Getting back into it/Getting someone else into it - need advice

Kelly, Welcome back to the club. It may seem like it's been a long time for you, but actually you're coming back pretty young. Just check out the times from the last USMS Nationals, and you will see the 20's age groups still have fewer total swimmers than the 30s and even the 40's, and the winning and 10th place times actually tend to get a little faster in the older age groups. Congratulate yourself on your head start. Just a couple of observations: First, realize that the primary obstacle to sticking with a swimming program is boredom. I can't say for sure why you have come back to swimming. I know I am in this so I can enjoy working out, and competing, for then next 40 or more years of my life. This differs from how I approached HS and college swimming, when I was trying to lower my PRs as much as possible in say the next 4 months. This key truth, for me at any rate, leads to a number of other observations: Second, find a USMS club, or congenial group of people who will work out with you, as soon as possible. Don't worry about you, or your husband, being "good enough." You are just fine just as you are. Any club I've ever joined or considered joining has swimmers of all abilities. Having a set of friends whose company you enjoy, who will come up with new and different practices you would not otherwise try, whose expectation to see you there will cause you to come when you would otherwise blow off a workout on your own, will keep you swimming long after you have given up on working out on your own. Please reply to this post, and tell us where exactly in FL you live. You will be surprised how many other USMS teams will pop out of the woodwork. Third, beware of training with too much intensity. You are probably in this for the long haul, or longer than when you were in HS. I am a little wary of lifting weights as the only dry land addition to your swimming routine. If you overload with weights the same muscles you use to swim, on a marginally older body, you may set yourself up for injury. Most folks need flexibility, not strength. Consider yoga or pilates. Also, scale your swimming workout routine to something you can sustain and enjoy for months at a time. Maybe you used to do 2 workouts/day. With a real, grown-up's schedule, you probably can't do than now without neglecting your family and/or any kind of life away from the pool and your job. Pick a reasonable, sustainable workout schedule, which may only be three swims a week, and stick to it. Similarly in your workouts, you do not need to work yourself to the edge of vomiting or passing out every single time. This is a recipie for burn-out. Work on stroke mechanics, chose when you are going to go fast, and when you are just trying to keep the interval, accept that you will have good days and bad. If you are not enjoying practice, change something because you need to be enjoying practice. Fourth, pick reasonable, meaningful goals for your swimming and work towards them. For your husband, that might be learning the butterfly or flip turns, but only if he thinks that is cool and worth his time. If not, there is no need for him to do so just because that is what swimmers do. Maybe you want to get into shape for a particular open water swim, or there is a pool meet coming up and you want to do well. Maybe you just want to improve your overall swimming so that you can move up a lane in your swim team to a group that does a more intense workout. There are two keys ideas here. Having goals gives focus and direction to your swimming rather than just drifting along doing the same ole' same ole'. Also, the goals to be effective must be something you really want to do. You should pick them, not your coach or your spouse or your teammates. To take a swing at the other questions you asked. Equipment is nice. It can help you work on specific skills, and allow you to add more variety to your practices. It is not strictly necessary. My advice would be find a team first, or find a coach or a style of stroke mechanics that you intend to follow. Once you pick your team or your style, then see what equipment they recommend to do the skills. Some teams love kickboards, others consider them tools of Satan. Etc. Baggy swim trunks, yes your husband can swim just fine with them, especially since he knows nothing else. However, he will have an easier time learning new skills and feel more confident and powerful in the water, if he is not towing a parachute around his waist. (I sometimes go swimming in running shorts after a yoga class, so I know what it feels like.) Go to the discount rack of your local swim shop. You will be surprised at how reasonable a decent swimmers suit can be. (Besides, he's a man, for cripes sake! We buy suits in bulk, "Gimme 3 of those and 2 of these, and 2 of the ones back there...'Do they make me look fat?' Who cares?!") If he is uncomfortable with the "brief" style suits, look for "jammers," which go down to just above the knee, but are still much more hydrodynamic. Last piece of gratuitous advice, go to this web site, and see what you think: www.totalimmersion.net Good luck, let us know how it goes. Matt

