Hey everybody, I am lookin for some advice on getting back into the sport. Quick rundown of the past. I swam USS for all 3 years of middle school and my freshman year of high school. Dropped it because I got severely burnt out. Picked up cycling and raced for a couple years. I graduated high school at 155 pounds (im 5 10). Before I started working out this year, I was at 224 pounds. Since that high, I got down to 187 doing P90X. I love the workout, but out of everything I have done, I miss swimming immensely. So I joined a gym because they had a pool. Even with the P90X workouts, I jumped in the pool and did a 100 free and thought I wasnt doin too bad. After about 300 yards my stroke was awful and with each stroke I felt like I was goin nowhere. Ive tried to get back into swimming shape by just doin laps, but I cant. I get way too frustrated and being a former swimmer, I like a set workout/routine. Any tips for me. Please remember I cant do much more than 100 yards at a time, especially towards the middle to latter parts of the workout. I want to swim Masters one day soon. But ill be damned if I go and make a fool out of myself with my current form. Thanks so much for any help/tips you can give me.
Hey Josh,
Congratulations on dropping so much weight. That is a significant accomplishment!
My advice - don't be too harsh on yourself. Sometimes our desire to achieve backfires. We become overly critical of our performance, start a cycle of negative thoughts and end up defeating our goals.
Relax and enjoy the water. Swim for pleasure and for fun. Take your time and stop when you need to take a break. Swim for the intrinsic value of swimming because you are working on yourself - for yourself. Push yourself and experience another dimension of the sport (pain! but good pain - not like an ankle sprain) - but don't beat yourself up.
Comparisons are invideous!
P
I want to swim Masters one day soon. But ill be damned if I go and make a fool out of myself with my current form. Thanks so much for any help/tips you can give me.
Josh, I think if you did a poll of how former swimmers felt when they got back into their first Masters' workout after an extended break from training, you'd find that practically all of them felt like shadows of their former swimming selves and many of them had the same anxiety as you. Don't sweat it. One of the great things about Masters' teams is that there is a HUGE variety in capabilities on teams and that most of the people are there to get/stay in shape and have fun. Yeah, some of us get kind of psycho about the competitive component, but I still find Masters' swimmers to be a laid-back group. I don't think you have to fear being "judged" by your poolmates.
So, I'd really recommend finding a team nearby, talking with the coach outside of the pool before you jump in the first time and then just take it one day at a time. As you go, ask your coach for pointers on technique.
As for technique, there are a number of good books, websites, videos out there. I recommend Total Immersion (www.totalimmersion.net), both for the quality & focus on technique, but also because, if you want to take your technique to the next level, they have a network of trained coaches and run clinics throughout the year throughout the US.
I come from a similar swimming background (couple years age group, one year high school), and have a little different take. Like you, I decided I wouldn't go anywhere near a team workout until I felt like I was in some semblance of shape and had some speed. I swam alone, using workouts cribbed from a book a swimmer friend gave me (101 Favorite Swimming Workouts by Marianne Brems). After a while I found this site and started downloading workouts from the workout page. I lost about 15 pounds, felt pretty good, and thought I was going pretty fast. After about 9 months on my own I screwed up my courage, showed up at 6:00 am for a team workout, sure I'd be one of the fastest swimmers there . . . and promptly got my hind end handed to me by a great many dudes and dudettes whom I had secretly hoped to be on par with.
But the team workouts were fun (?), and I stuck with it (about 3 1/2 years now). I had underestimated how motivating swimming with others in a coached environment is. It's pretty easy to punk out on a set when you're alone. But knowing that your lanemates will stop to see if you're OK when you really just don't feel like swimming that last damn 100 repeat somehow makes it easier to just swim that last damn 100 repeat. I swim alone occasionally now, and my motivation level is usually nil. The team environment is pretty addictive.
And so by all means get yourself to where you need/want to be using the resources here and elsewhere. But don't hesitate to show up at a team practice when you're feeling even close to ready, or when your enthusiasm for swimming alone starts to wane.
Josh, there's nothing wrong with only holding the stroke together for a few hundred yards when starting out. I'd recommend using your warmup as the time to just swim comfortably for as far as you can until you get winded or your stroke falls apart. At that point stop and start some sets. 50's, 100's whatever you can bear. The next time in the water try to increase your warm up yardage by 50 yards. Work up to whatever you feel you need for a good warmup (usually 500 - 1000). Once you find that level then you can start the process of working on the intervals. You will go through peaks, valleys and plateaus - everyone does. Keep with it, it'll happen.
