When I used to run, some days were awesome, some were tough. Sometimes when I swim 4 days straight, I get better. Today I felt sloppy, no rhythm on freestyle, hips were tired. Ugghh. Does anyone else experience that? Do you plug on through or cut it short? I'm betting most get through the workout.
I am really feeling encouraged by these responses. Could I take this one step further and ask for an explanation of "not feeling it." For me, maybe it's heavy legs, sloppy or lazy rotation, etc. Do most of you elite swimmers just feel tired, or are there specific parts of the body or form that are not cooperating?Not feeling it usually means one of two extremes.
The first would be feeling very weak, my arms like toothpicks where I feel like I get no traction in the water. I notice my stroke count being higher, times being slower and just this feeling like I can't find any energy. For me, this is almost always an indication that I haven't been sleeping enough, or I'm too stressed from 'mind woes' unrelated to swimming.
The opposite end is when my arms feel like dead weights, my shoulders are sore and creaky and I just cannot generate any semblance of a fast stroke rate. In this scenario, my stroke count might be the same as on a better day, but because my stroke rate is lethargic, I am swimming slower. Usually, this doesn't bum me out as much because it's almost always an indication of training fatigue and a sign that I need to take a day off or take an easy day.
As for my legs, I don't really kick except in breaststroke and breaststroke pretty much always feels like a s***show no matter how good I feel otherwise :afraid:... so I almost never notice my legs.
I am really feeling encouraged by these responses. Could I take this one step further and ask for an explanation of "not feeling it." For me, maybe it's heavy legs, sloppy or lazy rotation, etc. Do most of you elite swimmers just feel tired, or are there specific parts of the body or form that are not cooperating?Not feeling it usually means one of two extremes.
The first would be feeling very weak, my arms like toothpicks where I feel like I get no traction in the water. I notice my stroke count being higher, times being slower and just this feeling like I can't find any energy. For me, this is almost always an indication that I haven't been sleeping enough, or I'm too stressed from 'mind woes' unrelated to swimming.
The opposite end is when my arms feel like dead weights, my shoulders are sore and creaky and I just cannot generate any semblance of a fast stroke rate. In this scenario, my stroke count might be the same as on a better day, but because my stroke rate is lethargic, I am swimming slower. Usually, this doesn't bum me out as much because it's almost always an indication of training fatigue and a sign that I need to take a day off or take an easy day.
As for my legs, I don't really kick except in breaststroke and breaststroke pretty much always feels like a s***show no matter how good I feel otherwise :afraid:... so I almost never notice my legs.