Kelly, Welcome back to the club. It may seem like it's been a long time for you, but actually you're coming back pretty young. Just check out the times from the last USMS Nationals, and you will see the 20's age groups still have fewer total swimmers than the 30s and even the 40's, and the winning and 10th place times actually tend to get a little faster in the older age groups. Congratulate yourself on your head start. Just a couple of observations: First, realize that the primary obstacle to sticking with a swimming program is boredom. I can't say for sure why you have come back to swimming. I know I am in this so I can enjoy working out, and competing, for then next 40 or more years of my life. This differs from how I approached HS and college swimming, when I was trying to lower my PRs as much as possible in say the next 4 months. This key truth, for me at any rate, leads to a number of other observations: Second, find a USMS club, or congenial group of people who will work out with you, as soon as possible. Don't worry about you, or your husband, being "good enough." You are just fine just as you are. Any club I've ever joined or considered joining has swimmers of all abilities. Having a set of friends whose company you enjoy, who will come up with new and different practices you would not otherwise try, whose expectation to see you there will cause you to come when you would otherwise blow off a workout on your own, will keep you swimming long after you have given up on working out on your own. Please reply to this post, and tell us where exactly in FL you live. You will be surprised how many other USMS teams will pop out of the woodwork. Third, beware of training with too much intensity. You are probably in this for the long haul, or longer than when you were in HS. I am a little wary of lifting weights as the only dry land addition to your swimming routine. If you overload with weights the same muscles you use to swim, on a marginally older body, you may set yourself up for injury. Most folks need flexibility, not strength. Consider yoga or pilates. Also, scale your swimming workout routine to something you can sustain and enjoy for months at a time. Maybe you used to do 2 workouts/day. With a real, grown-up's schedule, you probably can't do than now without neglecting your family and/or any kind of life away from the pool and your job. Pick a reasonable, sustainable workout schedule, which may only be three swims a week, and stick to it. Similarly in your workouts, you do not need to work yourself to the edge of vomiting or passing out every single time. This is a recipie for burn-out. Work on stroke mechanics, chose when you are going to go fast, and when you are just trying to keep the interval, accept that you will have good days and bad. If you are not enjoying practice, change something because you need to be enjoying practice. Fourth, pick reasonable, meaningful goals for your swimming and work towards them. For your husband, that might be learning the butterfly or flip turns, but only if he thinks that is cool and worth his time. If not, there is no need for him to do so just because that is what swimmers do. Maybe you want to get into shape for a particular open water swim, or there is a pool meet coming up and you want to do well. Maybe you just want to improve your overall swimming so that you can move up a lane in your swim team to a group that does a more intense workout. There are two keys ideas here. Having goals gives focus and direction to your swimming rather than just drifting along doing the same ole' same ole'. Also, the goals to be effective must be something you really want to do. You should pick them, not your coach or your spouse or your teammates. To take a swing at the other questions you asked. Equipment is nice. It can help you work on specific skills, and allow you to add more variety to your practices. It is not strictly necessary. My advice would be find a team first, or find a coach or a style of stroke mechanics that you intend to follow. Once you pick your team or your style, then see what equipment they recommend to do the skills. Some teams love kickboards, others consider them tools of Satan. Etc. Baggy swim trunks, yes your husband can swim just fine with them, especially since he knows nothing else. However, he will have an easier time learning new skills and feel more confident and powerful in the water, if he is not towing a parachute around his waist. (I sometimes go swimming in running shorts after a yoga class, so I know what it feels like.) Go to the discount rack of your local swim shop. You will be surprised at how reasonable a decent swimmers suit can be. (Besides, he's a man, for cripes sake! We buy suits in bulk, "Gimme 3 of those and 2 of these, and 2 of the ones back there...'Do they make me look fat?' Who cares?!") If he is uncomfortable with the "brief" style suits, look for "jammers," which go down to just above the knee, but are still much more hydrodynamic. Last piece of gratuitous advice, go to this web site, and see what you think: www.totalimmersion.net Good luck, let us know how it goes. Matt