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.
When I'm doing a team & coach workout I seem to do better at a good swim as opposed to me going to swim alone.
When alone, I seem to take a lot more time between sets and work a lot less hard!
My sense is this: If you are under 40, "overtraining" is kind of a joke. If you are over 60, overtraining will end your athletic career.
From 40 to 60, it's a toss up.
I am fortunate to be allowed to swim 3-4 x week, one hour at a time. Three out of four workouts are crap. But a crappy workout in the pool beats a great day doing almost anything else, in my book! The older I get, the faster I used to be, and no one likes that!
YEAH today! I need rotator cuff surgery and have been swimming this last month.
Today I yelled under water when it hurt so much when I took a full stroke of fly!
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 have plenty of crap workouts. When I hit the water I never know what it will be - good one or not so good? I can't trace the good vs. bad workouts to anything, sleep, sickness, whatever, it feels very random. I have swam on zero sleep and swam really well so I've learned not to write off a workout just because of poor sleep.
I've also learned not to write off a workout based on how I initially feel. Sometimes I will thaw out during the first few sets and end up swimming really well, and sometimes it just never happens. Either way, I get in some decent yardage, and get my chlorine soak in, so it's a win even if I have to will myself through every length.
One reliable marker for me - every now and then I know in my first hundred that I feel great, and I will have one of my most fun, fast workouts. I wish I could bottle that and have that every day.
I have plenty of crap workouts. When I hit the water I never know what it will be - good one or not so good? I can't trace the good vs. bad workouts to anything, sleep, sickness, whatever, it feels very random. I have swam on zero sleep and swam really well so I've learned not to write off a workout just because of poor sleep.
I've also learned not to write off a workout based on how I initially feel. Sometimes I will thaw out during the first few sets and end up swimming really well, and sometimes it just never happens. Either way, I get in some decent yardage, and get my chlorine soak in, so it's a win even if I have to will myself through every length.
One reliable marker for me - every now and then I know in my first hundred that I feel great, and I will have one of my most fun, fast workouts. I wish I could bottle that and have that every day.
Great post. Love that last sentence! Couldn't have said it better.
My team coach has suggested I get the repair surgery and get started on the recovery phase since there are no meets in the foreseeable future.
I hate to think of no swimming for months to see if it heals by itself only to find out I NEED AT THIS POINT TO NOW NEED SURGERY!!
I also do not look forward to surgery at any time as something to walk into needlessly.
My team coach has suggested I get the repair surgery and get started on the recovery phase since there are no meets in the foreseeable future.
I hate to think of no swimming for months to see if it heals by itself only to find out I NEED AT THIS POINT TO NOW NEED SURGERY!!
I also do not look forward to surgery at any time as something to walk into needlessly.
I'm going thru something similar--I need a total knee replacement. It looks like the gyms may be closed soon and it would be a good time to get this done, but it's a surgery I am very squeamish about, especially the weeks after. Everyone says PT is rough.
