. So tomorrow I am going to try that on my way to the gym. Maybe my food intake is not proving me the fuel I need?
Hardest part is convincing yourself. Mentally, I break things up, and say "I'm going to get to this point." And then when I'm at that point, I'll tell myself, "okay, now to do one more set" or whatever. Back when I was just doing laps, it was "okay, gotta make this 500 yard set." And then "Alright, one more." Now, wiht intervals, I break them up in my mind. Say you have a set where you are doing 40 50's. Each 10 is 1/4. So each one is 10% of that quartile. So after 5 of them, mentally I tell myself "halfway through the first quartile!"
Another thing you might do to reach your goal is a Davis mile set. A competition mile is 1650 yards. The Davis mile is this:
11 laps, rest 10 seconds
10 laps, rest 10 seconds
9 laps, rest 10 seconds.
.....
2 laps, rest 10 seconds.
1 laps.
So you count down, doing one fewer lap each time, and get a 10 second rest. Add 'em all up, and you've gotten in your 1650 yards. Subtract 100 seconds and get your mile time. But the point is, the breaks, although they are small, give you something to work towards psychologically. Just push yourself to that next interval, and when there, push to the next. It is tough, but if you can get through that mental barrier, you can start making some seriously quick progress. E.g., I was doing 28 minute miles, say, 15 months ago, and now I"m doing 22 minute ones. But I find that the fatigue is more mental than physical.
For fuel, need some complex carbs and some protein. I eat granola with greek yogurt. And as I swim at 5:00AM, of course I have some coffee, too :)
