Getting back into it/Getting someone else into it - need advice
Former Member
Hi guys!!
I am new to these boards and was absolutely enthralled to see the workouts day-by-day posted above! I have some questions (of course... what noobie doesnt??) but first I wanted to give a little background. :D I am 26 years old and caught the swimming bug (again) after watching the amazing performances at the olympics. I used to swim competitively for many years for a team called West Florida Lightning Aquatics and then in high school as well. Obviously, its been a few (OK alot) of years since then and the college I work for now doesnt even have a club - let alone a team. The closest Masters group is a good 45min drive from what I can see. (grumble).
Looks like I will be going it alone when I get back in the pool at least for a while. :( Needless to say, after so many years I have forgotten alot (or at least I think I have). Also, my husband has always expressed at least a bit of interest in swimming, but has never been in a competitive environment at all. He is "built like a swimmer" and I would be really interested to see what he could do in the pool. :)
OK- done with my oversharing. :) On to my questions for you guys. I have a few....
Where to start back in to it? What kind of workout should I be looking at for my first few weeks back in the pool?
What kind of dry land training do you do/reccomend? We have been going to the gym and working mostly with free weights, but what sort of excersizes are best to build up speed/efficiency?
What sort of workout should my husband be doing? He does not know how to do butterfly or flip turns yet.
Can he get away with wearing a baggy, recreational swim suit for at least a while until he knows he wants to continue? I dont want to have to buy a suit he might not use, but if its neccesary, will.
Are kickboards, pull buoys, fins and paddles neccesary?
Thank you so much in advance for any advice you can give us!
Parents
Former Member
Kelly,
Yes, web sites are frequently out of date. Try calling the contact number. The person listed may not be the current contact person, but you will probably be able to find out who is. The bad news is that a team's workout times do not tend to change. One of the primary reasons a group stays together is that the established time tends to work for everyone in the group. Give the mornings a try. I've moved every three years since I joined the Navy, and had to switch my workout times almost as much. I've usually found that for a good club, I can get used to workout windows I would have never expected to work for me. Most teams will let you swim for free once or twice before they make you join. Once is usually enough to tell if you will fit in, if you like the people and the facilities, and if the time slot will work for you.
Regarding your husband, I can't emphasize this enough. Let him decide what he wants to do. You think racing, the fly, and flip turns are cool. He may or he may not. He will stick with it to please you maybe a month or two. He will stick with something that pleases himself almost indefinitely. Give him space, encourage him to try new things, and let him make up his mind.
If you can stay as gung-ho as you are right now, you might consider trying to start up your own Masters club at UCF. This would involve a lot of work and salesmanship outside of the water, but college students, and the college facilities they can access for free, are fertile ground for starting a club. If you have some contacts at UCF, you might ask around and see if there are others thinking the same thing. It may prove fruitful.
For your own goals, beating all your PRs from your glory years may, or may not, be realistic. Don't be a slave to the events you used to swim. If you got those PRs by doing megayards at 2 workouts per day, is it realistic to think you can beat them without that kind of yardage base? Maybe, for some selected events, where you can tear apart your old stroke technique, and completely rebuild it into a much smarter, more efficient style, you can pull it off. But you need to realize that you probably won't be working as hard as you used to (nor should you; you're a grown up; you only have to do what pleases you today). You also should be open to new things. Heck, give open water swimming a try. You're in a hot bed for that sort of thing.
Matt
Kelly,
Yes, web sites are frequently out of date. Try calling the contact number. The person listed may not be the current contact person, but you will probably be able to find out who is. The bad news is that a team's workout times do not tend to change. One of the primary reasons a group stays together is that the established time tends to work for everyone in the group. Give the mornings a try. I've moved every three years since I joined the Navy, and had to switch my workout times almost as much. I've usually found that for a good club, I can get used to workout windows I would have never expected to work for me. Most teams will let you swim for free once or twice before they make you join. Once is usually enough to tell if you will fit in, if you like the people and the facilities, and if the time slot will work for you.
Regarding your husband, I can't emphasize this enough. Let him decide what he wants to do. You think racing, the fly, and flip turns are cool. He may or he may not. He will stick with it to please you maybe a month or two. He will stick with something that pleases himself almost indefinitely. Give him space, encourage him to try new things, and let him make up his mind.
If you can stay as gung-ho as you are right now, you might consider trying to start up your own Masters club at UCF. This would involve a lot of work and salesmanship outside of the water, but college students, and the college facilities they can access for free, are fertile ground for starting a club. If you have some contacts at UCF, you might ask around and see if there are others thinking the same thing. It may prove fruitful.
For your own goals, beating all your PRs from your glory years may, or may not, be realistic. Don't be a slave to the events you used to swim. If you got those PRs by doing megayards at 2 workouts per day, is it realistic to think you can beat them without that kind of yardage base? Maybe, for some selected events, where you can tear apart your old stroke technique, and completely rebuild it into a much smarter, more efficient style, you can pull it off. But you need to realize that you probably won't be working as hard as you used to (nor should you; you're a grown up; you only have to do what pleases you today). You also should be open to new things. Heck, give open water swimming a try. You're in a hot bed for that sort of thing.
Matt
